Tax bills of the Italian Revenue Agency
The tax collection files of the Revenue Agency are the most common, as they concern unpaid taxes such as VAT and personal income tax (IRPEF), regional business tax (IRAP), or corporate income tax (IRES).
The tax collection files of the Revenue Agency, which entrusts the credit recovery activity to the Revenue Collection Agency, are the acts through which the tax authority tries to recover its credit.
Sometimes, the file is based on the failure to pay the amounts indicated in VAT or income declarations, other times it’s based on the assessment of higher incomes not subject to taxation, and at times, the assessments concern acts subject to stamp duty (such as the acquisition of real estate, land, or businesses).
The actual taxes prescribe in 10 years, while penalties and interests prescribe in 5 years. It might make sense, therefore, to challenge the tax collection file solely because it contains penalties and interests that greatly increase the debt. Once the due amounts are reduced, requesting installment payments for the remaining sums owed to the Revenue Agency could be an option.
Tax Collection File of the Italian Revenue Agency
The tax collection files of the Revenue Agency are the most common, as they concern unpaid taxes such as VAT and personal income tax (IRPEF), regional business tax (IRAP), or corporate income tax (IRES).
The tax collection files of the Revenue Agency, which entrusts the credit recovery activity to the Revenue Collection Agency, are the acts through which the tax authority tries to recover its credit.
Sometimes, the file is based on the failure to pay the amounts indicated in VAT or income declarations, other times it’s based on the assessment of higher incomes not subject to taxation, and at times, the assessments concern acts subject to stamp duty (such as the acquisition of real estate, land, or businesses).
The actual taxes prescribe in 10 years, while penalties and interests prescribe in 5 years. It might make sense, therefore, to challenge the tax collection file solely because it contains penalties and interests that greatly increase the debt. Once the due amounts are reduced, requesting installment payments for the remaining sums owed to the Revenue Agency could be an option.
Tax Collection Files and the Meloni Government
With the establishment of the Meloni Government, there were many expectations from taxpayers regarding innovations for Tax Collection Files.
Many were disappointed by the measures proposed by the new government, as it was a very small amnesty for older and smaller amount files, as well as a re-proposal of amnesty measures similar to previous governments.
Prescribed Tax Collection Files
What to do if tax collection files are prescribed?
Tax collection files prescribe when several years pass without the Revenue Collection Agency (Equitalia) requesting payment: the term is 3, 5, or 10 years depending on the type of file.
If you believe that the prescription has elapsed for your files, then you can contest the subsequent act sent by Equitalia with the help of a lawyer, perhaps a cassation lawyer. However, pay attention to the deadlines for filing your appeal or citation.
Prescription of penalties and interests in tax collection files
We’ve seen that sometimes tax collection files have a prescription of 10 years.
However, even in these cases, the penalties and interests contained in such files are subject to a five-year prescription.
Essentially, by contesting the file between the 5th and 10th year after its notification, the annulment of penalties and interests could be obtained, returning to being debtors of the originally owed tax.
Default Verification for tax collection files
The default verification is the obligation for public administrations and publicly owned companies to verify if there are debts for tax collection files before paying a supplier.
How the default verification works: if the supplier or professional who is to be paid by the public administration an amount exceeding €5,000.00, the public administration must verify that there are no pending tax collection file debts (this is done by accessing the website www.acquistinretepa.it).
If there are no debts, the Public Administration can pay; if there are debts, every sum that would have been due must be communicated to the Revenue Collection Agency, which will proceed with the garnishment of the sums.
The submission of the installment request does not block the constraint on the sums, and therefore, the installment will be granted net of the sums resulting from the default verification.
Similarly, contesting the tax collection file does not exclude the default verification and therefore the blockage of the sums, if there hasn’t been a suspension of the enforcement title.
Interests on tax collection files
Interests are calculated on tax collection files annually, in the manner provided by law and published in the official gazette.
Tax collection files sometimes must indicate how the interests have been calculated, within the limits of what was affirmed by the Court of Cassation in joint sections in 2022, according to which:
“When following the adoption of a tax act that has already determined the amount of tax debt and the related interests, the file that demands the taxpayer to pay additional interests that have meanwhile accrued satisfies the obligation of motivation, prescribed by Law no. 212 of 2000, article 7, and by Law no. 241 of 1990, article 3, through the simple reference to the previous act and the quantification of the additional amount for the accessories.
In cases where, instead, the file constitutes the first act claiming payment of interests, it must, in order to satisfy the obligation of motivation, indicate, in addition to the monetary amount requested for this purpose, the regulatory basis concerning the claimed interests, which can also be deduced implicitly from the specific identification of the type and nature of the claimed interests or the type of tax to which they pertain, also indicating the starting point from which the interests are due and without, in any case, the need for specifying the individual periodically applied rates or calculation methods.”
It is not always easy, therefore, to challenge the correctness of the interests applied to the tax collection file, and often, this challenge does not become a violation of the obligation of motivation, but merely a reason for contesting part of the debt.
Late Payment Interests in Tax Collection Files
Late payment interests are often listed in tax collection files as:
- Late payment interests;
- Collection fees (until 2015);
- Collection charges (since 2016).
Often, the application of these items is partially illegitimate, as interests on interests are calculated (resulting in compound interest), or because interests on penalties are calculated, whereas the law states that the sum imposed as penalties should not generate interests.
Late payment interests create further problems in the case of installments in 72 or 120 installments.
Indeed, in installment plans, further effects of compound interest arise, with the request for sums from the taxpayer who is entitled to a recalculation or refund.
The term for the notification of tax collection files
The law provides a time limit for the issuance and notification of tax collection files.
Article 25 of Law 603/1973 provides that the collection activity consisting of the notification of the tax collection file is therefore carried out:
- by December 31st of the 3rd year following the submission of the declaration made by the taxpayer or withholding agent;
- by December 31st of the 4th year following the submission of the declaration by the withholding agent for the TFR (Trattamento di Fine Rapporto) and termination indemnities;
- by December 31st of the 4th year following the submission of the declaration in case of formal control of declarations under article 36 ter;
- by December 31st of the 2nd year following the year in which the assessment became final in the case of official assessments;
- by December 31st of the 3rd year following the expiration of the last installment of the installment plan for sums due as a result of defaults on installment plans granted by the Revenue Collection Agency.
The time limits for the notification of tax collection files also apply to VAT, local taxes, and others.
However, these time limits do not apply to consortial contributions and administrative sanctions resulting from violations of social security regulations.
For penalties resulting from violations of the highway code, the limitation period is 2 years only for violations ascertained by the municipal police, while there is no limitation for violations contested by the police, carabinieri, and provincial police.
Nullity of the tax collection file
The tax collection file could be affected by nullity where it lacks the essential requirements provided by law, or where the notification is invalid.
For the nullity
of the tax collection file to be declared, you must lodge an objection through a lawyer.
In fact, as long as the judge does not declare the tax collection file invalid, it remains valid and effective.
Often, the nullity of the tax collection file is discussed in relation to a violation in its notification process.
There are many reasons that can make the notification of the tax collection file null, and it’s difficult to cover all of them here, but let’s see some.
Suspension of tax collection files
When you receive a tax collection file, you can request suspension from Equitalia or through opposition to the Judge.
Suspension can be requested with a self-protection request directly to the Revenue Collection Agency when, for example, the amount has been paid, or when you believe the debt has prescribed.
Always pay attention to the deadlines for contesting tax collection files, as mentioned in this post, as once the deadline has passed, it will no longer be possible to contest it.
Suspension can instead always be requested from the Judge in charge of opposing the tax collection file, and the Court or the Tax Commission may grant or deny the suspension where there is a fumus boni iuris and periculum in mora. Problems with tax collection files
In case of problems with tax collection files, address your case as soon as possible because the time limits to contest the acts are very tight, and in case of delay, you risk prejudicing your situation.
If you are looking for a law firm of cassation lawyers dealing with tax collection files in Italy or in Rome, contact us for an initial consultation without obligation, sending us a scanned copy of the document received from the Revenue Collection Agency.
