by Raffaele Vitali
MONTEGRANARO – The tax credit issue for the fashion sector has landed in the Senate of the Republic. “The age-old issue of the tax credit for research and development activities is a heavy legacy of the past because it derives from an unclear rule from over ten years ago and from interpretations that have followed one another in a contradictory way over the years up to the 2021 resolution which clearly excluded the application of the incentive to samples” underlined the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso during the question time in the Senate.
What stimulated him was the question of the senator of Italia Viva, Ivan Scalfarotto, someone who has always been close to the world of fashion, since the days when Annarita pilotti was president of Assocalzaturifici and Scalfarotto presented himself as a member of the Government.
“Fashion is a backbone of our economy: 60 thousand companies, 600 thousand employees, 100 billion in turnover, 66 billion in exports. Yet it seems that the government does not give that sector the necessary attention” he began his speech.
In support of his criticism he cites two examples: “First the dissolution of Confindustria Moda, the confederation of the sectors, about which I questioned the government months ago without receiving an answer (Sistema Moda Italia has become autonomous again, ed.). Then tax credits: companies took advantage of 1 billion of them for sampleswhich are to all intents and purposes investments in research and development. Which the Revenue Agency is now demanding back, causing enormous damage to businesses.”
The risk is that many companies will open a dispute with the tax authorities: “The government should accompany the productive sectors, and be able to anticipate crisis situations, acting when they are just starting, not afterwards, saying ‘I couldn’t do anything’. If you are not capable of it, this is a source of very great concern” concludes Scalfarotto.
Adolfo Urso listened and then replied: “As a Government we intend to structurally address the issue of consolidation of fashion supply chains with specific incentives that encourage aggregations. Some specific measures will be included in the first annual law for small and medium-sized enterprises, expected in Parliament by the end of the year”.
Urso hopes for a return to harmony between the various parts of Fashion, but it is not the ministry’s job to resolve internal issues. He then called for a series of interventions: the extension of the public guarantee of the guarantee fund for SMEs and of Sace in cases of moratorium and debt restructuring with the banks.
“As an executive – he added – we have foreseen a ‘spontaneous payment’ to overcome the impasse on the tax credit for research and development activities, an ‘unclear’ rule dating back to over ten years ago and interpreted in a contradictory manner until final clarification for 2021 which excluded samples from the incentive”. And this has caused a heavy backlash for companies.
“From now on, the new tax credit intended for investments in research and development, the minister assures that the guidelines for the correct application of the benefit have been issued”. Urso finally underlined the further measures in favor of the fashion system: eight weeks of redundancy pay as an exception for 2024 for the benefit of workers in businesses, including artisan ones, with up to 15 employees. Finally, another 30 million were allocated to the production of textile fibers of natural origin and from recycling processes, with a view to encouraging the ecological and digital transition.
