E-commerce, against VAT fraud there is the 50,000 euro guarantee

A three-year guarantee to the tax authorities of at least EUR 50,000 against VAT fraud on e-commerce. Guarantee that can also be provided in government or state-guaranteed securities. And the possibility of specific risk analyses conducted jointly by the Inland Revenue and the Guardia di Finanza also makes its debut. In the fight against evasion comes the implementation mechanism of one of the instruments put in place by the delegated decree on tax assessment (Legislative Decree 13/2024, the same as the one for the arrangement with creditors). The aim is to set greater constraints for extra-EU traders who use tax representatives to make intra-EU purchases and sales and operate through e-commerce. In an attempt to counter the VAT payment circumvention mechanisms that revolve around the exemption from tax when goods are imported into the EU. An attempt that should guarantee the Treasury revenue of 143 million per year.

This is why now the decree signed by Deputy Minister for the Economy Maurizio Leo makes operational the guarantee that non-EU operators will have to provide in order to operate in Italy. The bar is set at a 'minimum ceiling' of EUR 50,000 and the guarantee is a 'necessary condition for the registration of the represented party's VAT number in the database of taxable persons carrying out intra-Community operations (Vies). In practice, those who do not provide the guarantee cannot operate. It is basically a guarantee in government or government-guaranteed securities or a bank guarantee or surety policy. It will serve to cover 36 months, after which it will not have to be renewed. It will have to be delivered to the provincial revenue office competent on the basis of the tax representative's tax domicile. A model has already been adopted for the reopening of positions after the closure measures ordered by the Inland Revenueon 'open and close' VAT accounts.

Precisely in an attempt to avoid as far as possible conducts of real tax dumping perpetuated through VAT exemption, the implementing decree provides that the guarantee must also be presented by operators already currently included in the database of taxable persons carrying out intra-Community transactions. In this case, the countdown to compliance will start from the date of publication of a tailor-made measure by the Revenue Agency: there will be 60 days of time, after which exclusion from VAT will be triggered for those who have not deposited the guarantee with the Revenue Agency.

More generally, the Ministerial Decree also sets out the procedure leading to findings and subsequent moves. In the event that the failure to provide the guarantee is ascertained, the Agency will notify the tax representative of the non-resident entity, by certified electronic mail (Pec) or registered letter with return receipt, of the start of the procedure of exclusion of the entity represented from the database of taxpayers who carry out intra-Community transactions (Vies). Once sixty days have elapsed from the date of receipt of the communication by the tax representative, the Revenue will proceed with the ex officio exclusion of the VAT identification number from the database.

To strengthen the supervision, a special vigilance activity is established. The driving force will be the task force between the Revenue Agency and the Guardia di Finanza for risk analysis (the so-called Uipar). Through the interoperability of the databases, analyses will be jointly carried out 'aimed at identifying tax representatives of non-resident subjects in a European Union Member State or in one of the States adhering to the European Economic Area operating within the European Union that present indicators of dangerousness' in relation to the 'correct fulfilment of the obligations of verifying the completeness and truthfulness of the documents produced by the foreign subject'. A check that tax representatives are required to carry out in order not to incur anadministrative penalty of between EUR 3,000 and EUR 50,000.