The CGIA returns to the issue of the commercial debts of the Public Administration (PA) towards companies and - after comparing the payment with the minibot to a bill that risks not even being covered - puts forward a solution. This was communicated by the coordinator of the Paolo Zabeo Studies Office: "The direct and universal compensation between debts and credits towards the PA must be allowed. This would allow interested entrepreneurs to find the liquidity that, also due to the continuing credit crunch practiced by the banks, is putting a strain on the financial stability of many SMEs".
Example: a Venetian entrepreneur has a credit, with respect to an ULSS of the Lazio, certainly, liquid and payable of 100 euro. Following this non-payment within the terms established by law, the entrepreneur can, during the payment of the Ires account, for example, cancel the 100 euros from the sum owed to the Treasury. Subsequently, it will be the tax authorities that will recover the lost revenue, "referring" to the delayed ULSS.
And to worry the million private Italian companies that work for the PA are not only the unclaimed credits, but also the new payment methods introduced in the last legislature.
Split payment has made its debut since the 2015. This measure obliges the central administrations of the State (and from 1 ° July 2017 also the public companies controlled by the same) to withhold VAT from the invoices received and to pay it directly to the Treasury. The goal was to combat tax evasion, or to prevent the private enterprise from paying the tax system the value added tax to the tax authorities, once the consideration has been received by the public contractor.
“Our PA - says the secretary Renato Mason - not only pays very late, but when it does, it no longer pays VAT to its supplier. Therefore, the companies that work for the State, in addition to often unreasonable payment times, also pay for the non-collection of VAT which, while representing a turnaround, allowed companies to have greater liquidity to face current payments ".
The mechanism, certainly effective in preventing the dishonest entrepreneur from paying VAT to the treasury, has, however, caused many financial problems for all those who have nothing to do with evasion. That is to say the vast majority of the million Italian companies that work for the PA.
Returning to the stock of debt, according to the estimate reported in the "Annual Report 2018", presented last week by the Governor of the Bank of Italy, the total amount of trade payables of our Public Administration (PA) would be equal to 53 billion euros . Down by 2017 billion compared to 4.
The use of the conditional, however, is a must, given that the periodic survey conducted by the researchers of via Nazionale is based on statistical surveys, conducted on companies, and from supervisory reports from which results emerge which, according to the same drafters of the estimates, are characterized by a high degree of uncertainty. In short, in addition to paying enormously in delays in violation of the provisions of the law, the State does not know exactly how much the commercial debt is due to its supplier companies.
We remind you that in 2017 the Italian public administrations needed an average of 95 days to pay their bills. Faced with this situation, the Commission in December 2017 decided to refer Italy to the Court of Justice of the EU, reiterating the systematic delay with which Italian public administrations make payments in commercial transactions, in violation of the rules of EU on payments.
And despite this, the situation has worsened slightly. According to the latest data relating to the periodic investigation conducted by Intrum Justitia, in 2018 our PA paid its suppliers on average after 104 days: more than double the European average which, on the other hand, pays after 41 days.
