With resolution no. 3 published on Friday 3 February 2023, the Revenue Agency formulated the first clarifications regarding the VAT treatment to be reserved for ” sale and lease back ” following the sentence of the Cassation n. 11023 of 27 April 2021. Thus, in fact, the previous instructions provided with CM no. 218/2000 , which did not take into account either the aforementioned ruling or the principles of the EU Court of Justice case C-201/18 which, by the Cassation itself, had been implemented.
With reference to the sale and lease back contract and the transfer of an asset to a leasing company with retrocession under a financial lease to the transferor, in the absence of the prerogatives/rights of the user of the asset, an effective “transfer of the asset” would be configured ” from the grantor/user to the leasing institution, as such subject to VAT. The elements of the contractual situation that can represent significant indicators that help to evaluate whether the transaction for the purposes of VAT is a sale of goods rather than a single transaction with a financial cause.
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