The 2016 Stability Law approved last December in Parliament, in addition to providing, among other things, the abolition of Tasi and the reduction of the Rai license fee to €100.00 (as well as its payment in installments in the electricity bill, unless a declaration of non-possession of a television is presented each year), has amended the amount of cash that can be used for exchanges, raising the threshold from €999.99 to €2,999.99 in order to boost the economy and encourage exchanges.
It goes without saying that any payment of a higher amount can be made by bank transfer, non-transferable check, credit or debit card, sic et simpliciter through traceable instruments. The limit of one thousand euros was set by the then newly installed Monti Government in 2011 with the introduction of art. 12 of the so-called Save Italy Decree (DL 6 December 2011, n. 201, converted with Law n. 214 of 2011) in order to combat tax evasion and money laundering. The rules on the use of cash have been subject to numerous changes in recent years. From 2008 to mid-2010 the threshold was €12,500.00, until August 2011 it was set at €5,000.00, at the end of 2011 at €2,500.00, with the Salva Italia decree at €1,000.00 and finally now it amounts to €3,000.00.
However, on this occasion, unlike what happened in the past, the threshold for the usability of cash does not go hand in hand with the limits of transferability of bank and postal cheques; in fact, despite the new financial maneuver, cheques with amounts equal to or greater than one thousand euros will continue to be subject to the obligation to include the wording "non-transferable".
The new threshold for the use of cash up to €2,999.99 does not include tax payments, car tax payments, or Equitalia bills. The same goes for all payments that are due by law, such as compulsory car insurance. The traceability legislation does not apply to deposits and withdrawals from the current account; in fact, the maximum threshold applies only to money transfers; in the exchange of money between different parties, whether public or private, no violation occurs if you deposit or withdraw cash for personal enjoyment.
Even multiple individual transfers of amounts lower than the legal threshold but, overall, of a higher amount, escape the prohibition, because they cannot be cumulated since they relate to separate and autonomous operations or to the same operation when the splitting is inherent to the operation itself (e.g. supply contract or payment by installments). Once the threshold of three thousand euros is exceeded, the administrative pecuniary sanction provided for offenders continues to be quantified from 1% to 40% of the amount transferred in cash.
The 2014 Stability Law, which introduced the lack of nullity of rental contracts that had not been registered, in the fight against “black rents” had also prohibited the payment in cash, of any amount, of rental fees. The new financial maneuver of the Renzi Government eliminates this provision.
It is therefore possible to pay the rent of any type of property in cash as long as the amount is lower than the new limit. No changes have been made to the limit beyond which the PA must use electronic payments only: for payments by the public administration, such as pensions and salaries, the 2014 rules remain in force, therefore the threshold of one thousand euros.
There are exceptions, the limit on the use of cash concerns Italian citizens and, more generally, citizens resident in a member state of the European Union and the European Economic Area (Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway). Foreign tourists resident in non-EU countries will be able to make retail purchases at shops and travel agencies, making cash payments up to €10,000.00 provided that they show an identity document, self-certification attesting to residency in a country outside the European Union and the EEA, the merchant makes a simultaneous advance communication to the Revenue Agency with which he indicates the current account he intends to use to credit within the first working day following receipt of the cash and deliver a copy of the aforementioned communication to the financial operator.
After such a cumbersome procedure, it is foreseeable that the tourist will feel more comforted in knowing that the commercial establishment is equipped with a POS, which is also mandatory for all traders starting from the 2016 stability law.
Source: Legislative Decree 6 December 2011, n. 201, converted with Law n. 214 of 2011, Stability Law 2014 approved with Law 27 December 2013, n. 147 published in the Official Journal n. 302 of 27 December 2013, Stability Law 2016 (Law 28 December 2015, n. 208, published in the Official Journal n.302 of 30 December 2015).
Palermo, February 11th 2016.
Attorney Giovanni Babino
Kommentare