Edited by Davide Accorsi, Andrea Casalini
With ruling reply no. 65 of 4 March 2026, the Italian tax authorities clarified when the 90-day period begins for obtaining evidence of the movement of goods to another EU Member State in the case of intra-EU supplies with transport arranged by the customer.
The case under review concerns a company engaged in the production and sale of goods characterized by long manufacturing times. These goods are transferred to another EU Member State only upon completion of the production cycle.
In accordance with the contractual arrangements in place, payment to the supplier is made on the basis of specific agreed “milestones”, each of which is formalized through the issuance of a corresponding invoice. Each invoice is issued pursuant to Article 41 of Decree‑Law no. 331/1993 and therefore refers to VAT exempt intra-EU supplies, applying the same VAT treatment provided for the final supply of the goods dispatched to another Member State, with transport arranged by the taxable customer.
Upon issuance of the invoices, ownership of the goods is transferred to the customer in proportion to the amount invoiced.
Following the recent amendments to Article 7(1) of Legislative Decree no. 471/1997, which extended the obligation to collect proof of transport to destination within 90 days from delivery of the goods also to intra-EU supplies carried out with transport arranged by the customer, the applicant essentially sought clarification on the meaning of the term “delivery” in the specific context addressed by the ruling request.
The Italian Tax Authorities clarified that the amounts periodically paid by the customer for the “milestones” qualify as advance payments and that “although the customer formally acquires, at each stage, ‘ownership’ of what has already been completed, since further processing, assembly and testing are required, effective ownership, for the purposes relevant here, may be considered to be actually transferred at the time when the goods are in a condition to be shipped”.
In other words, delivery does not occur through the transfer of ownership under civil law rules, but rather when the power to dispose of the goods is transferred to the customer. This occurs exclusively at the end of the production cycle, when it becomes possible to proceed with their transport.
Finally, it is noted that, if proof is not obtained within 90 days from delivery, the supplier has an additional 30 days to regularize the transaction by charging and paying the corresponding VAT, thereby avoiding the application of the penalties provided for under the above‑mentioned Article 7(1) of Legislative Decree no. 471/1997. Moreover, the supplier is entitled to recover the VAT where, after having charged and paid it to the Treasury, it is subsequently able to provide proof of the intra‑EU transport, as clarified in ruling no. 32/2023 concerning indirect exports[1].
[1] Please see our newsalert on this point.
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