Rental bonus 2021 accessible even if the rent of a commercial space is paid late. The Revenue Agency specified this by responding to a request for a ruling on the matter, specifying that the law allows you to benefit from the rental bonus even if the rent is paid the following year compared to when it should have ended up in the owner’s account. In practice, specifies laleggepertutti.it, the Tax Authority eliminates the time constraints of the rental bonus because it recognizes the tax credit also to those who pay the 2020 rents in 2021, or those that give the right to the subsidy.
Not only that: in addition to latecomers, the Agency also rewards those who are too hasty. In fact, the bonus is also granted to those who anticipated the 2020 fees in 2019. Basically: whether you pay the rent in 2019 or in 2021 for 2020, you are always entitled to the bonus.
There is more. Paying the rent late does not exclude the possibility for the tenant to immediately transfer the tax credit to the owner of the property, lowering the amount of the rent.
Let’s take a step back. The rental bonus was introduced in 2020 by the Relaunch decree to meet the difficulties, caused by Covid, of those who carry out business activities, art or profession and had revenues or remuneration of less than 5 million euros in 2019. The benefit consists of a tax credit of 60% on the amount of the rent for the months of March, April, May and June 2020. Seasonal tourist-accommodation businesses were also subsidized in July. Furthermore, there were specific rules for companies with revenues exceeding 5 million euros and for tourism accommodation companies, for tour operators and travel agencies.
The bonus was then re-proposed for the months of October, November and December 2020, that is, coinciding with the second wave of the pandemic.
In any case – and this is where the Tax Authority has now intervened – the Relaunch decree asked as a requirement to benefit from the bonus that the payment of the rent be made within the year of 2020, that is, before December 31 of last year. Now, however, the Revenue Agency eliminates this barrier.
The interrogation to which the Agency has just replied confirms that on the payments made in 2021 of the share of the rents relating to 2020 not yet transferred to the owners, the tenants will accrue the right to benefit from the tax credit indicated in the Relaunch decree. In practice, they can transfer the tax credit to the landlords (provided that the latter accept) and pay 40% of the amount of the rent relating to the 2020 monthly payments directly this year. The same applies to payments made in advance in 2019. In the latter case, the Agency specifies that “in the event that the fee has been paid in advance, it will be necessary to identify the installments relating to the months of use of the benefit, parameterizing them to the overall duration of the contract”.