(From 4 000 EUR)
The calculator allows you to calculate the approximate cost of maintenance of accounting services to support and audit the company.
CalculateAccounting and financial reporting in Italy are regulated by the following legislative documents:
According to the law every Italian company must keep accounting records sufficient to identify all financial transactions made by the company. Italian companies must provide the following documents in their financial statements: balance sheet, profit and loss statement, cash flow statement, and notes to accounts.
Financial statements must be accompanied by a director’s report (nota integrationtiva), which is a director’s statement explaining figures contained in the financial statements and, if the company is subject to audit, a report prepared by auditors.
Accounting records must be kept for 10 years after the last date of the financial statements along with relevant business correspondence.
The following types of legal entities must file financial statements:
Limited liability companies (SNC, SAS) are not required to publish their accounts but must make a balance sheet and profit and loss statement. Companies listed on a stock exchange must make quarterly financial statements. Small and micro companies are allowed to make financial statements in a condensed form.
A company is considered a micro company in the first financial year if it meets at least two of the following three conditions in that year.
A company is considered a micro company in subsequent financial periods if:
Micro companies are companies that did not exceed two of the following limits during the first financial year or, after that, during two straight financial years.
Micro companies’ annual financial statements can contain only a balance sheet and profit and loss statement.
A company is considered small in the first financial year if it meets at least two of the following three conditions in that year.
A company is considered small in subsequent financial periods if:
Conditions for classifying a company as small:
Brief annual financial statements consist of:
Since November 2001, the Italian Accounting Committee (Organismo Italiano di Contabilità – OIC) has been responsible for accounting standards. The International Financial Reporting Standards are required for all national public companies and listed foreign companies (except for a foreign company whose national jurisdiction’s standards, in the opinion of the EU, are equivalent to IFRS). Small and medium-sized enterprises use Italian GAAP.
Audit is required for Italian companies:
1. Audit is generally required for companies if one or several of the following conditions are met:
In two subsequent financial years the company exceeded two of the following three limits:
2. For limited joint-stock companies (S.p.A.); and for private limited companies (S.r.l.) that exceed two of the following limits in 2 straight years.
3. All companies that make consolidated financial statements;
4. Banks, brokerage commission houses, fund management companies and regulated financial institutions.
Audit of financial statements («revisione legale dei conti») must be conducted in accordance with Italian legislation (article 2409-bis of the Italian Civil Code) and audit standards published by the Italian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CNDCEC, Consiglio Nazionale dei Dottori Commercialisti ed Esperti Contabili), which comply with the International Standards on Auditing (ISA) issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
In accordance with the contents of the articles of association, partners annually approve accounts within 120 or 180 days after the end of the financial year. An annual return, auditor’s report, financial statements and a copy of the minutes of the annual general meeting of shareholders (Assemblea dei soci) must be filed with the registry of companies 30 days after the annual general meeting.
The usual tax period is 12 months; in some cases, there may be exceptions from this rule. Normally, profit tax returns must be filed within 11 months after the end of the tax year.
If a company fails to file its financial statements on time, the company will be imposed with the following penalties
If the delay in filing accounts is over 30 days, from 137,33 EUR to the maximum amount of 1 376 EUR,
If the delay in filing accounts is under 30 days, then the penalties are reduced to one third: from 45,78 EUR to the maximum amount of 458,66 EUR.
If a company fails to file a tax return within 11 months after the end of the tax year, the company will be imposed with an administrative penalty of 120% to 240% of the amount of the payable taxes.
Parent companies that along with their controlled companies exceed two of the following thresholds during two consecutive financial years must prepare consolidated financial statements:
Exemption from the need to file consolidated financial statements, if the above criteria are not exceeded, does not apply if the parent company or one of its subsidiaries is a public company.