Drafted by Andrea Werner Beilin, Francesco Mariani and Alberto Lanzafame
This Newsalert summarizes the updates and main clarifications provided by the Italian Tax Authorities on electronic invoicing in the last months and, in particular:
- the non-applicability of the reduction of the tax assessment period for VAT Groups;
- the procedures for subscribing to the electronic invoice consultation and acquisition service;
- the publication of the new “Guide to the compilation of the electronic invoice and the Esterometro“, now available in version no. 1.9.
Reduction of assessment deadlines for VAT Groups
With the Ruling no. 69/2024, the Italian Tax Authorities has clarified that the reduction of the tax assessment period by two years provided for by art. 3, d.lgs. no. 127/2015, is not applicable to VAT Groups, constituted pursuant to articles 70-bis and following, Presidential Decree no. 633/1972.
In particular, the aforementioned art. 3, Legislative Decree no. 127/2015, provides that the deadline for the tax assessment referred to in art. 57, paragraph 1, Presidential Decree no. 633/1972 and the in art. 43, paragraph 1, Presidential Decree no. 600/1973, are reduced by two years for taxpayers who ensure, in the ways established by the Ministerial Decree 4 August 2016, the traceability of payments, received and made, related to operations of an amount higher than 500 euros.
In this respect, the Ministerial Decree 4 August 2016 provides, where the requirements for traceability of payments are met, the obligation to communicate the existence of such requirements in the tax return.
Having said the above, according to what was clarified by the Italian Tax Authorities in the Ruling no. 69/2024, the reduction is not applicable to VAT Groups as “[…] on one hand the members of the group cannot be considered ”VAT taxable persons”, […] and, on the other hand, the VAT Group is irrelevant for income tax purposes, since it does not submit any declaration for them, nor would it be entitled to express any intention of its participants in this area.”.
Service for consultation and acquisition of electronic invoices or their digital duplicates
The Act of the Italian Tax Authorities no. 105669, published on 8 March 2024, provided that, starting from 20 March 2024 and until 31 December of the second year following the one in which invoices are received by the by the Italian tax authorities’ e-invoicing portal (so called “SdI”), all taxpayers, including private consumers, will be able to access the service of “Consultation and acquisition of electronic invoices or their digital duplicates” without a prior subscription.
The aforementioned provision, in fact, has abolished paragraph 9 of provision no. 433608/2022, which contained the provisions relating to the “service of consultation and acquisition of electronic invoices or their digital duplicates” by taxable persons.
Guide to the compilation of the electronic invoice and the Esterometro
The update of the “Guide to the compilation of the electronic invoice and the Esterometro” was published on March 5, 2024, which is currently available in version no. 1.9.
Among others, the most relevant change is the one concerning the way to correct the cross-border .XML communications (also referred to as “Esterometro”), transmitted to SdI with <TipoDocumento> codes from TD17 to TD19.
In particular, according to the Italian Tax Authorities, the taxpayer can transmit a document of the same type as the one already issued to the SdI (in the case of reduction, the indicated amount must have a negative sign) by indicating in field 2.1.6 <DatiFattureCollegate>:
- if the correction is due following a credit/debit note sent by the non-resident supplier, the number and date of such credit/debit note;
- if, on the other hand, the correction is due to an error in the communication previously transmitted by the customer, the number, date and related IdSdI of the erroneous communication.
Finally, the Italian Tax Authorities clarified that the corrections of the “Esterometro” are also relevant to comply with the integration and self-billing obligations provided by art. 46, Legislative Decree no. 331/1993 and art. 21, Presidential Decree no. 633/1972, if not fulfilled in paper form.
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