VAT and tax authorities: amnesty for friendly notices is prohibited

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Pardoning good notices for VAT numbers (for now) is an impossible task. Letters from the Revenue Agency that companies and professionals receive these days to comply with the concessional definition without penalties and additional amounts provided for by the first Sostegni Decree issued last spring (Legislative Decree 41/2021) may, in fact, be unusable without the self-certification of assistance The state against Covid already acquired.

The whole question is in a paragraph in Appendix 1 of the letter (called a “proposal for an accessible definition”): «From the data indicated in the statements presented, it appears that you meet the requirements for access to the definition. However, the actual use of the benefits is subject to compliance with the limits and conditions set out in the European Commission Communiqué dated March 19, 2020 (2020) 1863 Final “Interim Framework for Government Assistance Measures to Support the Economy in the Current COVID-19 Emergency”.

In practice, the agency identifies on the basis of comparison of VAT returns taxpayers who, after automated checks on returns, owe the tax authorities and could fall under the amnesty because they suffered a reduction of more than 30% in turnover for 2020 compared to the volume of sales for the year The former (for economic operators that are not bound by the VAT model, the amount of revenue and fees generated by tax returns). At this point, the letter proposes a double count: the full amount due after checking tax and VAT return adjustments related to tax years 2017 and 2018 or the amount deducted for fines and additional amounts based on the amnesty. All with a dual F24 depending on whether you choose one method or the other.

Here is the insurmountable obstacle now

It is not difficult to assume that, even more so, at the difficult stage of the exit from the pandemic crisis, the choice falls on the discounted amount. But here comes the insurmountable hurdle (for now). Facilitated identification is completed by payment of the reduced amount within 30 days of receipt of this offer (or by payment of the first installment in the case of intermittent payment, always within 30 days). But, as expected, this is not enough, because the taxpayer must certify that he has not exceeded the ceiling of the ceilings of Covid aid stipulated in society: 1.8 million euros for Section 3.1 of the temporary framework (for companies operating in the fishing sector) and aquaculture is up to the maximum 270 thousand euros and for companies operating in the primary production sector of agricultural products 225 thousand euros); €10 million for section 3.12 relating to contributions to fixed costs.

There is no possibility to prepare the certificate

Standard certification, which can also be used for other types of anti-Covid measures, which, however, have not yet seen the light of day. This was always provided for by Sostiny’s first decree, which delegated the “task” of determining its contents to a decree of the Ministry of Economy, however, there was no specific timing for its adoption. A decree that at the same time requires a preventive dialogue of the shared files with the EU Commission, so it is possible that something has broken down on the flight between Rome and Brussels or simply the accumulation of delays.