Prepared by Francesco Pizzo and Federica Panzeri
The 2020 Budget Law (no. 160/2019) introduced the tax on the consumption of plastic items with single use or “MACSI” (better known as “Plastic Tax”).
We hereby provide with our preliminary comments on the content of the draft of IP, recently published on the website of the Customs Authority together with a draft of the pertaining quarterly declaration, in view of the entry into force of the Plastic Tax, as of today, scheduled for 1 July 2021.
In particular, we will focus mainly on the obligations envisaged for taxpayers, by referring to our previous Newsalerts dated January 16, 2020 and November 23, 2020 for the other issues concerning the Plastic Tax.
Having said that, with reference to the scope of application of the tax, it is worth briefly mentioning the indication, contained in Article 1 of the draft of IP, according to which the MACSI products are “lacking the technical production requirements that allow reuse for the same purpose for which they were designed”.
The Customs Authority clarifies, in this regard, that MACSI products include, by way of example, sheets, plates, preforms, bottles, caps, containers, lids, bags, packaging, films and, in any case, all the other polymeric products, in any case shaped or shapeable, suitable for forming a wrapping or part of a wrapping for goods or food products.
The draft of IP also specifies that MACSI products are made with the use, even partial, of plastic materials consisting of organic polymers of synthetic origin included in heads from 3901 to 3911 of the combined nomenclature of the European Union.
With reference to the obligations required to the persons involved in the application of the tax, the draft of IP distinguishes among the obligations of the manufacturer, the seller, the transformer, the EU buyer and, finally, the importer.
In particular, the manufacturer, considered as the person who runs the production plant, must briefly comply with the following:
- submit in advance a communication, by electronic means, to the Customs Authority with an attached technical report that indicates, among other things, the types of MACSI produced, the technical features of the plant, the description of the production process, the methods of storage of raw materials plastics and MACSI, the procedures for keeping industrial accounting;
- implement separate storage among virgin plastic, recycled plastic and processed MACSI (i.e. tax paid MACSI used for manufacturing of other MACSI) introduced into the plant;
- submit a quarterly return, by the end of the following month, and pay the tax within the same deadline;
- keep daily accounts for the plant;
- quote in the sale invoice: the nature, quality and quantity of the MACSI transferred; the mass of virgin plastic contained in those MACSI; the amount of the tax paid; an indication as to whether they are MACSI tax excluded;
- communicate the list of “sellers” (i.e. persons who sell the MACSI produced, on their behalf, by the manufacturer) for which it carries out the production activity;
- keep an updated list of plants in which recycling processes of the plastic used in the production plant are carried out.
With reference to the “seller” (as already defined above), he is required to comply with the following:
- submit in advance a communication, by electronic means, to the Customs Authority providing the general data of the company, the legal representative, the location of the production plants and attaching a technical report on the types of MACSI produced, indicating whether it is MACSI tax excluded, and on the annual quantity of MACSI which is expected to be produced in the plants;
- keep weekly accounts for each production plant;
- submit a quarterly return, by the end of the following month, and pay the tax within the same deadline;
- quote in the sales invoices: the nature, quality and quantity of the MACSI sold; the mass of virgin plastic contained in those MACSI; the amount of the tax paid; an indication as to whether they are MACSI tax excluded;
- keep an updated list of plants in which recycling processes of the plastic used in the production plant are carried out.
With reference to the “transformer”, intended as a MACSI producer who uses tax paid MACSI without adding plastic materials, the draft of IP, on the one hand, clarifies that this person is not considered a “manufacturer” for plastic tax purposes.
On the other hand, however, it requires that the “transformer” must submit, by electronic means, a prior communication to the Customs Authority to obtain the attribution of the identification code to the plant if he intends to obtain a refund of the plastic tax for the MACSI sold abroad.
Furthermore, for the MACSI purchased, the transformer must request an invoice quoting the nature, quality and quantity of those MACSI, the mass of virgin plastic contained, the amount of the tax paid, as well as keep a specific accounting for the verification of the information necessary for the tax refund.
With reference to the persons that purchase MACSI from other EU countries, the draft of IP, in the current wording, provides for the following:
- submit in advance a communication, by electronic means, to the Customs Authority, with an attached technical report containing: a) the description of the procedures according to which the accounting of the MACSI purchased is kept and the relative invoices and accompanying notes are stored; b) the maximum quantity of MACSI to be dispatched in one year, with specification of the types of MACSI, distinguishing between subject or out of scope of the tax, and their composition, with particular reference to the mass of virgin plastic material contained in them. Furthermore, if the purchaser is holder of a warehouse where MACSI are kept, a description of the warehouse, its storage capacity and of the procedures according to which the accounting is kept must also be attached to the abovementioned communication;
- submit a quarterly return, by the end of the following month, and pay the tax within the same deadline;
- keep a daily accounting of the MACSI dispatched, broken down by type, with separate accounting of: a) MACSI subject to tax, with indication of the rate applicable to them based on the certifications provided by the EU producer as well as on the basis of the related purchase invoices; b) MACSI obtained exclusively from recycled plastic and MACSI excluded from the tax;
- storage of invoices for each MACSI purchased, by distinguishing between invoices for MACSI subject to and out of scope of the tax, and quoting: a) for MACSI subject to tax at a reduced rate, some information (including nature, quality, quantity of MACSI and mass of virgin plastic contained in them) certified by an EU producer in respect to the quantity of virgin and recycled plastic contained; b) for MACSI tax excluded, the certification of the EU producer attesting that MACSI are compostable in compliance with the standard UNI EN 13432:2002.
Moreover, the draft of IP identifies the obligations of the person who imports MACSI from non-EU territories as follows:
- submission of an import customs declaration quoting special additional codes depending on whether it is MACSI (imported as such or goods imported in combination with MACSI) subject to tax or excluded;
- settlement of the tax due to the Customs Authority based on the quantity of MACSI declared;
- storage of invoices for each MACSI purchased, by distinguishing between invoices for MACSI subject to and out of scope of the tax, and quoting: a) for MACSI subject to tax at a reduced rate, some information (including nature, quality, quantity of MACSI and mass of virgin plastic contained in them) certified by an EU producer in respect to the quantity of virgin and recycled plastic contained; b) for MACSI tax excluded, the certification of the EU producer attesting that MACSI are compostable in compliance with the standard UNI EN 13432:2002.
- quoting, on the commercial documentation accompanying the imported MACSI, the payment of the tax;
- indication, in the invoices relating to the sales of MACSI within the Italian territory to production plants or economic operators requesting a refund of the tax, of the nature, quality and quantity of the MACSI sold; the mass of virgin plastic contained in them; the amount of the tax paid; the indication if it is MACSI out of scope of the tax.
Lastly, with reference to the tax refunds for the sales of MACSI dispatched abroad, it is worth noting that the person requesting the refund (i.e. the seller of the MACSI dispatched to another EU country or exporter of the MACSI) must attach to the refund claim submitted to the customs authorities a list of the MACSI purchase invoices issued by plastic tax liable person that quote some information, including the tax paid, and the MRN code (for exports) or the invoices for intra-EU sales with the details of the EU listings in which the sales have been recorded.
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