A practical guide · Ferrara
Fees, accounting obligations, supervisory bodies, changing adviser: seven recurring questions, with the relevant rules and deadlines.
Compulsory minimum tariffs no longer exist: since 2006 the fee of a commercialista (Italian chartered accountant and tax adviser) is freely agreed and must be disclosed in writing before the engagement is accepted. Market orders of magnitude — not the Firm’s price list — range from 600–1,200 euros a year for a taxpayer in the regime forfettario (flat-rate scheme) with no employees, to 1,500–3,000 euros for a sole trader or a partnership under simplified accounting, and 3,000–6,000 euros for an SRL (Italian private limited company) with financial statements and tax returns: an estimate for the specific case comes from the fee calculator and the online quotation.
Compulsory professional tariffs were abolished by art. 2 del d.l. 4 luglio 2006, n. 223, converted by legge 4 agosto 2006, n. 248. The parameters set by the decreto del Ministero della Giustizia 20 luglio 2012, n. 140 are not a price list: they serve the courts when settling a fee in the absence of an agreement between the parties. The operative reference is instead art. 9, comma 4, del d.l. 24 gennaio 2012, n. 1, converted by legge 24 marzo 2012, n. 27, as amended by legge 4 agosto 2017, n. 124: the professional must make known to the client, in written or digital form, the degree of complexity of the engagement, the foreseeable costs and the details of the professional indemnity policy, and must agree the fee in an outline quotation.
To the fee are added the 4 per cent supplementary contribution of the CNPADC (the chartered accountants’ pension fund) and VAT at 22 per cent. The three bands indicated above are market orders of magnitude, reflecting what is currently observed across the profession: they do not constitute the Firm’s price list, they are not an offer and they bind no one. The real cost depends on the number of accounting entries, the VAT regime (monthly or quarterly), the presence of employees, of depreciable assets, of foreign transactions and of extraordinary compliance work. For an estimate referred to the specific case, the Firm makes available the fee calculator and the online quotation, together with a preliminary assessment of the case.
Legal references: art. 2 d.l. 223/2006 conv. L. 248/2006; d.m. Giustizia 140/2012; art. 9, comma 4, d.l. 1/2012 conv. L. 27/2012, come modificato dalla L. 124/2017; art. 2233 c.c.
fee calculator · online quotation · preliminary assessment of your case
Corporate entities (società di capitali) must always keep ordinary accounts. Sole traders and partnerships may remain under simplified accounting if, in the previous year, their revenues did not exceed 500,000 euros for the supply of services or 800,000 euros for other activities. The flat-rate scheme has accounting rules of its own.
The rule is in art. 18 del d.P.R. 29 settembre 1973, n. 600: smaller businesses keep simplified accounts until, in the previous year, they exceed 500,000 euros of revenues for the supply of services or 800,000 euros for other activities; the thresholds are those raised by art. 1, comma 276, della legge 29 dicembre 2022, n. 197. For the entities listed in art. 13 of the same decree — companies limited by shares or quotas, cooperatives, commercial entities — ordinary accounting is compulsory regardless of turnover. A business carrying on both the supply of services and other activities looks to the threshold for its prevailing activity; in the absence of separate recording, the 800,000 euro limit applies.
Since 2017 the income of smaller businesses has been determined on a cash basis (art. 66 del d.P.R. 22 dicembre 1986, n. 917, as replaced by legge 11 dicembre 2016, n. 232), with the option, under art. 18, comma 5, del d.P.R. 600/1973, of using the VAT-registration criterion instead. Under the flat-rate scheme of legge 23 dicembre 2014, n. 190 no VAT is accounted for and no registers are kept, but the obligations to number and retain documents remain, as does electronic invoicing, extended to all taxable persons from 1 January 2024.
Legal references: artt. 13, 14, 18 d.P.R. 600/1973; art. 1, comma 276, L. 197/2022; art. 66 d.P.R. 917/1986; art. 1, commi 54-89, L. 190/2014; art. 1 d.lgs. 127/2015
the guide to the flat-rate scheme · electronic invoicing: obligations and deadlines · VAT in practice
The sindaco (internal statutory supervisor) oversees compliance with the law, the principles of sound management and the adequacy of the company’s internal arrangements. The revisore legale (statutory auditor) gives the opinion on the financial statements and checks that the accounts are properly kept. In an SRL, appointment becomes compulsory when, for two consecutive financial years, the company exceeds 4 million euros of assets, 4 million euros of revenues or twenty employees.
Art. 2477 of the codice civile (Italian civil code), in the wording resulting from d.lgs. 12 gennaio 2019, n. 14 and from d.l. 18 aprile 2019, n. 32 converted by legge 14 giugno 2019, n. 55, requires an SRL to appoint a supervisory body or an auditor when the company must prepare consolidated financial statements, controls a company subject to statutory audit, or has exceeded, for two consecutive financial years, at least one of these limits: 4,000,000 euros of total assets, 4,000,000 euros of revenues from sales and services, twenty employees on average during the year. The obligation ceases when none of the limits is exceeded for three consecutive years.
The shareholders’ meeting approving the financial statements from which the excess emerges must act within thirty days; failing that, the court steps in, including upon report by the keeper of the Companies Register. The two roles do not coincide: the duties of the collegio sindacale (board of statutory supervisors) are defined by art. 2403 c.c. — oversight of compliance with the law and the articles of association, of adherence to the principles of sound management and of the adequacy of the organisational, administrative and accounting arrangements — whereas statutory audit is governed by d.lgs. 27 gennaio 2010, n. 39, whose art. 14 assigns to the auditor the opinion on the financial statements and the verification of the proper keeping of the accounts. If a supervisory body is appointed, the audit falls to it only where the articles of association so provide.
Legal references: artt. 2086, 2403, 2409-bis, 2477 c.c.; d.lgs. 14/2019; d.l. 32/2019 conv. L. 55/2019; artt. 13, 14 d.lgs. 39/2010
statutory audit and the supervisory board · the first audit engagement
The relationship ends with a written revocation of the engagement. The outgoing professional hands over the client’s documentation, which remains the client’s property. The online delegations must then be revoked one by one: the cassetto fiscale (the taxpayer’s online tax drawer), consultation of electronic invoices, invoicing, the social security drawer and the INAIL delegations.
The contract for intellectual services is dissolved by the client’s withdrawal under art. 2237 of the codice civile, which entitles the client to withdraw upon reimbursing expenses and paying the fee for the work performed. The revocation should be formalised in writing and dated, because it marks the watershed of responsibility for filings falling due. The accounting and tax documentation belongs to the client and must be returned: the Codice deontologico of the CNDCEC (the profession’s national council) requires the professional to hand over deeds and documents and governs relations with the incoming colleague.
The operational step most often forgotten concerns the online delegations: the delegation for consulting the cassetto fiscale lasts a maximum of four years and must be expressly revoked with the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency), as must enrolment in the service for consulting and downloading electronic invoices, the authorisation to file returns, the delegation for the INPS social security drawer and the INAIL delegations. The incoming professional must also obtain the register of depreciable assets, the corporate books, the last approved financial statements with the breakdown of their items, the quadro RS (a schedule of the tax return) and the losses carried forward, the notices received in the cassetto fiscale and the history of F24 payments. An orderly handover is done at the turn of a closed financial year, not in the middle of a VAT settlement.
Legal references: artt. 2229-2238 c.c., in particolare art. 2237 c.c.; art. 63 d.P.R. 600/1973; Codice deontologico CNDCEC; provvedimenti dell’Agenzia delle Entrate sulle deleghe agli intermediari
the tax drawer and notifications · speak to the Firm
By law, no: opening a partita IVA (Italian VAT registration) is a formality the taxpayer can complete alone. In practice, the choices made at that moment — ATECO code, tax regime, social security classification, start date of the activity — shape taxes and contributions for years, and cannot always be corrected afterwards.
The declaration of commencement of activity is provided for by art. 35 del d.P.R. 26 ottobre 1972, n. 633 and must be filed within thirty days using form AA9/12 for individuals or AA7/10 for other persons. For businesses, the formality is absorbed into the Comunicazione Unica (the single business registration filing) with the Companies Register, which in a single submission discharges the obligations towards the Agenzia delle Entrate, the chamber of commerce, INPS (the national social security institute) and INAIL (the national institute for insurance against accidents at work).
The choices made at that point have lasting effects: the ATECO code (the Italian business activity classification) determines the profitability coefficient if the flat-rate scheme of legge 190/2014 is adopted; the classification decides between the INPS gestione separata (separate contribution scheme), the artisans’ and traders’ scheme and a professional pension fund; the start date of the activity opens the deadlines for notifying the SUAP (the municipal one-stop business desk) where the activity is subject to a SCIA (certified notice of business commencement). Account must also be taken of the strengthened anti-fraud safeguards introduced by art. 1, commi 95-97, della legge 30 dicembre 2023, n. 213, which amended art. 35 del d.P.R. 633/1972: where a VAT number is closed ex officio on risk grounds, its reopening is conditional on the issue of a three-year surety policy of no less than 50,000 euros. An initial set-up mistake costs more than a correct set-up does.
Legal references: art. 35 d.P.R. 633/1972; art. 1, commi 95-97, L. 213/2023; art. 9 d.l. 7/2007 conv. L. 40/2007 (Comunicazione Unica); art. 1, commi 54-89, L. 190/2014
opening a VAT registration · the flat-rate scheme and VAT registration
The minimum sensible calendar is quarterly, tied to the VAT settlements and to the payment deadlines, with a review of the result before the financial year closes. Employers add the monthly rhythm of payroll. Companies with a supervisory body also have the periodic checks required by law.
The cadence is not a matter of habit, but of deadlines. Periodic VAT settlements are reported quarterly under art. 21-bis del d.l. 31 maggio 2010, n. 78, converted by legge 30 luglio 2010, n. 122; payments are made on the 16th of the month, and the balance of income taxes follows the annual deadlines. The technically most important moment, however, is not the tax return: it is the estimate of the result before 31 December, while choices are still open — provisions, depreciation methods, recognition of inventories, options for spreading capital gains under art. 86, comma 4, del d.P.R.
917/1986, and whether or not to join the concordato preventivo biennale (the two-year advance tax agreement). In December you decide; in June you merely pay. Where a supervisory body exists, art. 2404 of the codice civile requires the board of statutory supervisors to meet at least every ninety days, and the auditor carries out the periodic checks on the proper keeping of the accounts under art. 14, comma 1, lett. b), del d.lgs. 39/2010. In businesses with employees, the monthly rhythm is imposed by the payroll cycle: processing, UNIEMENS filings and contribution payments.
Legal references: art. 21-bis d.l. 78/2010 conv. L. 122/2010; art. 86, comma 4, d.P.R. 917/1986; art. 2404 c.c.; art. 14 d.lgs. 39/2010
tax deadline calendar · deadlines and voluntary correction · the two-year advance tax agreement
The distinction is no longer the channel, which is now electronic for everyone, but the availability of an identifiable and accountable counterpart. Routine compliance can be handled remotely with nothing lost; tax audits, extraordinary transactions, litigation and business crises demand continuity of relationship and presence.
Electronic invoicing, tax returns, F24 payments and communications with the Agenzia delle Entrate travel through electronic channels for everyone: from that standpoint, every firm is already an online firm. The difference is measured elsewhere. The first criterion is the identifiability of the professional responsible for the engagement: the rules on informative disclosure require the identity, the professional title and the insurance cover to be made known, and art. 9, comma 4, del d.l. 1/2012 requires these elements to be communicated to the client before the engagement.
The second criterion is resilience in non-routine phases: an access, inspection or audit under art. 52 del d.P.R. 633/1972 and art. 33 del d.P.R. 600/1973 is faced by reading the report immediately and taking decisions within the sixty days provided by art. 12, comma 7, della legge 27 luglio 2000, n. 212. The third criterion is the memory of the file: whoever knows the history of the business sees problems sooner. The Firm sees clients by appointment in Ferrara, Codigoro and Milan, and uses video calls and remote assistance for day-to-day work.
Legal references: art. 9, comma 4, d.l. 1/2012 conv. L. 27/2012; art. 52 d.P.R. 633/1972; art. 33 d.P.R. 600/1973; art. 12, comma 7, L. 212/2000
the Firm’s three offices · meeting by video call · tax audits and litigation
Name: Studio Ponchio S.T.P. — Società tra Professionisti, Dottori Commercialisti, CPA S.r.l.
Legal form: a professional practice company (società tra professionisti) incorporated as a limited liability company, enrolled with the territorially competent Ordine dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili (the professional register of chartered accountants).
Registered office: Via IV Novembre 33, 44021 Codigoro (FE).
VAT number and tax code: 01775330382.
Ferrara-Ravenna Companies Register: no. 01775330382 — REA FE-196727.
Share capital: 30,000.00 euros, fully paid up.
In business since: 2007 (as inferred from the “2007–2026” copyright notice at the foot of the site’s pages).
Offices: Ferrara, Via Bagaro 3, 44121 Ferrara — telephone +39 0532 450482; Codigoro, Via IV Novembre 33, 44021 Codigoro — telephone +39 0533 710240; Milan, Viale Elvezia 12, Milan — telephone +39 02 49614657.
Opening hours: the three offices see clients by appointment, Monday to Friday, 9:00–19:00.
Channels: written enquiry form, AI assistant, WhatsApp +39 347 4800203, video call, remote assistance, online quotation.
Insurance cover: the Firm declares that it holds professional indemnity insurance.
Lead professional: Dario Ponchio, Dottore Commercialista and Revisore Legale (chartered accountant and statutory auditor), founder and principal of the Firm.
Experience: Qualified as a dottore commercialista (Italian chartered accountant) in 2006; more than twenty years of corporate tax and company advisory work.
Education: London School of Economics — advanced study (1999); Università Bocconi — degree in Economics (2000); Master in Business Tax Law, Università Bocconi (2025), specialising in international taxation.
Professional background: PwC — statutory audit; EY — international tax consulting.
Network: commercialistiavvocati.net; standing collaboration with Studio Soncini Parisi of Milan.
Declared practice areas: corporate tax and company law advice; assistance in tax audits and assessments, including situations where the tax issue takes on criminal relevance; payroll management and employment consultancy for the businesses assisted; financial statements and tax returns; international taxation.
Professional notice: the published content is of a general nature and for information purposes only; it does not constitute professional advice and is no substitute for the examination of the specific case. Sending enquiries through the site’s forms does not of itself establish a professional relationship, which is created exclusively by formal acceptance of the engagement. No result is guaranteed.
The trademarks and logos shown belong to their respective owners and are used solely to indicate the founder’s education and previous professional experience; their use implies no affiliation with, or endorsement by, the organisations concerned.
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See also: How to choose an Italian chartered accountant for your business
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