With the arrival of last January 205st, the budget law 2017/XNUMX came fully into force and the most evident effect for company fleets and vehicles of freelancers is the elimination of fuel cards.
From this year it will also be necessary to purchase fuel with easily traceable methods such as prepaid cards or debit and credit cards. At the time of payment, the so-called electronic invoices will now be issued, i.e. a transaction report that will contain all the information necessary to facilitate the reporting phase and will be managed by the new Exchange System created by the Revenue Agency. Electronic invoices are mandatory for all professionals and companies wishing to deduct VAT and can also extend to purchases of lubricants and other car accessories purchased together with fuel.
These legislative changes bring with them a new solution for corporate payments, fuel cards.
Fuel cards can be both prepaid and non-physical and virtual versions.
Let's see together the differences and the various types of fuel cards on the market to find out which option is best for you and your company and get more information about them (https://www.cartacarburantenews.it/).
Fuel cards connected to specific brands.
A good part of the large distributor chains present on the Italian territory has already devised solutions to adapt to the new regulations, including fuel cards. The major advantage connected to fuel cards is, as mentioned previously, the simplification of the administrative phase thanks to the possibility of receiving a unified monthly statement that is simple and quick to report to maximize the efficiency of VAT deductions.
Fuel cards linked to a brand are divided into two types: single-brand and multi-brand.
Single-brand fuel cards.
The most famous of these are those proposed by Q8, Tamoil and Total Erg but practically every single chain has its own fuel card.
Already from the name, we understand that the cards are linked to a single chain of distributors and can only be used in them. Although the main brands have an almost widespread coverage of the Italian territory, the limitation to a single brand is a disadvantage to be taken into consideration. With a single-brand fuel card you will not be able to choose the most convenient filling station nearby. To limit this problem, many cards offer a discount on the fuel to the owners and allow access to promotions and loyalty incentives to maintain their customers.
It will be advisable to compare all the different offers to find the cheapest fuel card suitable for your needs.Multi-brand fuel cards.
The multi-brand fuel cards make it possible to refuel at all the stations affiliated with the chosen service. The best known are the UTA and DKV cards. DKV allows you to obtain distributors in more than 7.000 in Italy and also access to more than 70.000 service stations in Europe.
The advantage on the single-brand card is of course the possibility to choose between many different stations, thus having access to better prices. However, it should be remembered that even the multi-brand fuel card that combines the largest number of service stations with special rates covers only the 25% of distributors in Italy.
Both types of fuel cards listed above have another disadvantage. Obtaining times and procedures to follow to apply for your card are very often complicated, with long waiting times and require the applicant to submit numerous documents. Before the cards are issued, balance sheet checks and creditworthiness specifications are also carried out, which can be problematic for freelancers or small and medium-sized enterprises.