The tax credit for sanitation costs

The tax credit for sanitation costs of environments and work tools was introduced with thearticle 64 DL 18/2020, or the Cura Italia Decree.

This article provided, for i subjects engaged in business, art or profession the recognition, for the tax period 2020, of a tax credit, to the extent of 50 percent of the expenses for sanitizing environments and work tools supported and documented up to a maximum of 20,000 euros for each beneficiary, within the maximum overall limit of 50 million euros for the year 2020.

The Liquidity Decree, article 30 DL 23/2020, he has extended the objective scope of the facilitating provision, providing for the attribution of the tax credit also to expenses, incurred in the year 2020, for the purchase of personal protective equipment (DPI) e other safety devices aimed at protecting workers from accidental exposure to biological agents and at guaranteeing interpersonal safety distance.

With the circular 9 / E / 2020, in paragraph 13, the Revenue Agency specified that expenses incurred by business, art and profession operators are facilitated per:

• the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as surgical masks, Ffp2 and Ffp3 masks, gloves, protective visors, protective goggles, protective suits and shoes;
• the purchase and installation of other safety devices aimed at protecting workers and guaranteeing interpersonal safety distances, such as barriers and protective panels;
• the purchase of hand cleaners and disinfectants.

L’article 125 Relaunch Decree, to replace the previously envisaged measure (Articles 64 of the Cura Italia Decree and 30 of the Liquidity Decree are repealed), introduced, in order to contain and combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus, for:

• subjects engaged in business, arts and professions;
• non-commercial entities including third sector entities;
• civilly recognized religious bodies,

a tax credit equal to 60% of the expenses incurred in 2020 for the sanitation of the environments and tools used, as well as for the purchase of personal protective equipment and other devices designed to guarantee the health of workers and users.

The tax credit is due up to a maximum of 60,000 euros for each beneficiary, within the overall limit of 200 million euros for the year 2020.

The article states that expenses incurred for. are eligible for the tax credit referred to in paragraph 1:

1. the sanitization of environments in which work and institutional activity is carried out and the tools used in these activities;
2. the purchase of personal protective equipmentsuch as masks, gloves, visors and protective goggles, protective suits and shoes, which comply with the essential safety requirements of European legislation;
3. the purchase of cleaning and disinfectant products;
4. the purchase of safety devices other than those referred to in letter b), such as thermometers, thermoscanners, carpets and decontaminating and sanitizing trays, which comply with the essential safety requirements of European legislation, including any installation costs;
5. the purchase of devices to guarantee interpersonal safety distance, such as barriers and protective panels, including any installation costs.

In light of the clarifications provided with the circular 9 / E / 2020 and the list of expenses included in the facility, doubt arises about the possibility of taking advantage of the tax credit also for the expenses incurred for the purchase of machines capable of generating ozone for air sanitization.

In fact, for many companies, which often have to sanitize work environments (think of accommodation facilities, restaurants, environments open to the public where it is not easy to guarantee the exchange of air, etc.), it could be it is much cheaper to buy a machine of this type than to incur periodic expenses, calling external companies specialized in sanitization.

With the Protocol of July 31, 1996 n. 24482, the Ministry of Health has recognized the use of ozone in the treatment of air and water as a natural aid for sterilization environments contaminated by bacteria, viruses, molds, mites and spores.

We could therefore consider the use of a machine capable of generating ozone like substitute for any sanitization intervention and as such taxable with the tax credit provided.

In reality, there is no clarity on the effectiveness of such purification systems of air compared to Sars2 – VOC contamination.

The Ministry of Health circular no. 5443 of 22.02.2020, regarding Covid 2019, states that “available evidence has shown that the aforementioned viruses are effectively inactivated by adequate sanitization procedures which include the use of common hospital disinfectants, such as sodium hypochlorite (0.1% -0.5%) ethanol (62% -71 %) or hydrogen peroxide (0.5%), for an adequate contact time “.

The circular does not refer to alternative sanitization systems.

The tax credit can be used in the tax declaration relating to the tax period to support the expenditure or in compensation, pursuant toarticle 17 of Legislative Decree 241/1997.

The compensation limits set out inarticle 1, paragraph 53, Law 244/2007 and referred toarticle 34 L. 388/2000.

The tax credit does not contribute to the formation of income for the purposes of income tax and the value of production for the purposes of the regional tax on productive activities.

The identification of the criteria and methods for the application and use of the tax credit is entrusted to a provision of the Revenue Agency.

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