Baby bonus, severance pay in payroll, checks on current accounts, VAT and petrol. These are the chapters on which the latest changes to the Stability Law focus, which yesterday received the green light from the General Accounting Office and the Quirinale and will begin its process in the Chamber next week, after the meeting between the Government and the trade unions on the agenda For Monday.
1) BABY BONUS: RESOURCES MORE THAN HALVED
The most surprising chapter is undoubtedly that of helping new mothers. To cover the manoeuvre, 500 million had initially been envisaged for 2015 (which would then necessarily become one billion in 2016 and 1,5 billion from 2017 onwards), but after the criticisms from the Accounting Office, the funding was cut by more than 50 %, going down to 202 million euros, which will rise to 607 in 2016 and to just over one billion in 2017.
The other aspects of the law have been confirmed: the benefit will be 80 euros per month, and households whose annual gross income does not exceed 90 euros will be entitled to it and to obtain it, it will be necessary to request it from INPS.
Calculator in hand, the new amount of funds should be enough for about 200 children a year, or less than half of those born in Italy each year. However, the Treasury clarifies that no one will be left out, because the 202 million euros are a "forecast coverage not a limit": all applications will be accepted, provided they meet the established requirements. If necessary, therefore, it will draw on the family fund, in which 298 million euros will remain for next year.
2) TFR IN PAYROLL: YES IRPEF RATE, BUT THE INCOME DOES NOT RISE
As for the severance indemnity in the pay slip, an important clarification finally arrives: the advance of the severance indemnity does not contribute to raising the income for tax purposes, therefore there is no risk of moving to the next Irpef bracket, nor of exceeding the limit beyond which you are no longer entitled to the bonus of 80 euros per month (about 26 thousand euros gross per year).
On the other hand, the final version of the provision confirms that the severance indemnities will be taxed with the marginal Irpef rate rather than with the facilitated one envisaged up to now for the liquidation and the technical report admits that the tax increase - although not involving all taxpayers – could discourage workers from making use of this possibility.
3) MORE CHECKS ON CURRENT ACCOUNTS
The Government has envisaged greater controls on bank accounts, for which reference will no longer be made to self-certification, but to the average annual value of deposits, using the database of bank current accounts.
4) REVERSE CHARGE AND RISK OF INCREASING PETROL DUTIES
According to the technical report to the Stability Law, the introduction of the reverse charge system for VAT will yield 1,9 billion to the Treasury. It is a sort of inversion of the rules for the payment of themost evaded tax. Now it is the seller who pays, who invoices and then pays the taxman. In the future, in the hypothetical "chain" for the sale of an asset, it will be the buyer (except for the final one), with a self-invoice.
In detail, 900 million are expected from the reverse charge applied to the construction, cleaning, accounting certificates and gas sectors, while with the generalized split payment on the purchases of the PA burdened by VAT, the Administration expects to recover 988 million.
The go-ahead from the European Union is awaited on this provision: if it does not arrive, a new safeguard clause is envisaged which will trigger yet another increase in excise duties on fuel by 30 June.
