New scrappage scheme: payments by 5 August must be made in a single instalment

The first test is also due to take place for payments under the ‘rottamazione quinquies’ scheme. The deadline for paying the first or only instalment under the scheme – for those who have opted into the latest tax amnesty, which has a narrower scope but offers the option to spread payments over up to 54 bi-monthly instalments – is 31 July.

Please note that you may be able to take advantage of the five-day grace period, during which a payment is considered valid. Taxpayers who settle the full amount of the ‘rottamazione quinquies’ scheme in a single instalment are, in fact, permitted to pay by Wednesday 5 August. Therefore, only those who are required to pay the full amount due will be able to benefit from this short grace period. This short grace period was introduced with the conversion of the latest tax decree (Decree-Law 38/2026). A single instalment is not the only option eligible for this ‘grace period’. The same treatment also applies to the final instalment under instalment plans, meaning that taxpayers are permitted to make use of the five-day grace period to avoid forfeiture.

In fact, it should be noted that the rules for the ‘rottamazione quinquies’ scheme differ from those of previous schemes. Indeed, for those paying in instalments, the new preferential arrangement ceases to apply if two instalment deadlines under the payment plan are missed, even if they are not consecutive. In practice, any missed instalment can be rectified by the deadline for the next instalment without losing the benefits of the amnesty, which consist of settling the debt with the tax authorities without incurring interest charged to the tax roll, penalties, interest on arrears or surcharges. This is why the first and final instalments of the plan have been granted additional protection in the form of a five-day grace period, to prevent the taxpayer from losing their eligibility even in the event of a minor delay beyond the pre-set deadline.

After all, anyone who finds themselves affected by the ineffectiveness of the ‘rottamazione quinquies’ scheme will also have to face the resulting consequences. Payments made are treated as instalments towards the total amounts due. But that is not all, because the limitation and forfeiture periods for the recovery of the tax liabilities for which thethe scheme’s ineffectiveness, with the initiation of new precautionary or enforcement proceedings and the continuation of enforcement proceedings that had already been initiated by the date of submission of the application to join the scheme. Finally, any tax liabilities that remain ‘uncovered’ are no longer eligible for the standard instalment scheme: therefore, it will not be possible to benefit from a longer timeframe to settle the amounts excluded from the ‘scrappage scheme quinquies’.

As for the schemes still underway – namely the ‘rottamazione quater’ and the ‘riammessi’ schemes – it should be noted that the 31 July deadline is, in any case, subject to a five-day grace period. The instalment may therefore be paid by 5 August. Anyone failing to meet the deadline would automatically be excluded from the fourth round of the tax amnesty scheme.