Rents, dry coupon with tenant-business awaits (still) the Cassation

A single Sentence of the Supreme Court is not enough. This is - in a nutshell - the position of the Ministry of the Economy, which closes the door on the possibility of applying the dry tax to housing lease contracts in which the tenant is a business (guest houses, houses given for use to employees and so on). Almost a year after judgement 12395 of 7 May 2024 - which gave the OK to the flat tax - the MEF reiterated the no to the coupon tax in question time 5-03773 of 26 March in the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies: 'The Revenue Agency considers it appropriate to wait for the formation of a consolidated interpretative address, also to protect the needs of tax revenues'.

Among the reasons reported by the Agency is the jurisprudential contrast in the courts of merit, where even after the Supreme Court there have been some 'pro-Fisco' rulings (such as the 132 of the Novara Cgt of 24 September or the 200 of the Treviso Cgt of 4 June). It will be important, then, to read the Supreme Court's forthcoming pronouncements: if the judges confirm their precedent, the administration will have to take it into account; otherwise, the way will open up for the Joint Sections. Also because there are various litigations in progress and Confedilizia - for example - is following with its lawyers a dispute in the Supreme Court that is only waiting for the fixation of the hearing.

The crux of the matter is linked to the wording of the rule establishing the coupon, Article 3 of Legislative Decree 23/2011, which in paragraph 6 excludes residential leases 'made in the exercise of a business activity, or of arts and professions'. But carried out by whom? Only by thelandlord, argues the Supreme Court, because the entire rule and taxation refer to the landlord. While some judges of merit share the restrictive thesis of the Revenue (expressed in Circular 26/E of 2011 and reiterated several times at central level).

In the meantime, landlords are faced with the same dilemma that has lasted since 2011: look for a gimmick to register the contract and challenge the Revenue line? Or do without the flat tax at 21 per cent? The impression of operators - as Fabiana Megliola of the Tecnocasa Studies Office explains - is that they often end up 'giving up renting to legal persons or asking for higher rents to recover the higher taxation'.

The question arises especially in medium-sized cities. The tenants are companies, banks, insurance companies or companies that organise events. "The cedolare secca," says Fiaip president Gian Battista Baccarini, "would favour rents to out-of-town workers, at a time when there are few houses for long leases. Among other things,' he adds, 'this fits in with Confindustria's proposal to increase the availability of houses at sustainable rents for workers'. While the housing problem also stands out at European level, with the EU Parliament setting up a special commission on thehousing crisis in the Union.