COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION authorising the Italian Republic to
apply a special measure derogating from Article 285 of
Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax and
repealing Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/647
Whereas:
(1) By Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/6471
, Italy is authorised to apply a special
measure derogating from Article 285 of Directive 2006/112/EC to exempt from VAT
taxable persons whose annual turnover is no higher than EUR 65 000
until 31 December 2024.
(2) By letter registered with the Commission on 29 November 2022, Italy requested an
authorisation to apply a measure from 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2024, derogating
from Article 285 of Directive 2006/112/EC in order to exempt taxable persons whose
annual turnover is no higher than EUR 85 000 from VAT (the ‘special measure’).
(3) Pursuant to Article 395(2), second subparagraph, of Directive 2006/112/EC,
the Commission transmitted the request made by Italy to the other Member States, by letter
dated 8 December 2022. By letter dated 9 December 2022, the Commission notified Italy
that it had all the information it considered necessary for the appraisal of the request.
(4) The special measure is in line with Council Directive (EU) 2020/2852
, which seeks to
reduce the compliance buden of small enterprises and avoid distortions of competition in
the internal market.
(5) The special measure will remain optional for taxable persons. Taxable persons may still
opt for the regular VAT arrangements in accordance with Article 290 of
Directive 2006/112/EC.
(6) According to the information provided by Italy, the special measure will only have a
negligible effect on the overall amount of tax revenue Italy collects at the stage of final
consumption.
(7) Following the entry into force of Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2021/7691
, there is to
be no compensation calculation carried out by Italy with regard to the VAT-based own
resource statement for the financial year 2023 onwards.
(8) Given that the special measure has had a positive impact on the simplification
of VAT-related obligations, as it has reduced the administrative burden and compliance
costs for both small enterprises and the tax authorities and allowed Italy to allocate more
resources to the fight against VAT fraud by focusing its control activities towards larger
taxable persons, and given that it has a negligible impact on the total VAT revenue
generated, Italy should be authorised to apply the special measure.
(9) In order to ensure the integrity of Italy’s one-year tax period that starts on 1 January and to
avoid imposing an excessive administrative burden on taxable persons and tax authorities,
it is appropriate to grant authorisation to apply the special measure from 1 January 2023.
By providing for the application of the special measure from a date that is prior to that of
taking effect, legitimate expectations of eligible taxable persons are respected, as the
special measure does not encroach upon their rights and obligations.
(10) The application of the special measure should be limited in time. The time limit should be
sufficient to allow the Commission to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the
current threshold. Moreover, pursucontinueant to Article 3(1) of Directive (EU) 2020/285, Member
States are to adopt and publish, by 31 December 2024, the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to comply with Article 1(12) of that Directive, and are
to apply those provisions from 1 January 2025. It is therefore appropriate to authorise Italy
to apply the special measure until 31 December 2024.
(11) Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/647 should therefore be repealed
Source: eur-lex.europa.eu
