15% taxes up to 85,000 euros for VAT and self-employed numbers – Corriere.it

Finally, the mountain gave birth to a mouse. The Flat tax that came out of the first budget law of the Meloni government, launched in the night between Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 November, turned out to be decidedly lower than expected. Those who hoped to see the 15% flat tax introduced more widely, the tax flag of the Brothers of Italy, were in fact disappointed. Especially the employees. Faced with scarce resources, even the new government had to come to terms with the program with which the centre-right had presented itself at the polls. And so, in fact, we had to limit ourselves to confirming the 15% flat tax for the self-employed, which already exists, but with a tweak: the revenue or compensation threshold that allows for the lump sum rises from 65,000 to 85,000 euros.

The incremental mini flat tax

A little novelty for there. In the coalition programme, the government had spoken of an incremental flat tax for everyone, i.e. a 15% flat tax to be applied to more declared income than the previous year. Later, it was further specified that the additional income would be calculated with respect to the highest income achieved in the previous three years. In the first budget law by Meloni, the incremental flat tax appears yes, but only for significant variations in income (i.e. greater than 5%) and only for VAT numbers with revenues or fees below 40 thousand euros. The deductible was wanted by the government to reduce the number of possible beneficiaries and therefore the costs for the state. For these professionals, therefore, the subsidized rate 20 points lower than the 35% personal income tax envisaged for this bracket in the ordinary regime. Also in this case, the calculation of the change in income exceeding 5% in 2022 is made by comparing the increase with the best result achieved in the previous three years.

The trap of 100 thousand euros

The increase of the threshold to 85,000 euros was an intervention that had been certain for some time. In fact, the government had started the procedures in recent weeks and is now awaiting EU authorization. Meanwhile, the new rules start from January 1st. And among these is that of the ceiling of 100 thousand euros. In practice, those who fall under the 15% flat-rate regime will see it applied up to 85,000 euros, but if they exceed 100,000 euros, they will immediately be repositioned within the ordinary regime, and this is already during the year. The mechanism was introduced because anyone who exceeds the 85,000 euro threshold would re-enter Irpef only with the following year’s income, with the risk that the reduced rate, designed for low and medium incomes, would instead also be applied to incomes that have recorded a significant leap in turnover from one year to the next. All right, but there is a “but”. The control carried out during the year to avoid exceeding the ceiling of 100 thousand euros could encourage a slowdown in the volume of business. In fact, the professional could find it more advantageous to invoice less in order not to fall back into the ordinary regime.

New for employees

As far as employees are concerned, at the moment there is no talk of a flat tax but some new features will be introduced with the maneuver for 2023. First, it will be halved from 10 to 5% the tax rate on salary items in the supplementary agreements, such as productivity, profitability, quality, efficiency and innovation awards. According to the law currently in force, the benefit is applied up to a maximum of 3,000 euros per year and only for workers with a gross income of up to 80,000 euros. The new directive, according to the most recent simulations, could employ resources for 200-300 million euros and follows the one already approved with the Aid quater decree to increase the maximum ceiling of fringe benefits (company benefits which can be both goods and economic compensation under form of prizes, shopping vouchers and/or petrol vouchers) from 600 to 3 thousand euros. For 2022, the corporate welfare item may also include domestic electricity, gas and water users (as established by the previous Draghi government) and will be completely tax-free for employees and deductible for businesses up to 3,000 euros.