The decree regarding economic measures envisaged for the coronavirus emergency, which is bringing Italy and Italian businesses to a standstill, will be approved "Friday," as announced by Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri at this morning's press conference. Among the measures envisaged by the government appears to include (and it would be absolutely absurd to even think otherwise) a suspension of all payments due on March 16th, primarily VAT. Whether there will be a total freeze on payments or a simple postponement of individual deadlines is unknown at this time, and, as unfortunately often happens even in less emergency-sensitive times, the publication of this decree could arrive close to or even after the scheduled deadline. It is clear that taxpayers, while confident in the government's measures, are concerned about not having to suffer the mockery of potential administrative penalties if the decree does not specifically exclude all individual payments due on March 16th. While awaiting such provisions, it seems appropriate to emphasize that the Italian tax system already contains a provision designed to protect "exceptional" situations. Article 472 of Legislative Decree no. 97/6 ("General provisions on administrative sanctions for violations of tax laws") regulates the grounds for non-punishment, and in particular, paragraph 5 states that "anyone who committed an act due to force majeure is not punishable." This ground for non-punishment, as a universal statement, occurs only in the presence of exceptional events, which necessarily and unavoidably determine the individual's behavior.
Well, it is clear that, regardless of the next measures, the declaration of the state of emergency decided by the Council of Ministers on January 31st to combat the Covid-19 epidemiological emergency - confirmed in the subsequent Prime Ministerial Decrees - must lead to the immediate non-application of administrative tax sanctions throughout the national territory. It would therefore be desirable that, while waiting for the Legislator, the Revenue Agency give a signal of relaxation to taxpayers by immediately formalizing the non-application of sanctions for all expiring terms, so as to reassure professionals and businesses in these days already full of uncertainties and worries!
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