Verification of the existence of the Letter of Intent before issuing the invoice is not sufficient
The new Budget Law 2021 identifies new actions to contrast the fraud of the “false usual exporter”, i.e. those who purchase and import without payment of VAT, and describes the procedures to be carried out to avoid incurring heavy penalties if you decide to use the Letter of Intent.
A simple procedure
It is strongly advisable that the supplier checks the presence of the Declaration of Intent before carrying out the operation, activating himself to obtain suitable evidence to attest “when” the verification has been carried out.
Below are the channels made available to carry out the verification and its method:
- access to “Cassetto Fiscale”, i.e. Tax mail box: by viewing the Letter of Intent in PDF that can be filed as suitable proof, showing the date and time of the verification;
- access to the service made available on the Italian Tax Authority website: printing the result with the relative date (it does not allow the printing of the Letter of Intent).
In the invoice the supplier must indicate the protocol of receipt of the Declaration of Intent.
Sanctions applied without the verification of the Letter of Intent
Article 7, paragraph 4-bis, Legislative Decree 471/1997 provides for the sanction from 100% to 200% of the tax in addition to the payment of the duty for those who make transfers of goods / provision of services, without having first found, by electronic means, the presentation of the Letter of Intent.
Cases to be monitored
Here are some practical cases to avoid in order not to incur in sanctions:
- habitual exporter who transmits the Declaration of Intent to the Italian Tax Authority on April 10; the supplier delivers the goods with transport document on April 12, and performs the verification of the presence of the Letter of Intent on April 15 by issuing a deferred invoice on April 30. In this case, the verification of the presence of the Declaration of Intent was carried out after the delivery of the goods occurred on April 12.
- habitual exporter who transmits the Declaration of Intent to the Italian Tax Authority on April 15; the supplier delivers the goods with transport document on April 12 but finds the presence of the Letter of Intent only before issuing the invoice on April 30. In this case, the presence of the Declaration of Intent was found only after the delivery of goods on April 12 in addition to the fact that the same goods were delivered prior to the transmission of the Declaration of Intent.