Disclosure obligations for e-commerce

What you need to know about Legislative Decree 34/2019 and the information obligations for marketplaces and ecommerce platforms

As of July 2019, digital platform managers they will be called to a new fulfillment. This was established by the Growth Decree in article 13 of Legislative Decree 30/04/20019, n. 34. This initiative has been proposed to facilitate the control of the tax base for VAT purposes linked to distance selling through periodic information obligations.

The “disclosure obligations”: what are they about?

Those involved in managing virtual markets (e-commerce and other digital platforms of this type) will therefore have to report every three months, for each supplier, the total number of goods sold in Italy, with the relative price list. Furthermore, the new decree postpones the effectiveness of art. to 1 January 2021. 11-bis paragraphs 11 to 15 of Legislative Decree 135/2018 and partially anticipates the transposition of art. 2 of Directive 2017/2455/EU, with the aim of facilitating remote sales of electronic products within the European territory.

these "information obligations" they are inspired by the previous DL 135/2018 and aim to favor the recovery of VAT evasion, while trying to facilitate the recording of information from the point of view of the owner of the digital platform. Unlike the previous decree, however, this new provision intervenes in a somewhat more extensive way.

For example, Legislative Decree 34/2019 establishes that platforms must periodically transmit their data on distance selling to the Revenue Agency. Taxable persons who use an electronic interface (e-commerce, portals, platforms, marketplaces and so on) to facilitate contact with the consumer and obtain distance selling must transmit information for each supplier. They are:

• Name, residence/domicile and e-mail address;
• Total number of units sold in Italy;
• Value of sales made in Italy, indicating the amount of the prices or an average sales value (your choice)

The disclosure obligation must be fulfilled on a quarterly basis, no later than the month following each quarter according to methods that will be disclosed by the Revenue Agency with a future provision.

What happens if I do not comply with the disclosure obligation of Legislative Decree 34/2019?

In the event that the aforementioned digital platforms decide not to send the information to the Revenue Agency, or if they are received incompletely or incorrectly, the owners will be held responsible for the tax due on distance selling, unless they can demonstrate that the VAT obligation has already been fulfilled by a supplier.

July 2019: the first sending of data is expected for the "information obligation"

Legislative Decree 135/2018 specified that these information obligations only referred to distance sales of mobile phones, tablets, PCs and laptops, but with the new Legislative Decree 34/2019 the obligation extends to distance sales of any type of good, anywhere the transaction is carried out through a digital platform. Specifically, the "Growth Decree", art. 13, entitled "Sales of goods through digital platforms", provides for a discipline for the sale of goods of any type through digital platforms and must be applied until 31 December 2020.