VAT and P.IVA

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Permalink Reply by Giorgio Ghersi on September 22, 2011 at 7:27pm

According to the Italian fiscal law, sales for export are not subject to VAT regulation (articolo 8 del DPR n. 633/72: le "cessioni all'esportazione non imponibili" ai fini IVA). You do not have to pay VAT, nor do you have to register with the "Ufficio dell'Agenzia delle Entrate".

 

In fact, if a visitor to Italy happens to pay VAT because included in the price of the goods (as sometimes also US sales tax is), he or she can apply for reimbursement from the Italian government when leaving the country.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Bardelli on September 25, 2011 at 9:38am

This is great!!!  I will see what they ask for when I buy some items for importing.  I am buying them, hopefully, at wholesale so I'm not sure what they will require to prove that I am truly a reseller.  Thank you for your help :)

 

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Permalink Reply by Matteo Fabiano on September 25, 2011 at 6:37am

There' also the EU legislation to take into account (http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/ind...). 

You may want to have a competent tax consultant have a look at this, especially if you are an Italian citizen and part of your business activities are IN Italy. I have found that most US CPAs have literally no idea of what they are talking about when it comes to VAT and European taxation.  

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Permalink Reply by Barbara Bardelli on September 25, 2011 at 9:40am

Ugh!  This is what makes it all so complicated.  Well, I shall try the process of buying and see what they require of me to prove that I am truly a reseller.  My business activities will not be in in Italy - other than purchasing the products in Italy - but I do not plan on selling anything in Italy. Thanks for your help!

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Permalink Reply by Giorgio Ghersi on September 25, 2011 at 11:26am

...in my understanding of the law, it doesn't matter if you are reselling the goods or not, and/or if you are a foreign national or a citizen: it's sufficient that the goods can be demonstrated as "exported".
If the exporter was charged a VAT he can fully recover the VAT amount through Italian Custom authorities.

Btw. you may be subject to California sales tax for the value of the imported goods (tax that you may have to self-impose to your business). But that's a whole other matter.

Anyway, as Matteo implies above, nothing read on the Internet -while informative- can substitute professional advice.
:)

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