With regard to raising the payment threshold to 60 euros, below which there will no longer be an obligation for merchants to accept transactions with credit and debit cards, Palazzo Chigi explained in a note that “interlocutions are underway with the EU Commission” and that the government “will take into account” what emerges from these talks “in the continuation of the budget law process”. Brussels has expressed perplexity regarding the decision of the Meloni government, which already in an initial version of the text of the maneuver had raised the threshold to 30 euros, and then doubled it. What worries the EU Commission are the consequences that this provision could have on the fight against tax evasion, one of the cornerstones of the Pnrr: in Italy the underground reaches 30 billion, the highest figure among the EU countries, with a tax gap (the difference between declared and expected) by about 20%. To push digital payments, the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni has announced a “European legislative proposal on this matter within a month”.
In recent years, the Commission has implemented various measures to reduce VAT evasion without consent. Raising the threshold to 60 euros would go in the opposite direction, encouraging this form of evasion. The minister in charge of EU affairs, Raffaele Fitto, is working with Brussels to seek a synthesis, but the measure had already received harsh criticism from Federconsumatori – who defined it “inconceivable” – and from the opposition, with Enrico Letta speaking expressly of an “invitation to escape”. At the moment – pursuant to the latest maneuver launched by the Draghi government – a fine of 30 euros, to be added to 4% of the transaction value, is envisaged for those who refuse electronic payments, of any amount. However, the exemption will remain in the event of “objective technical impossibility”.
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