VAT Returns in Italy
Frequency of Italian VAT returns
All VAT registered businesses must submit VAT returns on a quarterly basis, and keep VAT books records on a monthly basis, which are submitted upon request of the tax authorities. In addition, monthly or quarterly VAT payments must be made depending on the company's turnover in Italy. This threshold is different for goods and for services. Where the annual turnover exceeds EUR 800,000 for companies supplying goods and services; and EUR 500,000 for companies supplying services exclusively, monthly VAT payments are due. If this threshold is not exceeded, quarterly VAT payments must be made.
Frequency of filing
Frequency of payment
When the taxpayer is paying VAT quarterly, the amount due should be increased by 1% to pay for index price fluctuations. In practice, quarterly taxpayers should treat this as an additional 1% interest/surcharge added to the VAT liability for the quarter.
Italian VAT return due dates
Regarding due dates, we should differentiate between VAT returns and VAT payments.
Italian VAT payments due dates
Italian monthly VAT calculations must be paid by the 16th day of the month following the reporting period. Quarterly VAT calculations must be paid by the 16th day of the second month following the reporting period for the first three calendar quarters of the year. As a general rule, quarterly VAT calculations follow the calendar quarter (January to March, April to June, etc). For example, the second quarter VAT calculation of 2023 is due by 16 August 2023. Your VAT payment must reach the tax authorities bank account by the same due date. If the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday, the date is shifted to the next working day. In addition to monthly or quarterly VAT payments, an annual prepayment must be made by the 27 December.
When the taxpayer is paying VAT quarterly, the amount due should be increased by 1% to pay for index price fluctuations.
Italian VAT returns
The due date to submit quarterly VAT returns is the end of the second month following the reporting period. There is a holiday extension foreseen for the second quarter VAT return. The due date for Annual VAT returns is 30 April of the following year.
Italian Annual VAT returns
Companies registered for VAT purposes in Italy must submit an Annual VAT return. This is a recapitulative return for informative purposes, so usually there should not be any VAT payment due upon submission. This return is also known as dichiarazione annuale IVA.
Annual VAT returns are usually due by the end of April of the following year.
VAT refunds of the VAT credit carried forward during the reporting year can be requested for refund in the annual VAT return. Learn more.
Italian VAT payments
VAT payments must reach the bank account of the tax authorities by the due dates listed in our section for VAT return deadlines. As part of our VAT compliance service, Marosa will provide you with a Payment memo including the relevant IBAN, account holder and reference to be used when making your payment of Italian VAT. As a general rule, VAT payments of non-established companies registered directly for VAT purposes are made to the following bank account.
- Bank account holder: BANCA D’ITALIA – Tesoreria centrale dello Stato
- IBAN code: IT64 W010 0003 2453 4800 8120 301
- BIC/SWIFT code: BITA IT RR ENT
However, you must check with Marosa before making a VAT payment using the bank details above, as these are often changed by the tax authorities. The reference to be used in your bank transfer is made up of the following information: Italian VAT number (11 numbers).Tax code (4 numbers).Tax year (4 numbers). In the payment reference it is essential to report exactly the indicated structure in numerical format containing the Italian VAT number, the tax code and the tax year, separated by a point (.) The Italian tax authorities publish a table with all possible fiscal codes to be included in your reference.
These codes are different for monthly or quarterly payments, also for annual returns and annual prepayments. All bank charges must be paid by the taxpayer. It is possible to net off previous VAT credits against the VAT payment. It is also important to allow 3-4 working days to make the payment, particularly on international bank transfers. For quarterly VAT payments, companies must increase the payment by 1% of the amount due. Established companies or companies registered via a fiscal representative must make the payment to the bank account of the tax office where the representative or permanent establishment is located. This account changes for each region. The fiscal codes, however, are the same throughout Italy.
Italian annual VAT prepayment
Italian taxpayers must make an advanced VAT payment in December concerning the VAT amount due for reporting period December – in case of monthly VAT payments, or Q4 – in case of quarterly VAT payments (Acconto IVA).
There are three methods to determine the amount to be paid in advance:
- Historical method: according to which the advance payment for the month December or fourth quarter of the current year should be equal to 88% of the VAT payment made or that should have been made, for the same reporting period of the previous year.
- Provisional or forecast method: according to which the advance payment should be equal to 88% of the VAT payment that the taxpayer estimates for the month of December or fourth quarter of the current year.
- Analytical method: according to which the advance payment should be equal to the 100% amount of VAT due for the transactions, registered or that should have been registered, carried out from December 1st to December 20th, or from October 1st to December 20th, of the current year, considering:
- the input VAT relating to the purchases registered in the same period and fully deductible.
- the VAT credit carried forward from previous reporting period, if any.
The relevant payment references for the prepayment are the following:
- Monthly VAT calculations: VAT number – Acconto IVA XXXX – codice tributo: 6013
- Quarterly VAT calculations: VAT number – Acconto IVA XXXX – codice tributo: 6035
Unlike periodic VAT payments, ordinary quarterly taxpayers do not have to apply the 1% interest surcharge on the annual VAT prepayment.
The annual VAT prepayment in Italy is due by the 27 December of each year.
The VAT prepayment is not due in the following cases:
- The prepayment amount resulting from the calculation is less than EUR 103,29.
- Activities have started during the current year.
- VAT de-registration during the year by 30 November for monthly payers and by 30 September for quarterly payers.
- When only non-taxable or exempt transactions were carried out.
- Special regimes or activities: agricultural producers "referred to in art. 34, paragraph 6, of Presidential Decree no. 633 of 1972"; subjects who carry out activities of shows and games under special regime; amateur sports associations, as well as non-profit and certain associations, on a flat-rate basis; collectors and dealers of scrap, waste, waste paper, glass and the like, exempted from the obligations to settle and pay the tax, etc.
Italian VAT refunds
Generally, VAT refunds in Italy are requested via the annual VAT return.
For refunds exceeding EUR 30,000, the taxpayer may generally support the claim either with a bank guarantee or with a "visto di conformita" issued by a qualified Italian professional. Guarantees may also be issued by an insurance company and usually cover the refund amount plus interest; if neither a guarantee nor a visto is provided, the excess VAT credit is generally carried forward.
- If the refund request being made is over € 30,000 for the period, a bank guarantee will need to be put in place with the tax authorities. This can be issued by an Italian bank or insurance company, for the amount asked for refund (on a quarterly and/or yearly basis) and interests at the annual rate of 2%, having a duration of three years from the payment of the VAT refund, or the period remaining until the period of assessment ends. It must be issued in favor of and submitted to the Tax Office/Tax Collector.
- Visto di conformita’: exemption from the provision of the bank guarantee in the event of VAT credit exceeding EUR 30,000 (see in this respect Article 38-bis of Presidential Decree 633/1972); The conformity certificate is a formal control activity carried out by an Italian Certified Charted Accountant; it consists of an attestation that the VAT return corresponds to the results of the relevant documentation, the accounting records, invoices, activity carried out by the Company, deductions and tax credits, payments. The attestation is made by Charted Accountant by indicating his tax code and affixing his signature in the appropriate boxes of the Annual VAT return (stamp).
When the refund does not exceed EUR 30,000 it is possible to get a repayment without submitting a bank guarantee
Finally, certain taxpayers may opt to submit quarterly VAT refund claims. According to this procedure, the VAT refund claims can be done on a quarterly basis by submitting the TR form by the last day of the month following the reference quarter. As an exception, for the fourth quarter of the year the VAT refund claim cannot be done via form TR and should be requested via Annual VAT return. Non-established taxpayers VAT registered in Italy can opt for this quarterly refund regime, nevertheless, the procedure is quite cumbersome, and we do not recommend it because refund claim procedures tend to accumulate. Also, tax authorities may require a bank guarantee.
Before accepting the reimbursement of the VAT credit, the tax authorities may also request copies of invoices. Communications between the taxpayer or its tax agent or fiscal representative, and the tax office are usually followed by email or certified post.
Italian nil and corrective VAT returns
Regarding quarterly VAT returns, a nil VAT return only needs to be submitted in case there is a VAT credit from past periods which shall be carried forward. This does not apply to annual summary VAT returns, which have to be submitted even if there is no activity to be reported.
Regarding amendments to previously submitted data, corrections can be made to the annual VAT return that has been submitted by filing an additional declaration and ticking the option "Correttiva nei termini". When a corrective return is submitted after the deadline, a difference is made between those corrections filed in the following 90 days after the due date and those filed after 90 days have passed following the annual VAT return deadline.
Also, the quarterly VAT returns can be individually corrected before the submission of the annual VAT return. A new VAT return for the same reporting periods must be submitted for this purpose. The tax office will consider the last VAT return submitted. If there is additional VAT amount to be paid and the payment deadline is exceeded, it is recommended to perform a voluntary disclosure or ravvedimento operoso, in the local language, consisting of proactively calculating and paying the applicable penalties and surcharges. This is only possible if the regularization is made before the tax authorities initiate an audit procedure, and the advantage is that you will calculate penalties and surcharges at reduced rate.
Corrective VAT returns are submitted electronically.
Further details can be found on the Annual VAT return instructions published by the Italian tax authorities.
Italian tax authorities
Non-established companies have a dedicated tax office in Italy. Established companies, tax resident businesses and companies registered via a fiscal representative are appointed the tax office applicable to their region. The Pescara office is responsible for non-established VAT registered taxpayers. This tax office is also responsible for VAT refunds via the EU Refund mechanism, VAT refunds for non-EU companies and OSS VAT registrations:
Agenzia Delle Entrate Centro Operativo di Pescara Area Controlli Via rio Sparto 21 65129 Pescara (pe)
Italian distance sales. VAT on e-commerce
You can find information about the general EU VAT regime on distance sales in our manual about VAT on e-commerce. You may also watch our webinar explaining VAT rules for e-commerce in the European Union.
VAT penalties in Italy
For example, a VAT payment of €1,000 performed two days after the due date is subject to a 0,4% penalty (30 x 2/15 x 1/10) due to spontaneous regularization. In addition to the above penalties, late payment interest must be added to the penalty amount. The interest rate is published by the Italian authorities every year. Late filing and late payment penalties are added together when a VAT return is not submitted nor paid to the tax authorities.
