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.
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