Fuel excise duties, new round of discounts VAT payers: payments at the end of July, then 0.8 % interest
On the government's table is the postponement of the deadline for payments to 20 or 31 July, with an increase in the surcharge demanded in the following month in order to limit the impact on cash flow
by Giovanni Parente and Gianni Trovati
In the grid of the fourth fuel decree expected on Friday 22 May in the council of ministers also enters the deferment of payments, due on 30 June, for the vat payers who are obliged to pay taxes and related payments, such as the flat-rate tax payers. But compared to previous editions, the solution under consideration should have a difference for the 'second half' of the postponement.
The text of the measure, called first of all to renew the rebate on excise duty on petrol and diesel and to extend the tax credit for fuel purchases by hauliers, will begin to take final form from today, when a technical meeting is scheduled for tomorrow's council of ministers at 7 p.m. The decree is the last vehicle to introduce the usual extension of tax payments requested by the self-employed, requested as every year by the categories.
At first, the hypothesis had been shelved. But a further investigation conducted at the General Accounting Office into cash flow dynamics has reopened the way for the measure, which, barring any surprises, will therefore be embarked upon in the excise-quater decree.
Two variables in play
At stake are two variables. The first, traditional, concerns the new deadline for payments, with the usual ballot between 20 July (the option chosen last year and in 2023) and 31 July (the option put in place in 2024, the year the two-year composition agreement debuted). The second item on the agenda, however, is unprecedented. Because the postponement will not be entirely free of charge, for those who decide to take advantage of the additional time granted by the legislation that allows for closing accounts within a month of the deadline with the 0.4% surcharge. This year, the surcharge should increase: the idea is to raise it to 0.8%, with the usual caveat that the final figures will only be put on paper between now and tomorrow.
The surcharge
The doubling of the surcharge is intended as a deterrent, to reduce the proportion of taxpayers who choose to postpone the payment to August (the 20th or 31st, depending on the deadline that will be set by the Decree) and thus mitigate the impact on the public coffers during a summer that does not promise to be easy.
