Prepared by Andrea Werner Beilin and Francesco Mariani
The Ministry of Finance’s Decree dated 21 June 2021 (hereinafter only “the Decree”), defined the rules related to the issuance of e-invoices for the supplies of goods and services carried out with counterparties resident in San Marino.
The Decree will enter into force starting from October 1, 2021; however, until June 30, 2022, it will be possible to issue paper invoices, according to the procedures established by the Decree, to San Marino counterparts.
On the other hand, starting from July 1, 2022, it will be mandatory for the Italian taxpayers to issue only electronic invoices, in the ways described by the Decree.
Invoicing flow: “Italy –> San Marino”
The invoicing process towards business customers resident in San Marino provides some peculiarities compared to the “SdI” process currently in force for domestic supplies.
In particular, the electronic invoices and the credit/debit notes related to supplies of goods shipped or transported into the Republic of San Marino, once sent to the SdI, will be transmitted by the latter to the tax office of San Marino, which, after some checks, should validate the invoice by submitting a specific communication to the Italian Tax Authorities.
Accordingly, the outcome of the checks made by the San Marino tax office will be made available by the Italian Tax Authorities to the Italian supplier through an appropriate IT channel.
In this respect, as indicated in Article 3 of the Decree, in the event that in the four months following the issuance of the invoice, the San Marino tax office does not validate the invoice, the Italian supplier should issue a credit note pursuant to article 26, paragraph 1, Presidential Decree no. 633/1972, without the payment of penalties and interests.
On the other hand, if the San Marino office validates the transaction, the latter can be considered VAT exempt with right to deduction according to articles 8 and 9, Presidential Decree 633/1972.
In this respect, for the supply of goods carried out with transport or delivery into the Republic of San Marino, the VAT exemption with right to deduction applies if the following conditions are met:
- in case of electronic invoice, the validation by the San Marino tax office of the invoice issued by the Italian supplier;
- in case a paper invoice is issued (if allowed by the law), in accordance with the procedures provided for by art. 4 of the Decree, by the copy of the invoice endorsed with the indication of the date and with the stamp of the official San Marino authority with the wording “Rep. of San Marino – Tax Office”.
Finally, the issuance of electronic documents to taxable persons resident in San Marino is not mandatory, if an invoicing exemption applies according to the general invoicing regulations (e.g. supplies mentioned by art. 22, Presidential Decree no. 633/1972).
Invoicing flow: “San Marino –> Italy”
Invoices issued by San Marino taxable persons to Italian business customers (with transport of the goods from San Marino to Italy) will follow the reverse route.
In particular, the electronic invoices will be transmitted by the San Marino Tax Office in electronic format to the SdI, which will make them available to the Italian business customer through a specific IT channel.
The Decree regulates also the different VAT obligations depending on where an electronic or paper invoices is issued and on the VAT treatment applied by the San Marino supplier.
Distance sales
Article 15, Decree, provides that distance sales of goods to private consumers (for example, distance sales from an Italian taxable person to a San Marino private consumer) will be relevant for VAT purposes in the country of goods’ destination once the threshold of €28,000 is exceeded.
However, even the threshold is not exceeded, the supplier can opt for the application of the VAT in the country of destination of the goods.
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