Italy
The Union's second-largest manufacturing base — and Europe's oldest mandatory e-invoicing system
After Germany, Italy is the Union's second industrial economy, and for a Central European firm it is a market for sub-supply: engineering, machining, tooling, components. Decisions run on personal acquaintance and move faster than in Germany, but payment discipline is weaker and terms longer. Administratively one thing dominates: electronic invoicing through the SdI system has been compulsory since 2019, with no exemptions. Anyone invoicing an Italian customer must be able to work with it, or have an agent who does it for them.
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Setting up a company
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Legal forms
- ·Minimum capital
- ·How long registration takes
Taxes
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Corporate income tax
- ·VAT
What it makes and needs
Mechanical engineering and machine tools, fashion and textiles, furniture and design, food and wine, automotive components, chemicals, shipbuilding. It buys semi-finished goods, components, machined parts and tooling.
Money and payments
Payment terms tend to be longer than in the north of the Union, and in practice they are exceeded. Contracts commonly include late-payment interest under the Late Payment Directive, retention of title and, on larger volumes, credit insurance. That is not distrust — it is ordinary practice that domestic suppliers use there too.
Importing into their market
The Union's single market — no duty and no customs declaration. A supply to a VAT-registered customer in Talianska is an intra-Community supply, exempt, with the customer accounting for the tax. It depends on a VAT number checked in VIES and on proof of transport — without both, the exemption falls away and you pay.
INVOICING THROUGH SdI. Electronic invoicing via the Sistema di Interscambio has been compulsory in Italy since 2019, with no exemptions. An invoice exists only once SdI accepts it; a PDF sent by e-mail is not an invoice in Italian tax law. A foreign supplier handles this either with invoicing software that can do it or through an agent with an Italian recipient code. Without it the customer has nothing to post and does not pay.
If people travel with the goods — installation, servicing, training — that is posting of workers. Notification before work starts, the local minimum wage and allowances, documentation in the host country's language, and an A1 for each. It is inspected and the fines are high.
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