Cash measures in budget could conflict with fight on tax evasion -Bank of Italy

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 5 - The Bank of Italy on Monday took issue with measures in the government's 2023 budget bill regarding cash payments and a so-called 'fiscal truce' with taxpayers.
    The bill raises the limit for cash payments from 2,000 euros to 5,000.
    It also enables retailers to refuse to accept card payments for amounts of up to 60 euros in order to stop them having to pay commissions on small payments that make the transactions less worthwhile to them.
    The government is also binning tax-disputes of up to 1,000 euros for cases that date back to before 2015 as part of a 'fiscal truce' and has said that people would only pay back the outstanding tax in cases of over 1,000 euros, without penalties or interest and with the possibility to pay in instalments over five years.
    "The measures regarding cash payments and the introduction of systems that reduce the tax burden for taxpayers who are non-compliant risk contrasting with the drive to modernize the country that moves the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) and the need to continue to reduce tax evasion," the Bank of Italy's Fabrizio Balassone told a joint hearing of the Senate and Lower House's budget committees.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni said Sunday that the amount up to which retailers would be allowed to accept only cash payment could be lowered from 60 euros.
    There is a risk the 60-euro threshold could breach a commitment Italy made to the European Commission as part of the pledges to get almost 200 billion euros in low-interest loans and grants for the NRRP.
    Balassone said that cash payments actually worked out more expensive for retailers than electronic ones when elements such as insurance, theft and the need for security vans were factored in. (ANSA).