The novelties of the VAT Return 2022 referring to direct and indirect e-commerce

published on 5 May 2022 | reading time approx. 2 minutes

Legislative Decree 83/2021, transposing in Italy Directive 2017/2455/EU, has introduced significant changes to the VAT rules on intra-Community distance sales of goods.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 38-bis of Decree-Law 331/1993, intra-Community distance sales are the sales where:

the goods are dispatched or transported by the supplier or on his behalf, even if the supplier is only indirectly involved in the transport, from a Member State other than the Member State of arrival of the dispatch or transport; and
the goods are delivered to private consumers, as well as to people in respect of whom non-taxable transactions have been carried out pursuant to Article 72 of Presidential Decree 633/72, as well as to taxable and non-taxable people who are not required to apply the tax on intra-Community purchases and who have not opted for the application of the same.

As a general rule, in order to avoid distortions that may arise due to the application of different VAT rates by the various Member States in the country of origin, intra-Community distance sales are subject to VAT in the Member State of destination.

However, as an exception to the general rule, Article 38-bis of Decree-Law No. 331/93, as amended by Article 2(1)(a) of Decree-Law No. 83/2021, provides that:

if the supplier is established in only one Member State; and
has not exceeded, in the preceding and in the current year, the threshold of Euro 10,000.00, net of VAT, in the amount of distance sales of goods made to all the other Member States

sales are considered relevant,for VAT purposes, in the country of departure of the transport/shipping (taxation in the country of origin).

This rule aims to encouragesmall operators preventing them frompaying VAT at destination by anidentification in the various Member States or by opting for the OSS (One Stop Shop) scheme.

On the other hand, if the threshold is exceeded during the year, all supplies,made after the date on which the threshold is exceeded, are subject to tax in the country of destination.

It should be noted that it is possible to opt, independently, for taxation in the country of destination even if the threshold of Euro 10,000.00 has not been exceeded.

The novelties introduced by the Legislative Decree 83/2021, with effect from the 1 July 2021, referringto the fiscal year 2021, have been implemented in the VAT Return 2022, whose submission deadline is set by the 2 May 2022.

In particular, the following novelties should be noted:

lines VO10 and VO11 of the VO panel have been renamed with reference only to the intra-Community distance sales of goods referred to in the new Article 38-bis;
the option is valid until revoked and for at least two years;
the option for taxation at destination does not exclude for the VAT subjects the application of the One Stop Shop regime for distance sales;
lines VO10 and VO11 contain as many boxes as there are possible States of taxation, including Northern Ireland and the Republic of San Marino;
also for the supply of “TTE” (telecommunication, broadcasting, electronic) services,rendered to private consumers in the EU, the supplier may opt (line VO16) for taxapplication at destination,i.e. in the State where the customer is established. The newly introduced line VO17 will be filled in if the previous option is revoked, starting from 2021.