Budget 2022: The Indication Of Aid In The Supplementary Note Is Mandatory

When drawing up the 2022 financial statements, particular attention should be paid to the compliance obligations envisaged for the transparency of State Aid, in relation to which the legislator most recently intervened with the so-called “ Milleproroghe Decree ” (Legislative Decree 228/2021) .

 In particular, in article 1, paragraph 28 ter, an extension to July 1, 2022 (instead of January 1, 2022, previously envisaged by Legislative Decree 52/2021 ) was instituted of the penalties envisaged for non-compliance with the information on public funding for the year 2021 ; for the year 2022 , the deadline is extended to 1 January 2023 by article 3 septies.

In the parliamentary seat, in the face of the first extension introduced by the reopening decree (DL 52/2021), the ambiguity of the wording of the provision was reported, in relation to which it is not explicit whether the provision refers to the suspension of sanctions referring to disclosure obligations that must be fulfilled in 2021 (or 2022) with reference to 2020 (or 2021) or if it refers to the sanctions relating to the disbursements received during the financial year 2021 (or 2022).

The attempt to facilitate businesses is certainly meritorious, it being understood that a more incisive rethinking of the charges in question is hoped for. In hindsight, companies are not infrequently burdened with heavy burdens that could be avoided.

The regulatory wording governs the obligations to which they are required distinctly,

on the one hand, associations, foundations, non-profit organizations and social cooperatives that carry out activities in favor of foreigners as per legislative decree no. 286/1998

and on the other hand the companies, that is all the subjects required to be registered in the Business Register pursuant to art. 2195 of the civil code.

Indications are provided below with particular reference to companies , called upon to provide evidence of the amounts and information relating to the disbursements received.

WHERE TO GIVE EVIDENCE OF THE SUPPLIES ACHIEVED AND RELATIVE TERMS

Those who have received public funds are required to give specific evidence of this in the explanatory notes to the financial statements and any consolidated financial statements. The terms are therefore those of the approval of the annual financial statements.

For companies not required to prepare the explanatory note or that prepare the financial statements in abbreviated form , the obligation of transparency must be fulfilled by June 30 of each year , with reference to the previous financial year, on the company websites or, failing that , on the digital portal of the trade associations to which they belong.

TRANSPARENCY OBLIGATIONS FOR STATE AID ONLY

It was clarified by the Growth Decree that the obligation of transparency concerns only grants, subsidies , advantages, contributions or aids, in cash or in kind, not of a general nature and free of consideration, remuneration or compensation, actually paid during the year . financial precedent "by the public administrations referred to in article 1, paragraph 2, of the legislative decree 30 March 2001, n. 165, and by the subjects referred to in article 2-bis of the legislative decree 14 March 2013, n. 33 ".

As noted by the majority doctrine, the reference to the amounts “actually paid out” clearly indicates that the reporting must be carried out according to the cash criterion .

By virtue of the formulation introduced by the Growth Decree, the obligation only involves state aid , ie incentives characterized by selectivity; are not, however, subject to the discipline in question, since these are general measures, for example, the R&D Innovation and Design Tax Credit (except for the increase in the R&D Tax Credit which can be configured as State Aid) , tax for investments in capital goods .

In order to avoid the publication of irrelevant information, the obligation of publication in the explanatory notes (or by June 30 of each year on the websites, for companies not required to prepare the explanatory notes or that prepare the financial statements in abbreviated form ) does not apply if the monetary amount of grants, subsidies, benefits, contributions or aid, in cash or in kind, without consideration, remuneration or compensation actually paid to the beneficiary is less than 10,000 euros in the period considered.

METHOD OF COMPLETING THE OBLIGATIONS OF TRANSPARENCY

For State aid and de minimis aid contained in the National State Aid Register , the registration of aid in the aforementioned system by the entities that grant or manage the aids themselves, takes the place of the publication obligations imposed on the companies, to provided that the recipient company declares the existence of aid subject to the obligation of publication in the National State Aid Register , in the supplementary note to the financial statements or on its website or, failing that, on the digital portal of the trade associations to which they belong.

Below is the link to the National State Aid Register where each company can verify its position and, if the Aid is contained in the National State Aid Register, refer to it : https://www.rna.gov .it / sites / PortaleRNA / it_IT / transparency .

The National Register of State Aid may not promptly report all aidto which the company has had access, either due to the necessary technical registration times or due to the specific nature of the aid which requires declaratory obligations on the part of the beneficiary. There are, in fact, aids for which the registration in the National Register of State Aids occurs at a time following the use by the beneficiary company. In accordance with article 10, paragraph 1, of the Decree of the Ministry of Economic Development 31 May 2017, n. 115, automatic tax aids are registered in the National Register by the Revenue Agency in the financial year following the one in which the tax return is submitted in which they are declared by the beneficiary. For this category of aid, the identification of which is left to companies,

SANCTIONS

Failure to comply with the obligations referred to in paragraphs 125 and 125-bis entails a  penalty equal to 1% of the amounts received with a minimum amount of 2,000 euros, as well as the ancillary penalty for fulfilling the obligations of publication. After 90 days from the dispute, without the transgressor having complied with the obligations of publication and with the payment of the pecuniary administrative sanction, the sanction of  full restitution of the benefit to the lenders is applied .