From “Spesometro” to VAT: too many costs for accountants

Giuseppe Bernoni gave an interview to the newspaper Corriere Economia talking about the digital revolution in the Italian tax administration, which would imply too many burdens and costs for accountants and advisors, as well as about the regulation on split payment, which penalizes those who work with Public Administrations.

According to Giuseppe Bernoni, the so-called “split payment” - i.e. the non-collection of invoiced VAT - is one of the most recent and discussed themes. The Government wants to prevent evasion, and does not trust businesses as some of them could choose not to pay VAT. Subsequently, it created a penalizing system for those professionals who have prevailing relationships with Public Administrations as they cannot deduct the cost of paid VAT. This implies a clear financial problem, as professionals must advance such amounts.

Moreover, the so-called “Spesometro”, according to accountants, implies a cost of approximately 1,600 Euro for each accountancy firm. At the beginning, the balance of received and issued invoices had to be notified to Tax Authorities every 3 months, then every 6 months, then each year. Now, the most recent regulation, terms have been set to 6 months, again. But Tax Authorities also want to receive further very specific information, for which submitting a copy of the VAT register would not be sufficient. Hopefully, things will change with the introduction of digital invoicing (1st January 2019).