Prepared by Francesco Pizzo, Lorenzo Ontano and Stefania Lolli
Last August 17, 2020, the Italian Tax Authorities with the publication of the Ruling no. 47/2020, provided clarifications with reference to the new VAT rules applicable to the services of short and long term leasing, rental and similar (ex article 7-quater, paragraph 1, letter e) and article 7-sexies, paragraph 1, letter e-bis of the Presidential Decree no. 633/1972), of pleasure boats, included in the article 48, paragraph 7, of the Law Decree no. 76/2020.
As recent regulatory developments, the place of the provisions of services of leasing, rental and similar of pleasure boats provided of the aforementioned articles can be considered excluded from the VAT taxable amount due to the lack of the territorial requirement only applying of effectiveness criteria, or if, through relevant means of proofs, can be demonstrate actual use and actual fruition of the service outside the EU territory.
The article 48, paragraph 7, of the Law Decree no. 76/2020, have modified article 1, paragraphs 725 and 726, of the Law no. 160/2019. In particular:
- extent the scope of the application, no longer only referred to the short terms provisions of services of leasing, rental and similar of pleasure boats (ex article 7-quater, paragraph 1, letter e) of the Presidential Decree no. 633/1972) but also to the ones of long terms (article 7-sexies, paragraph 1, letter e-bis of the Presidential Decree no. 633/1972);
- postpone the entry into force, with applicability of that rule to all the provisions of services performed starting from November 1, 2020 (in their previous version, the above mentioned paragraphs were applicable only to the provisions of services of short term leasing, rental and similar of pleasure boats, performed starting from April 1, 2020).
It is worth to remind that with the Note no. 234483, dated June 15, 2020, the Italian Tax Authorities identified the methods and the proper means in order to demonstrate the actual fruition and the actual use of the service outside the EU territory only for the provisions of services of short term leasing, rental and similar of pleasure boats. By way of example, are considered means of proofs the travel cartography, the navigation or on-board log kept by the captain of the ship, the documentation proving the mooring of the pleasure boat at harbors located outside the EU territory, etc.
With the Ruling no. 47/2020, the Italian Tax Authorities clarifies that starting from November 1, 2020, the presumptive flat-rate percentages of taxation of payments of services based on the length and propulsion system (sail or engine) of the mean of transport established by the Circular Letter no. 49/2002, integrated with the Circular Letter no. 38/2009 and subsequently confirmed with Circular Letter no. 43/2011, will no longer be applicable to the services of leasing, rental and similar of pleasure boats, both for short and long term.
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