The thought of changing your Italian commercialista is a bit like the thought of changing banks. It’s something you’d love to do but you worry that’s it’s terribly complicated or that you’ll miss some vital deadline and land yourself in trouble. And unfortunately, some accountants in Italy prey on just these worries to make sure you stay with them!
Calling all those owning property in Italy. Have you heard about IMU? This year it replaced the ICI council tax. And the bad news is that while most property owners were exempt from ICI on their first house (prima casa), IMU applies to all properties, prima casa or not. Which means that if you have property in Italy, you need to be paying IMU.
A note to the very many owners of property in Italy who occasionally rent them out. Following the new agreements between the Agenzia delle Entrate and various Comuni (see our recent article in Latest News) the Comuni have been directed to look particularly closely at those who run B&B or other rental activities in their territory.
For years Italy has been seen as a place of lazy regulation. Italians seem to pay little attention to their tax obligations and rely on a mixture of over-bureaucracy and lack of interest on the part of those appointed to enforce the law. Non-Italians often see this as one of the many attractive aspects of life in Italy.
The Italian tax authority is tightening up further on the possibilities of money-laundering and tax evasion. As of 6th December 2011, the limit of cash that can change hands in any transaction was reduced to € 1000. The previous limit was € 2500.
Here it is! Fruit of our long experience with non-Italian clients striving to understand the ins and outs of their obligations to the Italian authorities: the 3 things all property owners in Italy should know (but don’t know who to ask).
“And what is that?” you may ask. The P.E.C. (posta elettronica certificata) is a certified e-mail address. The intention is to allow companies (and others) a cheap and secure method of sending information by e-mail and is expected to be of particular assistance when dealing with public bodies.
The Italian tax authority is coming to the aid of those who “forget” to pay their taxes. In an unusually generous move, late payers now have an extra 14 days to pay any Italian tax due (IRPEF, VAT, INPS non mutuati), provided they also pay a “mini-fine” of 0.2% for each day of delay.
There are scammers in every country and Italy is no exception. Here at the Studio Del Gaizo Picchioni we keep a constantly updated list of scams notified to us by our clients. We’re sharing the top ones with you below.
If you’re a tax payer in Italy then you’ll be used to hearing many Italian accountancy terms used by your commercialista. Some of these unknown expressions can be confusing to a non-Italian and you may not always want to ask, so we’ve written a series of articles to help you.