Tax Observatory › Tax collection › E-invoices and unpaid payment notices: how Italy’s collection agency identifies receivables to attach in the hands of customers

E-invoices and unpaid payment notices: how Italy’s collection agency identifies receivables to attach in the hands of customers

From 2026 the Italian Revenue Agency can report to Agenzia delle entrate-Riscossione, the collection agency, how much businesses and professionals with debts entered on the collection roll have invoiced to each customer holding a VAT number. What data is transmitted, what happens to a customer who receives a payment order, and what remedies the debtor has.

Anyone whose debts have been referred to Agenzia delle entrate-Riscossione (“the Collection Agency”; the legislation calls it the “collection agent”) and who invoices other businesses or professionals should be aware that their customers may be ordered to pay outstanding invoices to the Collection Agency rather than to them. This is made possible by the 2026 Budget Law (Article 1(117) of Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025), in force since 1 January 2026, which added letter (b-ter) to Article 1(5-bis) of Legislative Decree No. 127 of 5 August 2015. The implementing arrangements were laid down in the Decision of the Director of the Italian Revenue Agency of 22 May 2026, Ref. No. 153611/2026. This is not an automatic attachment: the data is used to select the customers in whose hands attachment proceedings will be brought; the proceedings themselves follow the ordinary rules.

What data the Revenue Agency passes to the Collection Agency

E-invoice files that pass through the Exchange System (SdI, Italy’s e-invoicing platform) are stored by the Italian Revenue Agency until 31 December of the eighth year following the year in which the relevant return is filed. Periodically, at intervals the Decision does not specify, the Revenue Agency makes available to the Collection Agency two items of information for each debtor holding a VAT number and for its joint obligors, broken down by individual customer: the total consideration invoiced in the previous six months and the number of invoices. The only customer data transmitted is the tax code, VAT number, name or company name and tax domicile.

Three points emerge from the text. The content of individual invoices, meaning descriptions, quantities and prices, is not transmitted. The Decision covers only transactions between taxable persons: private customers without a VAT number fall outside this data flow. This restriction is laid down by the implementing Decision, not by the law, which refers generally to invoices issued to the same person. Finally, neither the law nor the Decision sets any minimum debt threshold: the number of cases to be reported is decided by the regional directorates of the Revenue Agency together with the local offices of the Collection Agency, according to operational capacity and on a gradual basis. At the time of publication, official sources have not yet indicated when the first data transfer will take place.

From data to attachment: how the order to the customer works

The data tells the Collection Agency who the debtor’s regular customers are and how much each relationship is worth. The next step is a notice of attachment of receivables owed by third parties under Article 72-bis of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 29 September 1973, served on the customer, who in this procedure is the “third party”. Instead of a summons to appear before a court, the attachment notice contains an order to pay the Collection Agency directly, up to the amount of the debt being enforced:

• within 60 days of service, for amounts that had already fallen due to the supplier before that date;
• on their respective due dates, for amounts falling due afterwards.

This point is often misunderstood: what is attached is not the turnover for those six months, much of which the customer has already paid, but the amount the supplier is still owed by the customer and the amounts that will fall due. The turnover figure only indicates where receivables large enough to cover the debt are likely to be found.

The order does not go through a court. A court becomes involved if the customer does not pay: in that case the Collection Agency summons the customer and the debtor and proceeds under the rules of the Code of Civil Procedure (Article 72(2) of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973, referred to in Article 72-bis). A customer who fails to comply therefore does not automatically become a debtor of the Collection Agency, but is exposed to legal proceedings.

What the customer receiving the notice should do

A customer who receives the notice must no longer pay the supplier the amounts attached. From service of the notice the customer holds those amounts as custodian (Article 546 of the Code of Civil Procedure): anything paid to the supplier after that date cannot be relied on against the Collection Agency (Article 2917 of the Civil Code), and the real risk is having to pay twice. Conversely, a payment made to the Collection Agency in accordance with the order discharges the customer’s debt to the supplier to the same extent.

The customer should therefore check immediately which of the supplier’s invoices are still open and which payments are about to fall due, suspend payments to the supplier up to the amount stated in the notice, and pay that amount to the Collection Agency within the time limits, keeping proof of payment. Any excess may still be paid to the supplier. If the customer considers that it owes nothing, or less than the amount stated, it is advisable to inform the Collection Agency in writing and enclose supporting documents. This may be the case, for example, where the invoices were settled before service, where the receivable is disputed or where it was extinguished by a set-off that had already taken effect. The law does not require a formal statement, but silence exposes the customer to the proceedings under Article 72(2). Set-off with claims that arose after service cannot be relied on against the Collection Agency.

In ongoing relationships the order also covers amounts that will fall due, always within the amount of the debt, provided that they arise from a relationship already in place at the time of service, such as a supply or works contract or an ongoing engagement; whether it also extends to entirely new, one-off jobs is uncertain and should be assessed individually. Finally, the ordinary tax obligations arising from the relationship still have to be dealt with, such as the supplier’s invoice and, where the supplier is a self-employed professional and the customer a withholding agent, withholding tax: the treatment should be checked case by case before payment.

The debtor’s protections before and after attachment

There are limits on when attachment can take place. If the debt has been entered on the collection roll through a payment notice (cartella di pagamento), enforcement is permitted only once 60 days have passed without payment since the notice was served (Article 50(1) of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973). If enforcement does not begin within one year of service, it must be preceded by a demand for payment giving five days to pay (Article 50(2)).

For debts not collected through a payment notice, such as those arising from enforceable assessment notices for income taxes, VAT and IRAP (the regional tax on productive activities), enforcement is suspended for 180 days from referral to the Collection Agency, which informs the debtor. The suspension does not apply to final assessments, to amounts due following loss of the right to pay in instalments, or where there is a well-founded risk to collection. Nor does it cover precautionary and protective measures. Once one year has passed since the assessment notice was served, enforcement must be preceded by a demand for payment (Article 29(1)(b), (c) and (e) of Decree-Law No. 78 of 31 May 2010).

For debts of up to 1,000 euro, precautionary and enforcement measures may not be taken until 120 days after the debtor has been sent, by ordinary post, a communication detailing the amounts entered on the roll (Article 1(544) of Law No. 228 of 24 December 2012). This rule does not apply to the European Union’s own resources or to VAT collected on importation (Article 10(1) of Law No. 161 of 30 October 2014).

Once the attachment notice has been served, the debtor can take action. If the debtor claims never to have been validly served with the payment notice, and therefore never to have had the opportunity to dispute the debt, where taxes are concerned, the challenge is brought before the tax court by way of an appeal against the attachment notice within the time limits for tax proceedings. For social security contributions and other non-tax revenues, the ordinary or employment court has jurisdiction. Defects in the attachment notice itself and events occurring after service of the payment notice, such as a limitation period that has since expired, are raised before the ordinary court by way of an objection to enforcement or an objection to enforcement acts. It is Article 57 of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973, as it stands following Constitutional Court judgment No. 114 of 2018, that confines objections to these cases. An objection to enforcement acts must be filed within the mandatory time limit of 20 days (Article 617(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure), which according to case law runs from the date on which the debtor acquired legal or actual knowledge of the enforcement act, which is usually the date of service.

For tax debts, in any case, the most effective remedies are those available before attachment: the notice of irregularities (avviso bonario) and the payment notice should be examined as soon as they arrive, and a defect in the service of the payment notice must be raised within the applicable time limits.

Payment in instalments: apply before attachment

The main tool for preventing attachment is payment in instalments under Article 19 of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973. Once the application has been filed, no new enforcement proceedings may be started. For applications filed in 2025 and 2026, amounts of up to 120,000 euro included in each application may be spread over up to 84 monthly instalments on the basis of a simple statement that the debtor is in temporary financial difficulty, and over 85 to 120 instalments if the difficulty is documented. Above 120,000 euro, up to 120 instalments are available, again with supporting documents. Failure to pay eight instalments, even if not consecutive, results in loss of the right to pay in instalments: the entire balance becomes immediately collectable and the debt can no longer be paid in instalments.

The effect on attachments already served is more limited: payment of the first instalment extinguishes the proceedings only if the third party has not yet made a positive statement and no order assigning the receivables has been issued (Article 19(1-quater.2)). These conditions were designed for attachment proceedings before a court; it is uncertain how they apply in the procedure based on a direct payment order to the customer. Before paying the first instalment it is advisable to ask the Collection Agency what effect it will have on the pending proceedings. Better still, file the application before the attachment notice arrives.

Not to be confused: fees paid by public authorities

A different mechanism applies to professionals working for public authorities. From 15 June 2026, under Article 1(725) of Law No. 199 of 2025, public authorities and companies majority-owned by public bodies that pay a professional a fee of up to 5,000 euro check whether the recipient has been served with payment notices that remain unpaid for a total of at least 5,000 euro. If so, they pay the amount directly to the Collection Agency, up to the amount of the debt, and pay the professional only any excess (Article 48-bis(1-ter) of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973). The debt threshold was introduced by Article 2-ter of Decree-Law No. 38 of 27 March 2026, inserted on conversion into law by Law No. 88 of 22 May 2026.

For fees above 5,000 euro the general rule in Article 48-bis(1) continues to apply: the authority suspends payment and reports the default to the Collection Agency, which may serve it with a payment order under Article 72-bis. In neither case is e-invoice data involved. The check does not apply to debtors who have been granted payment in instalments, but amounts already subject to a check can no longer be paid in instalments (Article 19(1-quater.1)).

From 2027

From 1 January 2027 the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 1973 and Article 1(544) of Law No. 228 of 2012 are incorporated into the consolidated text on tax payments and collection (Legislative Decree No. 33 of 24 March 2025). The correspondences are as follows: payment in instalments becomes Article 105; the check on public payments, Article 144; the communication for debts of up to 1,000 euro, Article 145(5); the time limit for enforcement, Article 146; the limits on objections, Article 154; and the attachment of receivables owed by third parties, Article 170, which refers to Article 169(2) where the third party fails to comply. Letter (b-ter) of Article 1(5-bis) of Legislative Decree No. 127 of 2015 becomes letter (d) of Article 77(7) of the consolidated VAT text (Legislative Decree No. 10 of 19 January 2026). Article 29 of Decree-Law No. 78 of 2010, on the 180-day suspension, becomes Article 295 of the consolidated text on tax compliance and assessment (Legislative Decree No. 141 of 5 August 2026). For payment in instalments, besides the article number, a change already provided for in current law also takes effect: for applications filed in 2027 and 2028, the number of instalments granted on a simple statement rises to 96, and to between 97 and 120 if the difficulty is documented.

In practice

• Check your debt position in the secure personal area of Agenzia delle entrate-Riscossione: payment notices served, assessments referred for collection, overdue instalments, demands for payment.
• If there are debts that cannot be paid immediately, apply for payment in instalments before any attachment is started.
• Consider the commercial impact: a customer who receives the notice learns of the supplier’s debt and must pay the Collection Agency, not the supplier.
• Check with your adviser whether the payment notice was correctly served and whether the debt is still owed, before either accepting or challenging enforcement.
• If you receive the notice as a customer: suspend payments to the supplier up to the amount stated, pay the Collection Agency within the time limits and keep proof; if in doubt about the amounts, write to the Collection Agency before the deadline.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Collection Agency read my invoices?

No. From e-invoices it receives only, for each customer with a VAT number, the total consideration invoiced in the previous six months and the number of invoices, together with the customer’s identification data. Descriptions, quantities and prices are not transmitted.

Does attachment also affect private customers?

Not through this data flow: the Decision covers only transactions between taxable persons and treats as third parties only customers holding a VAT number. The Collection Agency may still attach receivables owed by other persons using the ordinary tools, if it becomes aware of them.

I applied to pay in instalments after my customer received the notice: does this stop the attachment?

Not necessarily. The application prevents new proceedings; payment of the first instalment extinguishes proceedings already under way only under certain conditions, and it is uncertain how those conditions apply in the procedure based on a direct payment order to the customer. That is why it is better to apply for payment in instalments first.

Sources

Article 1(5-bis)(b-ter) of Legislative Decree No. 127 of 5 August 2015, introduced by Article 1(117) and (118) of Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025.

Italian Revenue Agency, Decision of the Director of 22 May 2026, Ref. No. 153611/2026; Italian Data Protection Authority, opinion No. 333 of 14 May 2026.

Articles 19, 48-bis(1) and (1-ter), 50, 57, 72 and 72-bis of Presidential Decree No. 602 of 29 September 1973; Constitutional Court, judgment No. 114 of 2018; Article 1(725) of Law No. 199 of 2025; Article 2-ter of Decree-Law No. 38 of 27 March 2026, converted into Law No. 88 of 22 May 2026.

Article 29(1) of Decree-Law No. 78 of 31 May 2010; Article 1(544) of Law No. 228 of 24 December 2012; Article 10(1) of Law No. 161 of 30 October 2014; Articles 546 and 617 of the Code of Civil Procedure; Article 2917 of the Civil Code.

Legislative Decree No. 33 of 24 March 2025 (Articles 105, 144, 145, 146, 154, 169 and 170); Legislative Decree No. 10 of 19 January 2026 (Article 77(7)(d)); Legislative Decree No. 141 of 5 August 2026 (Article 295).

Agenzia delle entrate-Riscossione, web pages “Procedure esecutive”, “La rateizzazione dal 1° gennaio 2025” and “Cosa succede con la presentazione della richiesta di rateizzazione”.