We like electronic invoicing as long as it knocks out tax evaders. As happened in Portugal. And as long as it catches those who are sneaky.

A crucial tool for reducing Italy's greatest waste: tax evasion and VAT fraud. For which honest taxpayers pay (too much). The story of the dentist who blackmails his client.

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electronic invoice

ELECTRONIC INVOICE

Skepticism about the electronic invoice It can be dismantled in a few seconds. First of all, it is a very widespread instrument in the world and particularly in Europe, and therefore we Italians could not continue to be at the bottom of the class in the tax field, according to a script that has been playing out for years now. Invoices, and the related VAT receipts and payments, are in digital version, for example, in France, Germany, Austria, Spain, and I could go on and on with the list of European countries alone. 

ALSO READ: How much tax evasion costs us all, the numbers in this book

ELECTRONIC INVOICING

Are these countries crazy, having started, in many cases, much earlier than Italy (in Austria, digital invoicing for everyone was introduced in 2014)? No, they simply understood that it is a fundamental tool, in the interest of every citizen-taxpayer and not of the usual tax cheats. For two reasons.

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ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRONIC INVOICES

The first: a payment system is modernized, making the most of the technology, and eliminates enormous costs and waste. For example, paper, which ultimately means felled trees, stationery, and the time it takes to write and to account for invoices and related documents. This alone is a significant advantage, and the Non sprecare community greatly appreciates it.

But it is the second aspect of the change that is decisive in theinterest of honest citizens, those who are usually massacred by a tax system that in Italy has so far been based on this equation: the few pay everything for the many who evade excessively. It is clear that with electronic invoices, therefore traceable, with digital tax drawers, and with all the transparent and clear documentation, evading taxes will be much more complicatedImpossible, in theory. And it will be even more difficult to pull off a scam, widespread in Italy, which alone is worth a mountain of public money, wasted and diverted from investments we need to make, for example in schools and training: VAT fraud.

TO KNOW MORE: She doesn't receive her invoice and seizes the plumber. Mrs. Pina becomes a symbol of the fight against tax evasion.

HOW ELECTRONIC INVOICES WORK

To make you realise how much electronic invoicing can be worth in terms of fighting tax evasion and in terms of results for the country system, I will tell you in a few words the virtuous story of PortugalThis small and wonderful European country had effectively gone bankrupt in 2012, and to avoid a Greece II, there was significant financial aid from the international community and especially the European Union, combined, however, with a national plan to combat tax evasion, which in Portugal, almost as in Italy, was the norm. 

So already in 2012 the Portuguese government decided to introduce theelectronic invoicing obligation, and the results have been sensational. The waste of tax evasion, such as personal income tax and VAT, has been significantly reduced in Portugal. With the money raised from the fight against tax evasion, Portugal has emerged from its long economic crisis in recent years, and today it is a more solid country, in terms of public finances, even than Italy. Furthermore, by increasing the number of taxpayers, who once fled en masse, Portugal has been able to lower taxes. For everyone, not just a few privileged individuals. To the point that the country has become a favorite destination for pensioners Italians who move to Lisbon, as well as other beautiful Portuguese cities, can afford a much higher standard of living than in Italy. Thanks to the fact that in Portugal you pay less taxes.

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HOW TO MAKE AN ELECTRONIC INVOICE

We'll see if the Portuguese scenario repeats itself in Italy—and it would be a miracle. Meanwhile, the innovation of electronic invoicing has created no small number of problems for small business owners, self-employed professionals, and even accountants: it's the price you pay when you initiate a major systemic change. Let's hope that with time, and not too much, everything works smoothly.

TO KNOW MORE: The owners of the web must decide to pay taxes in Italy, like everyone else. There's a bill to settle, for 2018 alone, of €190 million, which we risk wasting...

ELECTRONIC INVOICE EVASION

Rather, we need to pay attention to something else: those who try to take advantage of electronic invoicing to continue being crafty Behind the backs of some designated victim, usually the weakest. A good and honest skilled worker, you can imagine his monthly salary, told me the following story. He went for some procedures at a professional dental center (I also know the name, city, and area where it's located, but I'll withhold details for now so as not to cause problems for my interlocutor), a very well-known, highly publicized, and highly glamorous facility, and found himself dealing with a rogue dentist. With a few accomplices in the administration, of course. The procedure cost €1.500, a stratospheric expense for a worker, and the dentist, who was a real pain in the ass, made the following proposal to his patient: "Now we also have the hassle of electronic invoicing, but if you don't need it, you can pay me €1.100 in cash and save..." Naturally, the patient chose this solution: for his budget, saving €400 means a lot. Understand? The electronic invoice thus becomes the excuse to squeeze a poor wretch like a lemon, and to make yet another mistake to stick in the album, full of stickers, entitled Italian-style scams.

THE ITALY WE DON'T LIKE: STORIES AND DAMAGES FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE CLEVER

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