Can anyone give some advice or insight into a shock

08/31/2022 - 09:21

Can anyone give some advice or insight into a shock tax bill I've received 2 years and 11 months after purchasing my house in Tuscany? I've received, out of the blue, a brief email from the estate agents that the sale of my property was made through. In it they attach a form, all in Italian (which I don't speak), and they say in the email that the taxes I paid on the property have been adjusted by the Italian tax office and I now have to pay over 2000 euros more. I have 30 days to pay. The agents are claiming that the tax office tried to contact me at my Italian address and my British address - both of which were known to the estate agent. I received absolutely nothing directly from the tax office. The agents are also saying the tax office has added interest since the date that I bought the property and that this is all permissible and legal under the 'presentation' of the sale.

I've asked the estate agents by email if they can help me to process the form - I quite literally don't know where to send it and whether this needs to be by email or post of something else. The agents are not responding.

I'm not sure, but the very brief, 'factual' way the agents sent the email and the form seems to indicate the possibility that there is something wrong here. Anyone with any experience of similar? I'd love to receive any advice at all.

Many thanks !

Location

Comment

Did you buy as prima casa?  If so you had 18 months to transfer your residence to the comune where your house is.  If you didnt then you will pay the difference in the tax you paid at purchase - 9% of the rateable value instead of 2%.

Is there land with your house - if so it may be that the tax office have decided you didnt pay enough for the land and has hit you with their valuation for the land, which will be the difference, but the tax office has 1 year to make such a rettifica, so you need to know when the tax office originally tried to contact you

However, the tax office should contact you, not the estate agent. 

Hi, thanks so much for replying.

The house is not a 'prima case', it's a 2nd home.

It does have gardens at the front and the back, but these are not extensive, just in keeping with the size of the house.

It's just a bit of a shock to receive this so long after the sale and because I received nothing at all by letter to the house itself, and nothing to my UK address. I am in touch with the estate agents because they help each year to calculate my IMU and I pay them a small fee for this, so they know of any change of address I had in the UK.

My partner is concerned that something else could happen and I get even another bill after this ! The agents did not mention the possibility of the taxes being adjusted after the sale, and I never found anything about this online or anywhere else, so it's all a big shock really.

Do you know if I will have the option to pay in instalments or does it all have to be paid at once? I am trying to find someone bi-lingual to help with the process, as I speak very minimum Italian and I can't even figure out where I'm supposed to return the form to or, indeed, exactly which account they want me to pay the money to.

Best wishes and thank you again.

Lin

Ciao linmuir ,

unfortunately, the website of the revenue agency speaks only Italian, I will be forced to adapt you, or have an interpreter assist you -

first, you have to get the SPID, here you are luckier, the site writes in English - if the page does not open in English, in the top left, click on IT, you have the possibility to choose, English or German

the spid is free - follow the instructions

obtained the spid, save, the credentials - you absolutely must not lose them - and register them on your computer 

now go to this link - sorry it's in Italian

clik on >  Puoi accedere tramite le credenziali SPID

at page that open , click on  ENTRA CON SPID  ( in blue)

if you have registered your spid on your computer, a page opens, where it appears - your username and password (obscured) - and also the QR code - you can use both - but if you do not have a smartphone, click on Spid and a code will arrive on your mobile, you enter it in the box, click and - you are on your page, on the revenue agency website -

There is your entire tax life in Italy - if you have something to pay, there is - if you have received a payment communication from the tax office you will find it there - you will also find the receipt of transmission of the notification -

If the receipt is not there - the notification is not valid - But to assert your rights, I strongly advise you to get the assistance of an Italian accountant

if you feel lost ... in front of the Italian bureaucracy - entrusted to an Italian trader - acting independently, if you do not have some experience, it can be dangerous, for your wallet ..

have a good luck

This is really useful information as i was completely unaware of the facility, so thanks.  I guess the Agenzie Entrate part is similar to what we have in the UK via the gov.uk gateway.  The difference is that the initial identity verification via the SPID has various service partners and it is not free for someone outside Italy, plus most options at least require an online verification appointment using documents and a camera.  Also need a Telegraph, Syke or Google Meet for the video verification call, assuming the docs are accepted.  Alas, I have tried and failed the document test as while my passport was okay my codice fiscale card was issued way back by the Ministero Delle Finanze rather than being a new type card issued by Agenzie Delle Entrate which has a card code on the reverse.  The codice fiscale also needs a letter of authentication that is less than 6 months old issued by an Italian consular office.  I didn't have any of the other identity docs such as Carta Sanitaria and Carta per i Servizi as i think those are only if Italian resident.  I shall try via the Poste when next in Italy and i will try to get a new style Codice Fiscale tesserina. I should have guessed it would not have been straightforward.

I agree with Ugo, you need someone to help you who is used to these actions by the tax office.   As the agency accepted the letter on your behalf, they should help you - the tax office has your addresses and should have contacted you (unless the agency helped you get your codice fiscale and used their address on the form - in which case the tax office can legitimately send your mail there).

However it seems very odd - the notary when you bought should have appraised you of any possible rettifiche to the tax bill - and there is nothing that comes to mind, other than the notary didnt pay your tax due on the purchase....  If you want to scan and send me the letter I can tell you what the tax is for, because there is a statute of limitations on most things the tax office can ask you for and nearly 3 years is over the limit for most things connected to a house purchase.