Payment in instalments of tax bills for up to 10 years, who is eligible

In the draft of the 17-article legislative decree on tax collection that was given the go-ahead at first reading by the Council of Ministers, the possibility of adopting longer tax bill instalment plans, from the current 72 up to 120 monthly instalments, is envisaged in order to settle debts with the tax authorities. The government has overhauled the tax collection system with the aim of making it 'faster and more efficient' and streamlining the mountain of tax debts. The approved measure is yet another implementing decree of the tax reform, the tenth.

The collection agent will be able to grant a deferment for debts less than or equal to €120,000 at the taxpayer's simple request, up to 84 monthly instalments for requests submitted in 2025 and 2026, up to 96 monthly instalments for requests in 2027 and 2028, up to 108 for requests from 2029. If, on the other hand, the taxpayer documents the temporary situation of objective difficulty - with the Isee in the case of individuals or sole proprietorships or with accounting data (liquidity ratio ratio between debts and production value), the deferment can be of 120 instalments for amounts over €120,000, regardless of the date of submission, while for amounts up to €120,000, from 85 to 120 monthly instalments for requests in 2025 and 2026, from 97 to 120 monthly instalments for requests in 2027 and 2028, from 109 to 120 monthly instalments for requests from 2029.

From 2025, files not collected within five years will be automatically cancelled. In fact, the draft legislative decree for the reminder of collection introduces the 'automatic discharge' for the quotas entrusted to the Agenzia delle Entrate-riscossione 'not collected by 31 December for the following fifth year'. The Agency can also proceed to 'early discharge' for the shares entrusted since 2025 for which it has detected 'the closure of bankruptcy or judicial liquidation' or 'the absence of assets of the debtor susceptible to be attacked'.

Also with regard to the reorganisation of the national collection system, in the name of simplification, an automatic route is opened for mini-refunds: automatic compensation is envisaged for those with micro-credits of up to EUR 500. With a new rule destined to enter into force immediately after the final approval of the reform, in short, these mini-refunds will take a preferential lane, which does not require the Revenue Agency to check any taxpayer's tax records with which to activate offsets.

In the meantime, there are still a few days left to pay the first three instalments of the 'rottamazione-quater'. The Decreto Milleproroghe, in fact, postponed to 15 March next the payments of the facilitated definition due on 31 October 2023 (first or single instalment), 30 November 2023 (second instalment) and 28 February 2024 (third instalment). The law provides for a tolerance of five days and therefore payments made by 20 March 2024 will be considered timely. The extension also concerns the first two instalments due on 31 January and 28 February 2024, for those affected by the flooding events of May 2023.