a loophole discovered in the law on crypto taxes

Stunning: Famend accountant and cryptocurrency professional Stefano Capaccioli has found a loophole within the legislation regulating crypto taxes in Italy.

That is an unintentional technical error as a result of methodology by which legal guidelines are modified in Italy.

So the problem is solely technical, however Capaccioli summarized it in a latest video interview.

The flaw in Italy’s new crypto tax legislation

When a legislation is modified in Italy, the textual content is usually not rewritten, however texts are added to subsequent paperwork.

Which means that there’s typically nobody complete textual content of Italian legal guidelines, and it should due to this fact be reconstructed by placing collectively a number of texts from completely different paperwork in chronological order.

Within the particular case, the issue lies in paragraph c-e of Article 67 of the Tuir.

All the pieces begins with paragraph 2 of Article 5 of DL 66/2014 relating to the completely different incomes of Article 67 of the Tuir.

In 2014, when DL 66/2014 was adopted, paragraph 1 of Article 67 of the Tuir ranged from the letter c-bis to the letter c-quinquies. In different phrases: at the moment, letter c-sexies didn’t exist.

Nevertheless, on the time, Italian legislation didn’t explicitly acknowledge cryptocurrencies (referred to as crypto-assets in Italy in authorized jargon), and due to this fact, after paragraph 1 of Article 67 of the Tuir, the letter c-sexies was added, particularly in relation to crypto-assets.

Nevertheless, this addition was made later, on the finish of 2022, within the Funds Act for 2023, i.e. years after DL 66/2014.

The very fact is that that legislative decree of ten years in the past launched a brand new charge for the taxation of capital features from varied revenue on the premise of Article 67 of the Tuir, however solely as much as and together with the letter c-quinquies, for the reason that letter c-sexies didn’t but exist on the time. existed. time.

The brand new charge was 26%, whereas the earlier charge was 12.5%.

Regardless of believing that this charge improve utilized to all of the completely different incomes of Article 67 of the Tuir, Capaccioli as a substitute discovered that the legislation textually states that it additionally applies to paragraph c, however solely as much as letter c-quinquies. In actual fact, that legislation didn’t, after all, make any point out of the letter c-sexies, as a result of it didn’t exist, however explicitly specified that the brand new charge may solely be utilized as much as and together with the letter c-quinquies.

The discount of crypto taxes in Italy after the invention of the flaw

The finances legislation authorised on the finish of 2022 entered into power in 2023.

This yr, those that made capital features from the sale of cryptocurrencies in 2023 needed to pay taxes in line with the brand new laws, that are included within the 2023 finances legislation authorised on the finish of 2022.

Till the invention by Capaccioli, which was solely made within the final days of October 2024, virtually everybody was satisfied that the speed to be utilized to the taxation of capital features from the sale of crypto belongings in Italy was 26%, identical to for different miscellaneous revenue.

As an alternative, the unique charge of 12.5% ​​ought to have been utilized as the speed launched in 2014 couldn’t be utilized to letter c-sexies of paragraph 1 of Article 67 of the Tuir regarding crypto belongings.

This implies two issues.

First, even in 2025, when taxes on any 2024 capital features are paid, the speed to be utilized on this explicit case can be 12.5%, not 26%.

Moreover, it additionally signifies that those that have already paid the 26% can request a refund.

However, the textual content of the legislation, if reconstructed and browse accurately, states past any doubt that the 26% charge shouldn’t be utilized to crypto capital features, however the unique 12.5% ​​charge ought to be.

The modification

The rationale why nobody had observed it till now, not even the legislature, is twofold.

To begin with, as a result of Italian legislation is difficult, written with an updating technique that isn’t easy and never linear.

The second is that there had by no means been a sound cause to delve into the problem till October 2024.

In actual fact, in October 2024, the Italian authorities determined to incorporate within the provisional textual content of the 2025 finances legislation, to be adopted earlier than the tip of 2024, the change within the charge to 42%.

If Parliament have been to approve that textual content, the tax charge on crypto in Italy will rise from 12.5% ​​to 42% from subsequent yr.

Nevertheless, this improve to 42 % in actuality is to not anybody’s liking, a lot in order that 4 of the 5 most essential Italian events have spoken out towards it.

In actual fact, the League, the federal government’s second largest occasion by variety of seats in parliament, has promised that it’ll suggest an modification to parliament to vary that charge, and this also needs to clear up the issue attributable to the error found by Capaccioli. .

Nevertheless, it stays fairly sure that such a change within the charge is not going to have retroactive impact, so it’ll stay at 12.5% ​​for the two-year interval 2023/2024.

The peak

However there’s additionally greater than all this.

To begin with, it have to be mentioned that even the Agenzia delle Entrate’s software program was programmed to use the inaccurate charge of 26% as a substitute of the proper charge of 12.5%, as a result of earlier than Capaccioli’s discovery completely nobody had raised this concern introduced.

In different phrases, even those that wrote the 2023 finances legislation that launched the letter c-sexies relating to crypto belongings weren’t conscious of this “downside”, specifically the truth that the 2014 legislation that launched the 26% charge launched, couldn’t have been utilized to this new letter of paragraph 1.

However probably the most shocking factor is {that a} file from the investigative companies of the Home and the Senate dated 26-01-2023, only a few days after the approval of the Funds Legislation that launched that new letter in paragraph 1, invited the federal government to contemplate textual content of the 2014 legislation, which launched the 26% charge, to resolve the issue. Nevertheless, this modification was by no means carried out.

Subsequently, in actuality, each the Home and Senate investigative companies and the federal government knew about it the month after the approval of the 2023 Funds Invoice, however nobody did something to resolve the apparent downside.