21 Jul Effects of the electronic invoicing – Hearing of the Director of the Italian Revenue Agency
At the end of June, the hearing of Ernesto Maria Ruffini, Director of the Revenue Agency, was published on their website; the document is a clear report on the state of the art and the main results obtained in just over a year and half since the introduction of the B2B electronic invoice in Italy.
The Italian model is recognized as international best practice and many nations are informing themselves to follow in the footsteps of this Country.
The flows that reach the Revenue Agency through electronic invoicing and telematic fees allow to improve the information assets to enhance risk analysis and control activities, but also to offer value-added services aimed, over time, at simplifying and reduce tax compliance.
This information, in fact, represents the necessary starting point for implementing the provisions of article 4 of Legislative Decree No. 127 of 2015, recently modified by the “Relaunch” decree, and allowing the Agency to prepare, starting from the period of tax 2021, on an experimental basis:
- the drafts of the VAT registers that the taxpayer, also through his intermediary, will be able to verify and integrate;
- drafts of the periodic VAT settlement communications, with the related processing service of the F24 model and online payment;
- the draft of the annual VAT return.
The positive effects of electronic invoicing include higher VAT revenues, actions to combat tax fraud, cross-data on transnational frauds, using the database of the European software EUROFISC, as well as initiatives aimed at encouraging the spontaneous fulfillment of taxpayers , based on the so-called “compliance letters” (124,000 were sent), which promptly place taxpayers in a position to become aware of their irregularities, followed by forms of spontaneous regularization.
The document also examines the European directive 2014/55 on electronic invoicing in public procurement. Italy has transposed this Directive and the related obligation to receive electronic invoices compliant with the European standard. The Italian legislation entered into force on 1 February 2019 and, from 18 April 2019, the Exchange System was made operational in the reception, translation and delivery of electronic invoices prepared according to the standard, including Translation.