Italian Tax Authorities’ clarified VAT provisions related to alternative fund manager

In a ruling response dated 20 June 2019 no. 199, Italian tax authorities clarified that an alternative fund manager company (ALFA) that has taken over the management role of a former alternative fund manager company (GAMMA) would also have to take over all the VAT obligations and rights to be performed on behalf of the fund. Thus, if a supplier must issue a credit note to amend a previous supply rendered to the fund and accounted for by the former management company (GAMMA), such a credit note can be addressed directly to the new management company.

DLA Piper Comment: An Italian real estate fund is not an autonomous VAT taxable person. For their transactions, all the VAT obligations and rights are exercised by the relevant management company. For each fund managed, the management company will have to keep separate VAT ledgers even if the VAT payments due are made as a whole (i.e. combining all the position of the funds managed).

This ruling is important because it affirmed the principle that if the management company has been substituted by another one, the latter would inherit the same position of the former management company even if it was not party to the original transactions. This position could be the starting point to also create the future possibility of transferring the right to the annual VAT credit accrued by the fund from the former management company (e.g. GAMMA) to the new management company (e.g. ALFA) so that the latter can continue to use such VAT credit on behalf of the fund managed (possibly today that does not seem possible).

Italian Tax Authorities’ clarifications on electronic invoice discipline. According to the Circular no. 14 of 17 June 2019, the Italian Revenue Agency released further clarification on the electronic invoice regime, provided by Legislative Decree no. 127 of 2015. Further to the information related to the so-called esterometro exemption cases and hypothesis of mixed purchases, the Circular clarified that:

  • starting from the 1 July 2019, electronic invoices filed through the telematics channel (so-called SDI or Sistema di Interscambio) can be issued within ten days from the day on which the transaction was performed, but it is necessary to insert the date on which the operation is deemed to be performed from a VAT perspective or the price that was paid by the customer/client. In such cases, the filing date of the invoice is automatically tracked by the SDI; and
  • only electronic invoices correctly filed through the SDI have to be considered with reference to the stamp duty due every three months. Moreover, the stamp duty due is compiled and reported within a specific page of the SDI portal.