Taxation, reform arrives for companies and professionals

The tax reform of businesses and professionals has reached the finishing line. With the final examination of the Irpef Ires decree in the Council of Ministers today, Tuesday 3 December, the rules for the new taxation of self-employment and business income become definitive.

A path that began last spring with the preliminary examination in the Cdm on 30 April. Then the implementing decree of the tax reform remained on stand-by for a long time, only to arrive in Parliament for opinions in mid-October after the rules on the 100 euro bonus with thirteenth month payments were removed from the text (entered in the Omnibus Decree and corrected in mid-November). Now, however, the Irpef Ires decree will be the seventeenth delegated decree (also considering the three single texts on sanctions, tax justice, and minor state taxes that have already landed in the 'Official Gazette') to reach final approval, which will take into account the observations contained in the parliamentary opinions (and in particular those of the House Finance Committee).

Here comes the long-awaited tax neutrality of professional aggregations, which may give a boost to the dimensional growth of firms, bringing professionals out of the 'monism' that had been somewhat fiscally stimulated by the progressive extension of the flat-rate regime. An intervention that is part of a broader guideline whereby the determination of self-employment income approaches that of employee income in the sign of all-inclusiveness. The general rule is that income deriving from the exercise of arts and professions consists of the difference between all sums and values in general, for whatever reason, received during the tax period in connection with the artistic or professional activity and the expenses incurred during the same period in the exercise of the activity. Among others, social security and welfare contributions established by law at the expense of the person paying them, as well as the reimbursement of expenses for carrying out an assignment and charged analytically to the principal, which become non-deductible, do not contribute to forming the income.

In light of the adjustments that had been suggested by the parliamentary committees, the aim is to provide for an amortisation period for client acquisition costs and other intangibles of no more than five years. Among other things, it was Parliament itself that had then requested that the VAT exclusion regime envisaged for extraordinary transactions should also operate in the case of a transfer relating to the professional's practice, considered as a set of organised assets, including not only instrumental goods, but also, for example, the client portfolio.

On the tax loss carry-forward, the principle of a reduction of the limits in the context of intra-group transactions remains. But, just as requested by Parliament, the game on the definition of the criteria is postponed to a ministerial decree of the Economy, which will be called upon to define the group membership criteria for each company, also to avoid distorting effects.