Few hours until tax day, the deadline for the balance of Tasi and Imu 2014, but also for the payment of Irpef withholdings of employees and self-employed workers, substitute tax linked to the revaluation of the severance pay and withholdings on transfers attributable to Irpef deductions. Tuesday 16 December is the heaviest deadline of the year for Italian taxpayers, called to pay a total of 44 billion euros, according to estimates by the Cgia of Mestre. But even once the house tax obstacle has been overcome, there will be no time left to enjoy Christmas and New Year's in peace, given that – as the Revenue Agency itself underlines – between the end of December and the beginning of January the deadlines to keep an eye on are even 200.
TASI, THE GOVERNMENT AVOIDS THE STANGATA ON 2015
The only good news, for the moment, is that the danger of a surge in the Tasi in 2015 was thwarted by the Government with an amendment to the Stability law. The alarm was triggered after the postponement to 2016 of the "local tax", the single levy on the house with the merger of Imu and Tasi that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had initially promised for next year. The ceiling on the tax rate at 2,5 per thousand (which can rise to 3,3 per thousand only if the proceeds of the additional 0,8 are destined for deductions) was in fact valid only for 2014, while from next year the Municipalities could raise the bar up to 6 per thousand, increasing the cost of the tax on indivisible services. To avoid price increases, one of the more than 60 amendments to the maneuver presented by the Executive on Saturday provides for the extension of the current limits to the whole of 2015. The latest package of changes to the Stability Law signed by the Government will be examined starting today in the commission Budget in the Senate.
SECOND HOMES: INCREASE OF UP TO 236% IN THREE YEARS
The narrow escape for 2015 does not mean that from 2011 to today the taxation on real estate has already grown enormously. Again according to the Cgia of Mestre, between 2011 (the last year of the ICI) and 2014 (with the introduction first of the Imu and then of the Tasi) there was a 236% increase in second homes rented at an agreed rent, 150% on second homes rented at free rent and 144% on private offices and studios. Not only that: the increase on shops and workshops was 140%, on vacant second homes 115%, on craft workshops 108%, on hotels, boarding houses and commercial warehouses 96% and on factories, craft/industrial warehouses and 95% factories. The calculations, however, do not take into account the tax savings granted by law for buildings for productive use (this year, for example, the Tasi is completely deductible from business income, while the Imu is 20%) . As far as residential properties are concerned, the study claims that this year the tax burden on vacant second homes is equal to an average of 932 euros, that on homes rented at free rent at 911 euros and that on houses rented at an agreed rent at 773 euros.
END OF YEAR OBSTACLE COURSE: 200 FULFILLMENTS
Imu and Tasi are certainly the taxes that have been talked about the most in Italy in 2014, but widening your gaze to the next month of the fiscal calendar makes you dizzy. As mentioned, the Revenue Agency itself admits that 200 obligations will be reached by early January. Obviously, however, not all categories of taxpayers will be harassed in the same way: according to the Fondazione Studi Consulenti del Lavoro, the primacy belongs to businesses, artisans and professionals, affected by 100 appointments with the tax authorities; joint stock companies follow with 84, employees and pensioners with 66, partnerships with 62 and non-commercial entities with 53.
