With the closure of Equitalia comes a wave of discounts on tax bills. Together with Budget law, on Saturday the Government passed a decree - still to be filed before definitive approval - which scrapped the collection company controlled by the Revenue Agency (51%) and INPS (49%). Within six months, the responsibility for recovering unpaid taxes will pass to the Agency. For taxpayers this will involve the opening of an amnesty on the folders still lying in the offices of Equitalia.
1. WHAT YOU CONTINUE TO PAY
This is not an amnesty, because the debts with the State will have to be paid in full, as well as the interest for the late payment, which update the debt with respect to the moment in which it matured, but are in any case very low (about 0,5 % per year).
2. WHAT YOU DON'T PAY ANYMORE
However, default interest and penalties will be cancelled, which take effect from the moment of notification of the folder and in some cases can cause the amount due to triple. On average, the weight of tax bills should be reduced by between 30 and 50 percent.
The so-called "aggio", i.e. the commission collected by Equitalia as compensation for the service performed on behalf of the creditor, could also be canceled or reduced. Today it amounts to 3% of the amount due if the tax payer pays the tax bill within two months of notification. Otherwise it rises to 6 percent.
3. WHAT CHANGES FOR ATTACHMENTS AND PROCESSES
Adherence to the amnesty interrupts executive actions by Equitalia such as pledges and foreclosures. The closure of the pending judicial proceedings is also possible if the trial has not yet reached the hearing in first instance.
4. TO WHICH DEBTS IT APPLIES
The perimeter of the amnesty does not only include debts with the central tax authorities, but also those with INPS and Inail. On the other hand, fines for traffic violations should be excluded. There are also doubts about the notices issued for non-payment of VAT, which is a tax of European value, since part of its revenue is used to finance the EU budget. We will have to wait for the final version of the decree to clarify these points.
5. HOW TO ACTIVATE AND HOW TO PAY
The amnesty will probably not be automatic, but applied at the request of taxpayers. In any case, the administration will send a new tax bill that is lighter than the previous one. Payment can be made in a single solution or in installments for a maximum period of three years, equal to 36 monthly payments.
6. WHAT CHANGES FOR THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY PAYING FOR A FOLDER IN INSTALLMENTS
Those who are already paying a tax bill in installments will be able to obtain the discount provided by the amnesty only on payments still due. And it is not advisable to interrupt payments while waiting for the discount, because the final version of the decree could exclude those who have attempted this path from the benefits.
7. THE ADVANTAGES FOR THE STATE
The discount, while reducing credits in favor of the State, should also work as an incentive to pay, for which the Government estimates that in 2017 the revenue will increase by four billion.
