- The government extends the 5 percent VAT rate in line with EU Directive 2022/542
- The decree law includes urgent measures for financing economic activities and businesses, as well as social, infrastructure, transport, and territorial interventions
- The VAT rate is reduced from 22 percent to 5 percent for sales by galleries and art dealers, and for imports and sales by artists, previously subject to a 10 percent rate
- The intervention was requested by many in the art sector due to the high VAT rates in Italy compared to Europe
- EU Directive 2022/542 allows member states to apply reduced VAT rates to all art sales, not just imports and sales by artists
- Art is included in Annex III of the VAT Directive among goods and services eligible for reduced rates
- Each state can apply reduced rates to a maximum of 24 out of 33 listed goods and services
- Reduced VAT rates apply to all sales under the ordinary VAT regime, not the special margin scheme
- France and Germany have reduced their VAT rates for art sales to 5 percent and 7 percent respectively from January 2025
- Italy’s fiscal reform law delegated the government to reduce VAT on art imports and extend reduced rates to all art sales
- The fiscal delegation has not been implemented, and the December 2024 decree did not reduce VAT for art
- The lack of VAT reduction puts the Italian art market at a disadvantage compared to other European countries
- A proposed law to reduce VAT from 10 percent to 5 percent for imported and sold art objects has not progressed
- The goal of the decree is to support the Italian art market
Source: eutekne.info
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
