business income (Article 55 of the TUIR) and agricultural income (Article 32 of the TUIR) respectively and, therefore , the direct tax rules followed the principles of the TUIR in a fairly linear manner16, since 2019 there has been a general upheaval of this linearity, with the introduction of highly exceptional tax regimes. This has also occurred for VAT purposes, where the occasional harvester is no longer the only person not subject to VAT – due to the absence of the subjective element – as other exceptions have been added, including certain entrepreneurs, as will be discussed below. In the following paragraphs, therefore, the relevant regulations will be described with these subjective categories in mind, highlighting how the legislator has intervened to modify the ordinary regulations, allowing for preferential regimes. 3.1. The current regulation: occasional harvester As anticipated, the current legislation, referred to in Article 1, paragraphs 692-699 of Law No. 145 of 30 December 2018 (Budget Law for 2019), has standardized the tax regime applicable, both for income tax and VAT purposes, to mushrooms and truffles, at least as regards the treatment to be given to occasional harvesters and purchasers. First of all, Article 1, paragraph 694 defines – for the purposes of this law – as occasional the collector who is a natural person whose annual income from the sale of the product does not exceed the limit of €7,000.00, which “shall not be combined with other income of the natural person”. A sort of “presumption of quantitative occasionality” is therefore introduced, which looks at the distinction between habitual and occasional activity, not so much by assessing the activity and its actual exercise, but solely on the basis of a quantitative monetary figure. For such persons, paragraph 692 has introduced a new tax regime consisting of the payment of an annual substitute tax on personal income tax and related additional taxes, set at €100.00. Occasional harvesters will therefore not pay any tax under the rules of the TUIR given the validity of the substitute regime. For VAT purposes, however, the following paragraph 698 specifically inserted a new Article 34-ter into Presidential Decree No. 633 of 26 October 1972 (Presidential Decree VAT), which provides that occasional harvesters – as far as is relevant here – of mushrooms and truffles “who in the previous calendar year achieved a turnover not exceeding €7,000 are exempt from paying tax and from all documentation and accounting obligations, including the annual declaration”. 16 On this point, see, among others, M. Bagnoli, A. Rocchi, The new tax regulations for occasional truffle gatherers: a rule to be improved, edited in Il Fisco, 22, 2019, p. 2147. 531 THE TAX REGIME OF GASTRONOMY
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