Goodbye digital payments. Perhaps. The government holds back, and in a note specifies that “on the subject of the thresholds below which businesses are not required to accept payments with payment cards, discussions are underway with the European Commission, the results of which will be taken into account later of the process of the budget law”. But the raising to 60 euros of the threshold beyond which it is mandatory to accept electronic payments, in conjunction with the increase to 5 thousand euros of the use of cash is a gift to tax evaders and on the one hand and puts a tombstone on the alternative payments on the other. Moreover, at a time when Italy was laboriously catching up with the rest of Europe: «In the first half of 2022, digital payment transactions in Italy reached 182 billion euros, up by +22% over the same period in 2021 If the growth in consumption, considering the inflationary effect, does not suffer abrupt slowdowns – reads the latest Innovative Payments Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic – digital payments at the end of the year could reach a value between 390 and 405 billion and reach represent over 40% of the total spent by Italians, getting ever closer to cash (now below the 50% threshold)».
What’s more: in the first six months of the year, the average receipt of those who did not pay in cash reached 47.5 euros, one euro more than in 2021, but down compared to 2020. Last year, a the state cashback had pushed the use of digital payments even for small amounts, which lasted long enough to change consumer habits. Now, we risk seeing a sudden stop. For example, it will be impossible or almost impossible to pay a taxi with a debit or credit card; bars and restaurants will be free to accept only cash payments and so will all the traders and freelancers who – according to Mef estimates – are the main income tax evaders: over 68% of companies and VAT numbers, in fact, declare less than due or directly fails to pay them.
For a long time, free professionals and traders were held back by the high commissions required by banks to collect payments, also for this reason, the Draghi government in 2021 had chosen to shift the incentives for the use of electronic money from consumers to merchants. To support payments, therefore, until 31 December 2022 the tax credit on commissions was increased from 30% to 100% and until 30 June the same was also true for the rental of Pos, but neither of the two measures is been renewed. And from January 1, merchants will be free to return their Pos.