A significant shift in the tax treatment of gains realized from the purchase of tax credits – particularly those related to building renovations stemming from Italy’s art. 121, D.L. N. 34/2020 – has occurred following the fiscal reform implemented by D.Lgs. N. 192/2024. The Italian Revenue Agency, through recent guidance issued in and , has fundamentally redefined the tax perimeter of these transactions, moving from complete tax irrelevance to full taxation, albeit with a complex calculation mechanism based on the cash principle.
Until the end of , the Italian tax administration held an opposing position. A response to an interpello issued on , clarified that the positive differential earned by professionals – the difference between the nominal value of the credit and the discounted purchase price – did not generate taxable income. This reasoning was based on the previous formulation of art. 54, TUIR, which linked professional income to the receipt of “compensation,” and the agency maintained that this revenue did not qualify as either compensation for professional services or consideration for the transfer of clientele or intangible assets. The operation was considered tax-neutral: the cost was not deductible, and the use of the credit did not generate taxable revenue.
The landscape changed with the enactment of D.Lgs. N. 192/2024, which rewrote art. 54, comma 1, TUIR, introducing the principle of all-inclusiveness. The new rule establishes that non-employee income consists of the difference between “all sums and values of any kind” received during the tax period in relation to artistic or professional activity and the expenses incurred. Based on this new principle, the Revenue Agency, with the aforementioned guidance, has stated that the purchase of tax credits by a professional now falls within the scope of professional activity, subjecting the related cash flows to taxation.
The most technical and debated aspect of the new guidance concerns the method for determining income. The Agency does not tax the “differential” itself as it arises, but breaks down the operation into two distinct phases, rigorously applying the cash principle: the cost paid for the purchase of the credit is considered a deductible expense (related to the exercise of the activity) in the tax period in which the actual payment to the seller occurs; and the entire nominal value of the credit constitutes positive income when the credit is used for offset via the F24 form. This creates a temporal misalignment, as in the year of purchase (e.g., 2024), the professional deducts the entire cost, reducing taxable income, while in subsequent years (e.g., 2025, 2026, etc.), when using the annual installments of the credit to pay taxes, they must tax the entire amount compensated as if it were income.
A crucial point clarified by the response concerns the protection of reliance for purchases made before the reform. The Agency has drawn a clear line based on the date of purchase of the credit, as: credits purchased up to continue to be subject to the old rules, with consequent tax irrelevance; and credits purchased from , are subject to the new regime, with the cost being deductible and the value being taxable.
Finally, the response addressed a gap relating to regional tax on productive activities (IRAP). Because, for professional associations, the IRAP tax base is determined by assuming the positive and negative components as they are relevant for income tax purposes, the new discipline also applies to the regional tax. For credits purchased from by professional firms, the cost is deductible and the use is taxable even for the determination of net production value for IRAP purposes.
