Italy VAT VIES Guarantee 2026

What Is the Italy VAT VIES Guarantee?

The Italy VAT VIES Guarantee is a mandatory financial surety of at least EUR 50,000 required from companies based outside the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) that register for VAT in Italy through a fiscal representative and wish to be included in the VIES (VAT Information Exchange System).

Without this guarantee, a company cannot carry out intra-Community supplies or acquisitions under the VAT exemption regime. In practice, it is excluded from the European market for cross-border transactions.

The obligation was introduced by Legislative Decree 13/2024, which added paragraph 7-quater to Article 35 of Presidential Decree 633/1972 (the Italian VAT Decree). The operational criteria were defined by the MEF Decree of December 4, 2024 and by Italian Revenue Agency Ruling no. 178713 of April 14, 2025.

With the TAR Lazio ruling no. 4986/2026, the obligation has been definitively confirmed: the appeal filed by several non-EU companies was declared inadmissible.

The EUR 50,000 guarantee is now a permanent requirement that can no longer be challenged in court.

👉 See also: VIES financial guarantee for non-EU companies operating in Italy.

Why Does This Obligation Exist?

The VIES guarantee was introduced to address a concrete problem: in recent years, Italian and European tax authorities identified a significant number of intra-Community VAT fraud cases involving non-EU companies operating in Italy through fiscal representatives.

The most widespread fraud mechanism is the so-called Customs Procedure 42 (CP42): goods from third countries are imported into an EU Member State (e.g. Italy) with a VAT exemption at importation, declaring a subsequent intra-Community supply to another EU country.

In many cases, however, the goods never left the territory and VAT was never paid, either at origin or at destination.

These operations were often carried out through VAT positions registered in the name of willing front persons, opened by fiscal representatives without adequate controls. A European Parliament report quantified the evasion linked to just one type of this fraud at EUR 310 million.

The Italian legislature responded with a two-pronged approach:

• Stricter subjective requirements for fiscal representatives, who must now meet integrity standards and provide a personal guarantee (Revenue Agency Ruling no. 186368/2025).
• A mandatory EUR 50,000 financial guarantee for each non-EU/EEA entity seeking VIES registration through a fiscal representative.

The guarantee protects the Italian Revenue Agency: if the foreign entity fails to pay VAT due, the tax authority has immediate financial coverage.

Who Must Provide the Guarantee?

The obligation applies exclusively to companies not resident in an EU Member State or an EEA member state that:

• operate in Italy through a fiscal representative (Art. 17(3), Presidential Decree 633/1972), and
• intend to carry out intra-Community transactions (supplies or acquisitions of goods and services with other EU countries).

This includes, for example, companies based in China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom (post-Brexit), Turkey, India, South Korea, Switzerland, and in general all countries outside the EU and the EEA.

Who is exempt: companies established in an EU or EEA country (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), companies with a permanent establishment in Italy, and non-EU companies operating in Italy through direct identification (Art. 35-ter, Presidential Decree 633/1972) rather than through a fiscal representative.

For a dedicated deep-dive, see: who must provide a VIES guarantee in Italy.

The three categories of obliged entities

Category	When to submit the guarantee	Notes
New operators without an Italian VAT number	Together with the declaration of commencement of activity and the VIES registration request	The guarantee is a condition for opening the VAT number and accessing the VIES
VAT number holders not yet registered in VIES	Before submitting the VIES registration request	VIES inclusion is conditional on positive verification of the guarantee by the Provincial Directorate
Operators already registered in VIES as of April 14, 2025	The deadline was June 13, 2025 (60 days from publication of the Ruling)	Those who failed to comply by that deadline received notice of the exclusion procedure

Requirements: Amount, Duration, and Accepted Forms

Minimum amount

EUR 50,000. This is a fixed mandatory threshold, non-negotiable and not linked to the company’s turnover. It cannot be reduced.

Minimum duration

36 months (3 years) from the date of delivery to the competent Provincial Directorate of the Italian Revenue Agency, based on the fiscal domicile of the fiscal representative. Once the term has expired, the guarantee does not need to be renewed.

Accepted forms of guarantee

The MEF Decree of December 4, 2024 provides for three forms of guarantee, all fully accepted by the Italian Revenue Agency:

Form	Characteristics	Suitable for
Insurance surety bond (fideiussione assicurativa)	No cash deposit required. Annual premium based on risk profile. Fast issuance (often within a few days).	Companies that want to avoid tying up capital and seek a fast, cost-effective solution
Bank guarantee	Generally requires a cash collateral deposit of EUR 50,000 with the issuing bank. Longer issuance times.	Companies with available liquidity that prefer the traditional banking channel
Government bond deposit	Italian government bonds or state-guaranteed securities, deposited with the State Treasury in favour of the Revenue Agency.	Companies that already hold Italian government bonds in their portfolio

Important: the guarantee must be made out to the Director pro tempore of the competent Provincial Directorate of the Revenue Agency and must be drafted according to the template set out in Ruling no. 178713/2025. A non-compliant guarantee will be rejected.

👉 Discover the no-deposit VAT insurance guarantee — fast issuance and cost-effective pricing for companies that want to avoid tying up EUR 50,000 in cash.

How to Submit the Guarantee: The Operational Procedure

The guarantee can be submitted electronically. The procedure involves the following steps:

1. The fiscal representative (or the company through its advisor) prepares the guarantee in the chosen form (insurance, bank, or government bond deposit), following the template in Ruling no. 178713/2025.
2. The guarantee is delivered to the competent Provincial Directorate.
3. The office verifies the formal and substantive compliance of the guarantee.
4. The outcome of the verification is communicated to the party that submitted the guarantee.
5. Only after a positive outcome is communicated can the fiscal representative submit the VIES registration request according to the procedures set out in Revenue Agency Ruling no. 159941/2014.

Please note: the fiscal representative is also required to verify the accuracy and completeness of the documentation provided by the non-EU entity.

Failure to do so carries an administrative penalty of EUR 3,000 to EUR 50,000 (Art. 35(7-quater), Presidential Decree 633/1972).

Consequences of Failing to Submit the Guarantee

Failure to submit the guarantee within the prescribed deadlines triggers a two-tier mechanism:

• First tier: the Italian Revenue Agency notifies the fiscal representative, via certified email (PEC) or registered letter, of the initiation of the VIES exclusion procedure.
• Second tier: the entity has an additional 60 days from receipt of the notification to regularise its position.
• If the guarantee is still not provided within this second deadline, the entity is automatically removed from the VIES database.

The consequences of VIES exclusion are immediate and severe:

• Inability to carry out intra-Community supplies and acquisitions under the VAT exemption regime.
• Invoices to EU clients become taxable, with Italian VAT applied.
• Inability to use Customs Procedure 42 (VAT-exempt importation followed by intra-Community supply).
• Possible restrictions on marketplace accounts (e.g. Amazon).
• Liability and penalties for the fiscal representative.

TAR Lazio Ruling No. 4986/2026: The Obligation Is Definitive

The legal challenge against the VIES guarantee has concluded with a clear-cut ruling.

During 2025, several non-EU companies (mainly Chinese) and two trade associations filed an appeal with the TAR Lazio (Lazio Regional Administrative Court) against the guarantee obligation, arguing that the measure was disproportionate, especially for e-commerce operators already subject to strict platform controls.

The Council of State had acknowledged the complexity of the issue and ordered a hearing on the merits, which took place on January 28, 2026.

With the ruling no. 4986/2026, the TAR Lazio declared the appeal inadmissible on grounds of late filing: the companies had submitted the challenge beyond the 60-day deadline from the publication of the MEF Decree of December 4, 2024. The Court clarified that the extended 150-day term, available for entities based abroad, does not apply when notifications are directed at Italian authorities (the Ministry of Economy and the Revenue Agency).

The outcome is unambiguous: the MEF Decree remains fully valid and binding. The EUR 50,000 guarantee can no longer be challenged in court and is now a permanent structural requirement for VIES access by non-EU entities.

The Road Ahead: The ViDA Directive and the Centralised VIES System

The VIES guarantee regulatory framework sits within a broader reform of the European VAT system.

In March 2025, the EU adopted the ViDA package (VAT in the Digital Age), through Directive (EU) 2025/516.

Key developments relevant to non-EU operators include:

• Mandatory B2B electronic invoicing across the EU from July 1, 2030, with real-time digital reporting of intra-Community transactions.
• A new centralised VIES system managed by the European Commission, replacing current national databases by 2032.
• Extension of the One-Stop Shop (OSS) VAT scheme to simplify cross-border compliance.
• An obligation for digital platforms to act as “deemed suppliers” and collect VAT directly (from 2028–2030).

Italy, as of April 9, 2026, has delegated to the Government the authority to transpose the ViDA Directive through dedicated legislative decrees. The first implementing measures are expected from January 1, 2027.

For non-EU operators, this means the control framework will become progressively more digital and automated, but the guarantee requirement for VIES access will remain in force as a national measure.

FAQ

Legislative references

• Legislative Decree of February 12, 2024, no. 13 (introduction of paragraph 7-quater to Art. 35 of Presidential Decree 633/1972)
• Presidential Decree of October 26, 1972, no. 633, Art. 35(7-quater) (Italian VAT Decree — guarantee obligation)
• Presidential Decree of October 26, 1972, no. 633, Art. 17(3) (fiscal representative)
• MEF Decree of December 4, 2024 (criteria and procedures for the guarantee), published in Official Gazette no. 292 of December 13, 2024
• Italian Revenue Agency Ruling no. 178713 of April 14, 2025 (operational procedures)
• Italian Revenue Agency Ruling no. 186368 of April 17, 2025 (subjective requirements for fiscal representatives)
• TAR Lazio ruling no. 4986/2026 (confirmation of the guarantee obligation)
• Directive (EU) 2025/516 of March 11, 2025 (ViDA package — VAT in the Digital Age)

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