They have already called it "tax cashback", but it would be more accurate to call it "tax cashback with health deductions". The measure is still to be defined in detail, but the general picture is clear: the 10% refund conceived by the M5S as an incentive to use payment cards, after being abolished by the Draghi government, returns in a very different form from the original.
Tax cashback on deductions for health care expenses: how it works
The goal is the same as always: to fight evasion by encouraging traceable payments. The tool, however, changes. No more the 10% refund conceived by the Conte government – an expensive and therefore unwelcome intervention for the Draghi executive – the direct transfer of health deductions to the current account through telematic platforms. An opportunity that will be offered only for expenses incurred by credit card, debit card, bank transfer, prepaid card, payment app or other traceable instruments. If it works, the mechanism could also be extended to other types of tax deductions.
The difference between the tax cashback and the M5S one
The hypothesis of the tax cashback on deductions for health care expenses emerged in the negotiations on the delegation for the tax reform, during which the government - somewhat surprisingly - accepted the general system of the M5S measure. From this point of view, the decisive aspect is the difference in costs: the grillino cashback required an ultra-billion dollar allocation because it provided for a sort of premium paid by the state to citizens; the tax casbkack on health deductions, on the other hand, does not require an increase in public spending, because it is money to which taxpayers would still be entitled.
Two amendments to the law for tax delegation
In detail, the tax cashback proposal on healthcare deductions is contained in two identical amendments to the enabling law for tax reform and also appears in the conclusions of the fact-finding survey on the digitization and interoperability of tax databases conducted by the bicameral Commission for supervision of the Tax Registry. The amendments do not specify any technical details, limiting themselves to enunciating the general principle of the measure. On the basis of the first hypotheses circulated, to obtain reimbursement on the current account, at the time of shopping, the pharmacist, insurance company or INPS should be informed of the willingness to opt for the cashback instead of the normal deduction, specifying a code that will be indicated both in the means of payment and in the electronic receipt (or in the electronic invoice, or in the payment slip). At that point, it will be the seller, when communicating the transaction to the tax registry, who will indicate the willingness of the taxpayer to take advantage of the tax cashback.
