On 26 October 2019 the Italian government approved a law that provides rules for the new ‘lottery of receipts’. The lottery is intended to encourage taxpayers to ask for official receipts from retailers who supply goods and services. The lottery is another mechanism the Italian authorities hope will help control underreporting of sales.
Beginning 1 January 2020 all Italian citizens who are at least 18 years old and who purchase any goods or services for themselves (in other words, as a consumer in a business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction) can participate in a state lottery called the ‘lottery of receipts’. Each electronic receipt represents a ticket for the lottery.
As reported in Indirect Tax News last October (Issue 3 for 2019), retailers must file with the Revenue Agency data related to the consideration for the supply of goods and services on a daily basis.
Individuals who wants to take part to the lottery must communicate to retailers their ‘lottery code’. To get a lottery code, individuals must register on the lottery portal.
When an individual purchases goods or services for a business-to-business (B2B) purpose (for example, professionals and agent entrepreneurs) that transaction does not qualify for participation in the lottery of receipts.
Amounts won in the lottery are exempt from individual income tax.
As a consequence of introduction of the lottery of receipts, starting in January 2020, all retailers will have to upgrade their telematics recorder (RT) to be able to file the xml data related to takings/receipts related to the lottery.
A retail seller that does not accept lottery codes or that does not transmit data for a particular single transaction is liable for a penalty ranging from EUR 100 to EUR 500.
Giacomo Rollo
giacomo.rollo@bdo.it