Article 13 of the Law no. 115/2015 has modified articles 38 and 41 of the Law Decree no. 331/1993 to the end of implementing, in the national regulation, the statements of the European Commission concerning the Case EU Pilot n. 6286/14/TAXU regarding the implementation of article 17 point 2 f) of the VAT Directive in Italy.
In particular, further to the above mentioned amendment, when goods are introduced in Italy for being object of processing activities, the operation is considered as an intra-community acquisition if the goods are not reintroduced in the dispatching Country where the Principal is located.
According to the previous version of the mentioned article 38(5)(a), the introduction of goods in Italy to be subjected to appraisal or processing activities – as defined by the specific Regulation and hereinafter generally defined as “processing activities” – was not considered and intra-community transaction if the goods, after the processing activities, were moved to the dispatching Country where the Principal was located or anywhere else on his behalf. Therefore, for VAT purposes, if the goods were introduced in Italy for processing activities, the Italian agent was supposed to verify exclusively that the goods were going to be moved outside from Italy to the Country of the Principal or anywhere else on his behalf.
As a result of the amendment, the commented operation will be not considered as an intra-community one only when, after the processing activities, the goods will be moved or shipped in the dispatching Country where the Principal is located (and no more if they are moved to another UE or extra-UE Country).
Article 41(3) of the same Law Decree No. 331/1993 has been modified accordingly; in the new wording only the supplies in which the goods are moved from Italy to another UE Country for processing activities and that are going to come back in Italy are considered as no intra-community supply.
