The latest news comes from the Budget Commission, which approved the amendment to the Sostegni ter decree with which the government extends the deadline for paying the overdue installments of the fiscal peace. It concerns over half a million taxpayers who have not paid the bill with the installments of the scrapping ter and of the balance and write-off by the previous deadline of 31 December 2021 and who will now have more time to settle their position.
But beware, the scrapping of the folders and the non-payment to the tax authorities of an installment or the final balance could be costly. To explain what the consequences can be if you are not in good standing are the experts of La Legge per Tutti, a site for information and legal advice. “Beyond the various suspensions and extensions granted during the emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic (at the time of writing, the last deferral of payments for installments and scrapping is scheduled until April 30, 2022), the fully operational mechanism – they underline – provides for forfeiture of benefits and recovery of the amount due. In some cases it is possible to get back on track by asking for payment in installments, but there are precise deadlines for doing so ».
The Sostegni Decree had provided for the cancellation, by 31 October 2021, of debts up to 5 thousand euros, relating to the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2010, including those present in the payment plans for scrapping ter and the balance and write-off . “But it is advisable to check your current debt position with the Revenue Collection Agency (at the counter or even electronically), before regularizing the payments”.
Failure to pay the installments within the deadlines
Failure to pay the installments within the deadlines set by the scrapping plan, the experts explain, “entails the forfeiture of the benefits granted. The unpaid installment is equivalent to that paid for an insufficient amount or after the deadline. However, we must remember that there is a legal tolerance of 5 days for each installment. And with the further extension to the first following working day, in case of expiry of the payment term of the installment on a public holiday. Thus, for example, an installment due on November 30 can be paid in due time by December 6, without incurring the forfeiture “.
When the Revenue Agency enters the field
The forfeiture of the benefits of the scrapping ter, or of the balance and write-off, also entails the possibility, for the Revenue Collection Agency, “to compulsorily recover the entire amount due and not yet paid (the payments made previously are considered as an advance on the total debt). In particular, foreclosures on the salaries, pensions, current accounts and real estate of the defaulting debtor can be arranged: in short, all the unfavorable consequences that the scrapping had blocked will come back to life, until the taxpayer has been declared lapsed ” , experts warn.
Can the debt be paid in installments?
But can the debt be paid in installments? «In general – the Law for All replies -, the law prevents new extensions from being granted in the event of failure to comply with the terms of payment of the installments of the scrapping and the consequent forfeiture. Exceptionally, the 2021 Fiscal Decree allowed the possibility of requesting installments for expired scrapping plans (for any of the editions, from the first to scrapping ter included) and for which the taxpayer had been declared lapsed by the amnesty “.
When to pay the remaining installments
“The calendar of the” Milleproroghe “Decree – we repeat: not yet definitive – provides that the scrapping installments expired in 2020 can be paid by 30 April 2022, those expired in 2021 by 31 July 2022 and those relating to the current year by 30 November 2022. It should be borne in mind that the Sostegni Decree had provided for the cancellation, by 31 October 2021, of debts up to 5 thousand euros, relating to the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2010, including those included in the plans of payment of the scrapping ter and of the balance and excerpt. It is therefore advisable to check one’s current debt position with the Revenue Collection Agency (at the counter or even electronically), before regularizing the payments “, they underline.
A recent order of the Court of Cassation, the experts continue, «accepting the appeal of the Revenue Agency, established that the pending tax dispute does not end if the taxpayer has asked for the scrapping but then has not paid the amount. The Supreme Court stressed that “in the event of failure or insufficient or late payment of the single installment or of an installment of those in which the payment of the sums has been deferred, the definition does not produce effects and the limitation periods start to run again and forfeiture for the recovery of the loads covered by the declaration. In this case, the payments made are acquired as an advance payment of the total amount due following the assignment of the load and do not determine the extinction of the residual debt, of which the collection agent continues the recovery activity and whose payment cannot be made in installments pursuant to article 19 of the decree of the President of the Republic of 29 September 1973, n. 602 », the experts conclude.