Energy, who plays in Parliament against companies
Check a ceiling for tax credits that reduce energy costs that now Minister Giorgetti would like to eliminate. But the problem is that the aid money has run out. What happens in Parliament with tax credits to energy-intensive companies. Giuseppe Liturri's analysis
Cold shower on the hopes of Italian companies to mitigate, at least in part, the increase in energy and gas costs in the first two quarters of 2022. After that in the night between Thursday 30 June and Friday 1 July a "hand" had sprung up that had added – during the examination by the Commission of the "Aid" Law Decree (no. 50 of 17 May) – to article 2 paragraph 3-ter, according to which "aid is granted in compliance with European legislation on aid of State under a de minimis regime ”, it seemed that there was still time to remedy.
The effect of the law is to end tax credits in favor of energy-intensive and gas-intensive companies (but not only) under the trap of a ceiling of € 200,000 for the three-year period 2020-2022 which, moreover, is normally also absorbed by other measures. facilitative. In short, a substantial stop to the benefit, with imaginable consequences on the accounts of the companies, which did not take long to make themselves heard with Luigi Scordamaglia, managing director of Filiera Italia, according to whom it is " unacceptable that the decree helps cuts or in some cases resets the tax credit previously granted to companies damaged by expensive gas and energy ”, adding that“ the Government ensures that it was an error which will be remedied in the next DL ” .
We allow ourselves to doubt that this was a mistake. In fact, on all the tax credits granted so far, the clouds of the state aid discipline hovered, which today only provides for the umbrella provided by the new Temporary Framework " Ukraine " of last March. So far there has been no official communication from Brussels about the coverage of that umbrella even for the benefit of the tax credits under discussion today. So if someone introduced the “de minimis” ceiling overnight, we allow ourselves to assume that the negotiations with Margrethe Vestager's Competition Department weren't going exactly in the right direction and so he set up an ephemeral rescue net.
From Friday 1 until Wednesday 6, a correction of course by the government was expected which could, during the discussion in the classroom, allow the approval of a corrective amendment. Instead, hopes fell shortly after 2 pm on Wednesday, when the minister for relations with the Parliament, Federico D'Incà, announced the request for a vote of confidence. So the text released by the Commissions merged into a single article on which the Chamber voted today with confidence, with the final vote on the text scheduled for next Monday. Considering that the decree will then pass to the Senate for an armored flash conversion by the deadline of July 16, the margins for intervention are practically nil.
It is also uncertain which tax credits are subject to the ceiling, precisely because of the unfortunate construction of the law. In fact, article 2 concerns changes to tax credits for gas-intensive companies (25%, art.5 DL 17), for companies other than energy-consuming ones (15%, art.3 DL 21) and for companies other than gas-consuming ones (25%, art. 4 DL 21). The tax credit for energy-intensive companies is not mentioned (Article 4 of Legislative Decree 17) which, according to the wording, would be excluded from the ceiling. It is not clear what logic there may be, but at least one credit out of four seems to be safe.
The mystery also hovers over the origin of the now infamous paragraph 3-ter which was introduced by an amendment (2.52) first signed by the Honorable Maurizio Lupi, then reformulated by the government with the other seven of identical content. How is it possible that a provision of such importance could have gone unnoticed by the proposers of the amendments, albeit at the end of a river session which ended at 4 in the morning? Who takes the political responsibility of playing with the financial statements of Italian companies?
The “Aid” decree remained under examination by the House Committees for about 40 days and the burden of incorporating the provisions of Legislative Decree 80 of June 30, whose conversion the government waived on departure, was also borne. It has thus become even more substantial than the already substantial content of 58 articles with which it arrived in the Chamber.
To be clear, this is the decree that contains the one-off contribution of € 200 for employees and retirees and which today also incorporates the elimination of system charges on electricity and gas bills also for the third quarter and the social bonus for the same costs. While it does not bear any trace of the extension of the tax credits subject to the disputed ceiling which, to date, remain firm in the first two quarters of 2022.
Of particular note is the loan of 4 billion in favor of the GSE to finance the rapid filling of gas storages. On the superbonus and credit transfer front, there is the confirmation of the extension until 31/12/2022 for the works in the single real estate units and a timid reopening to the transfer, even retroactive, of the tax credits by the banks to their customers with VAT number.
The waste management plan of Roma Capitale also stands out, including the waste-to-energy plant, which the M5S – despite the many stomach aches, real or alleged – seems to have had to accept.
On the question of the "de minimis" ceiling, the Minister of Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti spoke yesterday, declaring that "the Mise has already asked the Mef to urgently correct the de minimis limit on the energy ceiling. We must urgently run for cover ”. Will reaffirmed this afternoon in the Senate when, replying to a question for immediate response, Giorgetti added that " I also take this opportunity to reaffirm the intention to provide and remedy the introduction of the de minimis with respect to the recognition of the tax credit to businesses " . Strange government one in which a minister inserts a rule and the other asks to cancel it. And in between are tens of thousands of businesses.
Now everything is finished under the tombstone of the vote of confidence and we are waiting for the Mef to follow up on Giorgetti's request. Take or leave.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/energia-imprese-crediti-imposta/ on Fri, 08 Jul 2022 05:35:05 +0000.