The Firm’s Newsstand · Today’s tax headlines

The Firm’s Newsstand

A short daily digest of Italian business-tax news, written in our own words: direct taxes and VAT, filings and deadlines, tax audits and company accounts. One title, two lines, and a link to the source.

Updated 1 August 2026.

Today’s digest

– 5 AUGUST 2026

Service of a tax demand: specific challenge and proper reasons The Court of Cassation keeps two matters apart: a denial of copies must be specific, document by document, but in return the tax court must give reasons on every challenge to service. Apparent reasoning; quashed and remitted.– Studio Observatory (in Italian)

– 4 AUGUST 2026

Shareholder loans and the presumption of unrecorded revenue Without proof of title and origin, a shareholder’s payment can be treated as hidden revenue in a tax audit: the evidence is built before the transfer, with a certified-date instrument and a traceable bank transfer.– Studio Observatory

E-receipts on request? Not in the omnibus corrective decree The draft before the Italian Parliament does not touch the retail receipt: the prior-agreement rule of the 2016 ministerial decree still applies. No new obligation for retailers.– Studio Observatory

– 1 AUGUST 2026

Assessment signed before the sixty-day period from the pvc: unlawful The Tax Division ties the breach of the waiting period to the moment the assessment is signed, not served. The rule still governs assessments issued up to 29 April 2024, which remain in litigation.– Studio Observatory

– 29 JULY 2026

IRAP and professional partnerships: the tax is not automatic The Constitutional Court ties the levy to the depersonalisation of the service: where each associate keeps a personal relationship with the client, IRAP is not due. Refund claims are open within forty-eight months.– Studio Observatory

Capital gains: spreading ends in 2026 The 2026 Budget Law removes the five-year spreading option for operating assets: the gain is taxed in full in the year of realisation. Only the sale of a business, or a division held for at least three years, can still be spread.– Studio Observatory

Buying a business: when the certificate stops protecting you The buyer answers for tax debts up to the value of the business and only after the seller has been pursued. But where the sale falls within six months of a criminal finding, fraud is presumed and every limit falls away.– Studio Observatory

– 25 JULY 2026

Static holding companies and retained dividends: where abuse begins Ongoing audits challenge the indefinite deferral of tax on dividends kept inside family holding companies: the deferral is lawful only while temporary. Documented non-tax purposes and an investment strategy reduce the risk of challenges.– Studio Observatory (in Italian)

– 24 JULY 2026

Tax debts and negotiated settlement: the safeguards Businesses in difficulty can include debts owed to the Revenue in the negotiations: careful preliminary checks and a sustainable plan are essential to avoid losing the protective measures.– Studio Observatory

Tax drawer: more documents and tracked notifications The reserved area expands the documents available and adds digital tracking of the status of notifications, giving businesses and professionals greater certainty over deadlines.– Studio Observatory

Shell companies: watch the 2026 income tax return Operativity test, exclusion grounds and disapplication must be handled carefully in the return: the outcome affects minimum income, IRAP and the use of the VAT credit.– Studio Observatory

– 23 JULY 2026

Reconstructing turnover: the limits of the analytical-inductive assessment Mark-up percentages, stock levels, off-book papers and financial investigations: when presumptions are enough to adjust revenues, and where the analytical-inductive method gives way to the purely inductive one.– Studio Observatory

Parallel bookkeeping: denying the notes is not a defence The Supreme Court confirms that informal ledgers and off-book records found on the premises amount to serious, precise and consistent presumptions. Neither denying the documents nor employees’ statements are enough to rebut them.– Studio Observatory

Judicial liquidation: tax debts and the prosecutor’s role With the size thresholds of the old bankruptcy law gone, insolvency is what counts. For companies in liquidation whose exposure is mainly fiscal, the prosecutor’s initiative and the collection agency’s stance carry real weight.– Studio Observatory

New OIC 5: liquidation accounts change their logic The standard drops the forward-looking estimate of the procedure’s final outcome and shifts the focus onto reporting the liquidation process itself, with new formats and measurement rules for assets, liabilities, future costs and notes.– Studio Observatory