Tax Observatory › Tax collection › Overdue tax debts above €50,000: when the F24 offset ban applies and how to lift it

Overdue tax debts above €50,000: when the F24 offset ban applies and how to lift it

From 1 January 2026, an overdue tax debt of more than €50,000 enrolled for collection that is neither suspended nor being paid in instalments is enough to bar the taxpayer from offsetting almost all credits in the F24 payment form, including tax credits granted as incentives. Before sending an F24 form with credits, taxpayers need to check their position with the tax collection agency.

From 1 January 2026, taxpayers cannot offset their credits against other liabilities in the F24 payment form if they have payment notices (cartelle) or other amounts entrusted to the tax collection agency that are overdue, not suspended and above €50,000 in total. The amounts concerned are those relating to central government taxes or arising from notices issued by the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle entrate). Until 31 December 2025 the threshold was €100,000. The ban covers tax credits of every kind, including incentive credits, and spares only credits due from INPS (the national social security institute) and INAIL (the workplace accident insurer). Amounts being paid in instalments on schedule do not count, nor do amounts suspended by the court or by the administration. The ban is lifted by bringing the debt down to €50,000 or less: by paying, by obtaining an instalment plan or by obtaining a suspension.

The rule and the €50,000 threshold

The rule is laid down in Article 37(49-quinquies) of Decree-Law No. 223 of 4 July 2006, converted into law by Law No. 248 of 4 August 2006. The paragraph was introduced by Article 1(94)(b) of Law No. 213 of 30 December 2023 and rewritten by Article 4(2) of Decree-Law No. 39 of 29 March 2024, converted into law by Law No. 67 of 23 May 2024. It has applied since 1 July 2024. Article 1(116) of Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025 (the 2026 Budget Law) lowered the threshold from €100,000 to €50,000 with effect from 1 January 2026, as the Revenue Agency confirmed in reply No. 110 of 2026 to a ruling request (risposta a interpello).

The rule bars the offsetting provided for by Article 17 of Legislative Decree No. 241 of 9 July 1997, namely “horizontal” offsetting between credits and liabilities of a different nature shown in the same F24 form. The exceptions are credits relating to social security contributions and INAIL premiums, listed in points (e), (f) and (g) of paragraph 2 of that Article. Taxpayers above the threshold may therefore offset only those credits, and may not show them in the same F24 form together with credits that are blocked.

From 1 January 2027 the rule will be carried over, with the €50,000 threshold already adjusted by the 2026 Budget Law, into Article 5(7) of the consolidated Act on payments and tax collection (Legislative Decree No. 33 of 24 March 2025). The application of the consolidated Act was deferred to that date by Article 4(4) of Decree-Law No. 200 of 31 December 2025, converted into law by Law No. 26 of 27 February 2026.

Which debts count towards the threshold

According to Revenue Agency Circular No. 16/E of 28 June 2024, which remains the operational reference, the following count towards the threshold: direct taxes, VAT, registration tax and other indirect taxes, as well as amounts claimed under recovery notices for credits not due or non-existent (Article 1(421) to (423) of Law No. 311 of 2004 and Article 38-bis of Presidential Decree No. 600 of 1973), together with the related interest and penalties. Default interest and collection charges are not included.

Only debts whose payment deadline has passed count: for a payment notice, the deadline stated in the notice itself, running from service; for an enforceable assessment notice (accertamento esecutivo), as a rule the thirtieth day after the final payment deadline. An appeal does not, in itself, suspend collection. If an enforceable assessment notice is challenged, what counts is the amount payable while the first-instance proceedings are pending: one third of the additional taxes and the related interest (Article 29(1)(a) of Decree-Law No. 78 of 2010 and Article 15 of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 29 September 1973), unless the court or the tax office has suspended collection. If the first-instance judgment dismisses the appeal, the amount that can be collected rises to two thirds, and penalties are added in the same proportion (Article 68 of Legislative Decree No. 546 of 31 December 1992 and Article 19 of Legislative Decree No. 472 of 18 December 1997). The further amount is claimed with a new notice which, for an enforceable assessment notice, must be paid within sixty days of receipt (Article 29(1)(a) of Decree-Law No. 78 of 2010): once that deadline has passed, the debt may exceed the threshold even without any new assessment. The calculation should therefore be redone as soon as the judgment is published.

Amounts included in an instalment plan that has not lapsed, and suspended amounts, are left out of the calculation. Social security amounts enrolled for collection do not count either, including those of the professional pension funds (Casse professionali), because the rule refers to central government taxes and to notices issued by the Revenue Agency (reply No. 110 of 2026). For the same reason, the regional tax on productive activities (IRAP) and the regional and municipal additional income taxes (addizionali IRPEF) do count when they are enrolled for collection following checks or assessments by the Agency. This follows from the wording of the rule, which refers to notices “issued in any form” by the Agency. Official guidance has not yet confirmed this expressly, but this is the prudent reading. Taxes that local authorities collect under their own notices, such as the municipal property tax (IMU) and the waste tax (TARI), are excluded. The check must be made on the date the F24 form is sent: that is when it is established whether the ban applies.

Which credits remain blocked

The ban is not limited to credits relating to central government taxes. Circular No. 16/E mentions credits relating to income taxes, VAT and registration tax, tax credits for research and development, for investments in Southern Italy (Mezzogiorno) and for “Industry 4.0” capital goods, credits arising from building incentives (bonus edilizi) and, in general, incentive credits. They remain blocked even when they exceed the debt: a taxpayer with a credit of €80,000 and payment notices for €60,000 cannot offset any part of it until the debt is brought back within the threshold. For credits arising from building incentives there is also a specific rule, with a €10,000 threshold (Article 121(3-bis) of Decree-Law No. 34 of 2020), which is not yet operational (reply No. 110 of 2026): at present only the general ban described here applies.

Circular No. 16/E points out that “vertical” offsetting, between credits and liabilities relating to the same tax, is always permitted. However, the Agency has not expressly confirmed that, for the purposes of paragraph 49-quinquies, this notion also covers a taxpayer above the threshold using the annual VAT credit in the F24 form to pay periodic VAT. Until this is clarified, it is prudent not to proceed without a specific review.

If the F24 form is sent nonetheless, the Agency may suspend it for up to thirty days for checks (paragraphs 49-ter and 49-quater of the same Article 37). If the ban is confirmed, the form is rejected and the payments and offsets it contains are treated as not made.

How it interacts with the long-standing €1,500 ban

Below €50,000, Article 31(1) of Decree-Law No. 78 of 31 May 2010, converted into law by Law No. 122 of 30 July 2010, continues to apply. Taxpayers with overdue debts enrolled for collection for central government taxes and related ancillary amounts (accessori), for an amount above €1,500, cannot offset credits relating to central government taxes up to the amount of those debts; incentive credits, by contrast, remain usable. A breach carries a penalty of 50% of the overdue debts, up to the amount unduly offset; as long as the enrolment for collection (iscrizione a ruolo) is being contested in court or administratively, the penalty does not apply, but the ban remains.

The two bans therefore do not apply cumulatively. Up to €1,500 there is no ban; between €1,500 and €50,000 only credits relating to central government taxes are blocked, up to the amount of the debt; above €50,000 all credits are blocked, except INPS and INAIL credits.

In both bands (from €1,500 to €50,000 and above €50,000) payment notices can still be paid by offsetting credits relating to central government taxes, as Article 31(1) provides, using the F24 Excise form (F24 Accise) and tax code RUOL. Incentive credits, however, cannot be used for this purpose, and amounts due under recovery notices for credits not due or non-existent must in any event be paid without offsetting.

How the ban is lifted

The ban is lifted as soon as the relevant debt falls to €50,000 or less. There are three routes, plus a fourth that calls for caution.

Payment. The debt can be reduced by paying part of the amounts due, including by offsetting credits relating to central government taxes with tax code RUOL. Once the debt has fallen to €50,000 or less, however, Article 31 applies again: a partial reduction has limited effects on credits relating to central government taxes, but immediately frees incentive credits.

Instalment plan. Amounts included in a plan granted by the tax collection agency (Article 19 of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973) do not count towards the threshold as long as the plan has not lapsed (Circular No. 16/E and reply No. 136 of 2024). Whether filing the application alone is enough has not been clarified: it is advisable to offset only after the plan has been granted. For applications filed on or after 16 July 2022, the plan lapses when eight instalments, even non-consecutive ones, remain unpaid (for older plans the number may differ and should be checked in the decision granting the plan); from that moment the outstanding debt counts again in full and can no longer be paid in instalments.

Suspension. Amounts suspended by the tax court (Article 47 of Legislative Decree No. 546 of 31 December 1992) or by the tax office (Article 39 of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973) do not count. A court suspension ends when the judgment is published: if the outcome is unfavourable, the debt counts towards the threshold again from that date, unless a new suspension is requested from the appeal court. Before taking any other step, it is also worth checking that the amounts are actually owed: for those already paid or resulting from errors, the taxpayer can request cancellation (sgravio) or annulment by the Agency on its own initiative (autotutela), which removes them from the calculation.

Facilitated settlement. For the rottamazione-quater settlement scheme, the Agency has clarified that debts included in the scheme do not count as long as the instalments are paid on time. For the rottamazione-quinquies scheme (Article 1(82) et seq. of Law No. 199 of 2025), which concerns only taxpayers who filed their application by 30 April 2026 and only the eligible amounts, no similar clarification has yet been given: the conclusion is plausible, but should be treated with caution. Taxpayers who did not apply can no longer take this route.

An example

A business has a 2025 VAT credit of €80,000, already usable (return filed with the compliance endorsement, visto di conformità). It also has payment notices for VAT and corporate income tax (IRES) totalling €60,000 (taxes, penalties and interest enrolled for collection), which are overdue, not suspended and not being paid in instalments. For simplicity, default interest and collection charges are disregarded: they do not count towards the threshold but must be paid to settle the amounts due. Since €60,000 exceeds the threshold, the business cannot offset anything, except INPS and INAIL credits in a separate F24 form. By contrast, until 31 December 2025 it could have offset the €20,000 of credit exceeding the debt.

If it uses the credit to pay all the payment notices with tax code RUOL, it pays them off and keeps €20,000 of credit that can be offset freely. If it pays only €10,000 of the notices, the debt falls to €50,000 and the general ban ceases, but Article 31 continues to restrict credits relating to central government taxes up to €50,000: of the remaining €70,000 of credit, €20,000 can still be offset. For credits relating to central government taxes, in this case, settling everything or reducing the debt to the threshold gives the same result; the partial reduction is useful mainly to free any incentive credits.

Penalties and precautions

The law lays down no specific penalty for a breach of paragraph 49-quinquies: the enforcement mechanism is the rejection of the F24 form. The practical consequence, however, is significant. With the form rejected, the liability that the taxpayer intended to settle is treated as unpaid and the penalty for late or non-payment under Article 13(1) of Legislative Decree No. 471 of 18 December 1997 applies (25%, halved if the delay does not exceed ninety days; within the first fifteen days, the halved penalty is further reduced to one fifteenth for each day of delay), which can be reduced through ravvedimento operoso, the voluntary correction procedure. If the checks did not block the offset, it could not be ruled out that the Agency would classify the credit as not due because it was claimed in breach of the rules governing its use (Article 1(1)(g-quinquies) of Legislative Decree No. 74 of 10 March 2000, referred to in Article 13(4) of Legislative Decree No. 471 of 1997), with the 25% penalty laid down in paragraph 4-bis of the same Article 13. This is a risk to be considered, although official guidance has not yet addressed it.

In practice

• Before every F24 form with credits, download the up-to-date statement of amounts owed from the secure personal area of the tax collection agency.
• Separate the amounts that count (central government taxes and any amount arising from notices issued by the Revenue Agency, including IRAP and addizionali IRPEF enrolled for collection after checks or assessments) from those that do not: social security amounts and taxes collected by local authorities under their own notices, such as IMU and TARI. Then remove amounts being paid in instalments on schedule and suspended amounts, and exclude default interest and collection charges.
• If the total exceeds €50,000, do not send F24 forms with credits other than INPS and INAIL credits, and decide how to get back below the threshold: payment, including by offsetting credits relating to central government taxes with tax code RUOL, an instalment plan or an application for suspension.
• After a payment, including one made with tax code RUOL, send F24 forms with credits only when the statement in the secure personal area shows the debt at €50,000 or less.
• If the total is between €1,500 and €50,000, remember that credits relating to central government taxes can be offset only for the part exceeding the overdue debt for central government taxes and related ancillary amounts: IRAP and addizionali do not count for the purposes of Article 31.
• Keep the statement of amounts owed as at the date of each F24 form, the decisions granting instalment plans and the receipts for the instalments, the suspension orders and the receipts for the F24 forms.

Frequently asked questions

My payment notices are being paid in instalments: can I offset?

Yes, if the plan has been granted and has not lapsed: amounts being paid in instalments do not count towards the €50,000 threshold. If, however, the required instalments are not paid (eight, even non-consecutive, for applications filed on or after 16 July 2022), the plan lapses, the outstanding amount counts again and, if it exceeds the threshold, the ban applies from that moment.

I have appealed against the assessment: does the debt count?

An appeal does not, in itself, suspend collection. For a challenged enforceable assessment notice, the amount payable while proceedings are pending counts: one third of the additional taxes and interest until the first-instance judgment; after an unfavourable judgment, two thirds of the taxes, interest and penalties, but only from the payment deadline of the notice claiming those amounts. If a suspension is granted, the suspended amounts are left out of the calculation until the judgment.

Do INPS payment notices or those of a professional pension fund count towards the threshold?

No. The rule concerns central government taxes and notices issued by the Revenue Agency: social security amounts enrolled for collection, including those of the professional pension funds (Casse professionali), count neither towards the €50,000 threshold nor towards the €1,500 threshold (reply No. 110 of 2026). Incentive credits, however, cannot be used to pay those amounts.

Sources

Article 37(49-ter), (49-quater) and (49-quinquies) of Decree-Law No. 223 of 4 July 2006, converted into law by Law No. 248 of 4 August 2006.

Article 1(94) of Law No. 213 of 30 December 2023; Article 4(2) of Decree-Law No. 39 of 29 March 2024, converted into law by Law No. 67 of 23 May 2024.

Article 1(82) et seq. and (116) of Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025.

Articles 29(1) and 31(1) of Decree-Law No. 78 of 31 May 2010, converted into law by Law No. 122 of 30 July 2010.

Article 1(421) to (423) of Law No. 311 of 30 December 2004; Article 38-bis of Presidential Decree No. 600 of 29 September 1973.

Article 121(3-bis) of Decree-Law No. 34 of 19 May 2020, converted into law by Law No. 77 of 17 July 2020.

Article 17 of Legislative Decree No. 241 of 9 July 1997.

Articles 15, 19 and 39 of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 29 September 1973; Articles 47 and 68 of Legislative Decree No. 546 of 31 December 1992; Article 19 of Legislative Decree No. 472 of 18 December 1997.

Article 13(1), (4) and (4-bis) of Legislative Decree No. 471 of 18 December 1997; Article 1(1)(g-quinquies) of Legislative Decree No. 74 of 10 March 2000.

Article 5(7) of Legislative Decree No. 33 of 24 March 2025; Article 4(4) of Decree-Law No. 200 of 31 December 2025, converted into law by Law No. 26 of 27 February 2026.

Italian Revenue Agency, Circular No. 16/E of 28 June 2024; replies to ruling requests No. 136 of 2024 and No. 110 of 2026.