The finishing touches have arrived. Now the machine of the biennial preventive agreement for VAT numbers is ready to go. The Council of Ministers approved a corrective decree of the fiscal delegation, which moves the date for the acceptance (or rejection) of the tax proposal from 15 to 31 October this year. There is also a little further help for VAT numbers. From the calculation of income they will be able to subtract “credit losses”.
Redditometer, the stop is coming. Biennial preventive agreement, all bills for bars and restaurants
Invoices, that is, that they can’t get paid. A request that came from the accountants and which also takes into account the delays in payments from the public administration. The corrective decree introduces another important innovation. It was announced directly by the Deputy Minister of Economy Maurizio Leo, father of the fiscal delegation. There will no longer be “sanctions for companies that admit, on a preliminary basis, any violations with the tax authorities. It is understood”, said Leo, “that, in cases of fraud, there will be no discount on the sums owed to the State”. In this case too, this is a request from the accountants who yesterday, through the mouth of President Elbano De Nuccio and councilor Salvatore Regalbuto, applauded the decision. Technically, the law provides for the non-applicability of criminal sanctions related to the crime of unfaithful declaration as well as administrative sanctions for those who voluntarily adopt the tax control framework certified by an accountant or lawyer.
The concept is that, if you show everything to the IRS, without hiding anything, and the IRS validates the accounts, then if any dispute emerges subsequently it must be discussed only on the tax level and not also on the criminal one. «These are very appropriate innovations – said De Nuccio – to make the regime even more effective, innovations that in no way can be read as a decriminalisation, since simulations or fraud are expressly excluded, but they represent the logical consequence of the total disclosure of the tax position of the taxpayer towards the Financial Administration”.
THE CHALLENGE
But let’s get back to the agreement, the government’s real challenge in view of the next budget. The Parliamentary Budget Office, in its annual report, hoped that the resources for tax reform would come from the implementation of the delegation. In reality it is already happening. The government has set up a “fund”, a sort of piggy bank in which to store the proceeds arriving from the implementing decrees which are gradually approved. Inside this piggy bank there are currently 3.8 billion for next year and around 3 billion when fully operational. Money that came largely from the abolition of a measure to support the capitalization of companies, the ACE (acronym for aid for economic growth). Next year, approximately 4 billion will be needed to confirm the reduction of the tax brackets from four to three. The money is practically already there (about 200 million missing). With another billion euros from 2026 onwards, the Irpef cut could become structural.
THE PASSAGE
But with the next budget, the government’s intention is to continue with the tax cut, giving some relief to the middle class. And this is where the biennial preventive agreement comes into play. Signing the “pact” with the tax authorities will be 4.5 million VAT numbers. The question many are asking is how many will join. If there are many, the government will have many resources at its disposal (it has not been officially estimated, but figures are around two billion). If there are few members, the resources will also decrease and with them the plans for rate cuts will be scaled down. From the first simulations it emerged that VAT numbers with a low grade on the report card will have to reveal significant incomes, up to eight times those declared today. Will those who have a low grade because they evade it be convenient to join the agreement? One of the promises is that controls will be more stringent on VAT numbers with low grades on the report card who have not chosen the agreed path. But it is also true that the tools (and personnel) available to the Revenue Agency always remain the same. This is also why another of the accountants’ proposals is to introduce a flat tax of between 10 and 15 percent on the major incomes to be declared following the agreement. Finally, the topic of the Redditometer remains. Leo clarified that the tool already “no longer exists”. But there will be a synthetic assessment 2.0, a mechanism with which the tax authorities should surgically target major tax evaders. Those who don’t even have a VAT number and maybe drive around in a 100,000 euro SUV.
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