The provision is contained in the art. 37 of Legislative Decree no. 13/2024.
The deadline of July 31st was exceptionally foreseen to coincide with the first year of application of the institution of the biennial composition with creditors. In 2025 the usual deadline of 30 June will apply again.
However, the deadline relating to the year 2024 is completely disconnected from the circumstance of whether or not the taxpayer chooses to join the “pact” with the Tax Office. The taxpayer can also decide not to join the agreement and therefore not accept the proposed income, but where the conditions set out in the aforementioned art. 37 it will be possible to benefit from the longer term and make the payment by July 31st. The scope of the cited rule, which provides for the deferral of the ordinary deadline for making payments of taxes resulting from tax returns as of next July 31st, can be clearly deduced on the basis of a literal interpretation. The rule, as mentioned, limits itself to referring to “subjects who carry out economic activities for which the synthetic indices of fiscal reliability have been approved and who declare revenues or compensation of an amount not exceeding the limit established, for each index, by the relevant approval decree …” (5,164,569 euros). In the presence of the aforementioned two conditions, regardless of adhesion to the agreement, the payment can be made promptly by July 31st without any increase.
In addition to failure to exceed the aforementioned revenue or compensation threshold, and the exercise of a business with an approved ISA, the law expressly provides that the longer term also concerns taxpayers who have made use of the flat rate regime (art. 1 L. no. 190/2014). Furthermore, the provision also applies to taxpayers who make use of the so-called “advantage regime” (art. 27 DL no. 98/2011).
The deadline also affects taxpayers who own shares in companies whose income is imputed for transparency pursuant to art. 5 of the TUIR, to those who participate in associations of artists and professionals, or in joint-stock companies that apply the transparency regime in accordance with the provisions of the articles. 115 and 116 of the TUIR.
However, shareholders of joint stock companies who do not make use of the transparency regime are excluded from the scope of application of the provision in question. In this case, the deadline for payment remains the ordinary one of 30 June with the possibility of completing the payment within the following 30 days (30 July) with an increase of 0.40 percent.
As regards taxpayers (with an approved ISA) who can make the payment within the legal deadlines by 31 July, according to a possible interpretation it seemed that they could not make use of the longer deadline of 30 days by increasing the sum due with the increase of 0, 40 percent.
The interpretative problem was definitively resolved with a regulatory change introduced into the so-called “corrective” decree. The decree expressly provides that payments resulting from tax, IRAP and VAT returns can also be made by August 30th with an increase of 0.40 percent.
The expressed regulatory provision was particularly awaited by operators. In this way, taxpayers will have the opportunity to evaluate more carefully whether or not to join the biennial composition with creditors. Now, however, the corrective decree will have to pass the examination of the competent parliamentary commissions before being published in the Official Journal.
Now professionals will have more time available to evaluate the position of each individual client with reference to the biennial preventive agreement even if sacrificing, as is now usual, part of the month of August.
