How to best fill out our tax return, without making mistakes and choosing the most advantageous solution for us? The taxman, as we well know, requires meticulous precision from the taxpayer. The rules are strict, even if they change greatly over time. And few margins (and few excuses) for the mistakes that are often made unknowingly. Choice in our dealings with the tax administrator? Objectively few. But there is some room for manoeuvre, to our advantage. For example, the formula to be adopted for the tax return of natural persons. Yes, because in many cases we can decide whether to present our return by filling in the 730 model or the Physical Income model (which in the past was called the Unico model). How to choose the solution that is most convenient for us and that guarantees us the most advantages, without making mistakes?
Much information, by searching well, can be found directly in the website of the Revenue Agency but in the name of clarity and simplicity, here is a guide that also summarizes the basic information and that can be useful to everyone, also thanks to the time waivers that are foreseen this year for the tax return in the name of the emergency coronavirus.
First of all, a promise: recourse to 730 is the preferential solution for the benefit of the taxpayer who has credits with the financial administration, for example for building renovation costs that enjoy tax benefits, which as we know are also substantial.
The 730 model is therefore that which is mostly used in Italy. It is presented by those who produce income from employment or retirement, or by all people who have incurred expenses that entitle them to the deduction, not only restructuring expenses but also medical expenses.
Why the 730 model
Il 730 must be presented to the CAF, which will eventually help us set it up, or with the collaboration of a qualified professional within the normal deadline of July 23rd, which this year due to the Covid emergency has been extended to September 30th, while the deadline for filing by the withholding agent is July 7.
For model presentation 730, in fact, two different solutions can be implemented:
- 730 with the withholding agent
If the tax payer has incurred deductible expenses, generating a tax credit this will be credited by the employer (as withholding agent) directly to the pay slip within a few months or can be offset in the following year.
2. 730 without the withholding agent
The model must only be presented to the Caf or to a qualified professional. If the declaration shows that the taxpayer has a tax debt, and wants to take advantage of the 730 model, the payment of taxes must take place with a payment to be made with the F24 model. The F24 model should also be used to correctly formalize the offsets between tax receivables and payables, paying attention to the rules that have been affecting tax F24 with zero balance. Instead, if you claim a credit, this will be reimbursed by the Revenue Agency in the manner we have described.
But are there categories of taxpayers who are exempt from completing the 730 or more generally from completing the tax return? Yes. For example, employees who have no other credits or income because they have already been taxed at source by the withholding agent, even those who have only one main residence.
The pre-compiled 730 model
The IRS has been helping us a little more for some years. Since 2015, the tax authorities have wanted to devise a digital mechanism that would help the taxpayer in completing the tax return and verifying their personal data: the pre-compiled 730 form.
It is an Internet platform, available in a section of the Revenue Agency website that can only be reached via digital identification (SPID or INPS code, which however will be deactivated from 1 October and the SPID will become the identification tool for all services) . The form contains all the tax information and deductible expenses of the taxpayer already compiled by the tax authorities, easily consultable and possibly modifiable by the interested party with additions not detected a priori by the system.
In the event that the changes to the amounts already filled in are not made, there will be no verification by the Revenue Agency. Otherwise, the undersigned will be subject to control. The pre-compiled 730 must then be presented directly to the Revenue Agency, the CAF, the professional or substitute by 23 July, a date also postponed to 30 September.
Why the PF model (formerly “unique”)
An alternative model to the 730 is, as we have seen, the PF Model. This can be presented for all other tax payers:
- electronically, by 30 November.
- in paper form at the post office, the deadline normally varies from 2 May to 30 June.
This model is presented by those who:
- have a VAT number
- submit the declaration for deceased persons
- they have a "tax debt" that they prefer, for example, to manage with the forms of installments envisaged
An example of use is the case in which a taxpayer with a paycheck, has a main residence and has also performed an occasional paid service finding himself with a debit balance.
If he used the 730 model, these taxes would be charged directly to his paycheck or from his pension, instead by presenting the UNICO model he will pay the amount due with the F24 model in self-liquidation with installments established by the Revenue Agency.
When to split the declaration in two
There is the possibility or the convenience of using both declarations, 730 and Model PF, at the same time, as Silvia Maria Calcioli, accountant specializing in tax and corporate law, explains.
This is the case of the taxpayer who has produced income abroad deriving from the investment of financial instruments. These are incomes that are not included in the IRPEF accumulation for tax purposes but are subject to a substitute tax (currently 26% for income of a financial nature).
With the help of Silvia Calcioli let's make a practical example. That of an Italian taxpayer with a paycheck who has incurred substantial expenses that give the right to deduct. He also sold previously purchased shares of a foreign company, realizing a capital gain subject to substitute tax of 26%. In this case, the taxpayer will need to complete two declarations: the PF form (formerly Unico) declaring in part RT the capital gain subject to the substitute tax of 26% and in part RW ("Investments and financial activities abroad") the holding of foreign investments. With the 730 form (the second declaration) he will instead enter the income relating to the paycheck, with deductible expenses.
In this way, the taxpayer will have his/her credit repaid in a short time without suffering reductions and/or compensation with the substitute tax debt which he/she will pay autonomously in self-liquidation. Conversely, if the taxpayer used only the PF model, he would have a reduced credit which would be repaid in much longer times.
