When is the unpaid Rai license prescribed?

When is the unpaid Rai license prescribed? How much time must pass for the obligation to pay the Rai license fee to cease? When a taxpayer does not pay the RAI license fee contained in the electricity bill, the prescription follows particular rules.
It should be remembered, in fact, that an unpaid electricity bill becomes statute-barred after 2 years and the legitimate doubt you might have is that the fee also has the same limitation period, but is this really the case? the legislation that regulates the matter is quite clear, but the doubts regarding the prescription of the fee are due precisely to the fact that for several years it has been paid directly in the electricity bill.
In November 2023, the Court of Cassation also expressed its opinion on the issue, definitively setting the deadline for the prescription of the Rai license fee, since in the absence of a regulation that derogates from the prescription it is necessary to apply the terms provided for in article 2946 of the civil code which are the same as those applied for income taxes.
Let's see the clarifications on the matter.
read also Tax prescription, which ones are no longer paid after 5 or 10 years? Prescription of Rai license fee The prescription of the unpaid Rai license fee occurs after 10 years.
According to the Court of Cassation, the obligation, even if it is an annual benefit, has a unitary character, as the payment of an annuality is not linked to that of previous years since it is based on the tax conditions.
The Supreme Court of Cassation, on the Rai license fee, expressed its opinion after the presentation of an appeal with which they wanted to challenge the payment bills relating to government debts and local taxes and invoked the limitation of the deadlines to be able to demand payment.
At first instance the appeal was accepted, but on appeal it was rejected.
The Court of Cassation, as it has specified several times, maintains that the ten-year limitation applies to Irpef, Irap, VAT, registration tax.
The 5-year prescription can be applied to everything that occurs annually or in shorter terms.
Direct taxes such as Irpef, Irap and VAT, however, despite having an annual payment frequency, are autonomous taxes whose payment is not linked to that of previous years but is determined by autonomous assessments that vary based on tax conditions.
The same happens for the Rai license fee, given that there is no specific exception to the general rule provided for by article 2946 of the civil code.
The Rai license fee, therefore, is not prescribed in 5 years, but in 10.
Rai license fee and electricity bills, when the prescription occurs.
Erroneously, one might be led to think that if the electricity bills are prescribed in 2 years, the Rai license fee, in inserted, may have the same prescription.
It is not so.
In fact, paid electricity bills, even if they can be thrown away two years after payment, must be maintained for at least 10 years as far as the Rai license fee is concerned.
In the same bill, therefore, you pay for two things with different limitation periods and for this very reason it is necessary to keep the bills paid for the longest limitation period, the one relating to the Rai license fee which is, in fact, 10 years.
This, obviously, is essential to prove, in the event of payment requests from the tax administration, that you have paid the amount due.
After 10 years, however, the bills can be thrown away since even with regard to the Rai license fee the administration can no longer have claims for payment since the statute of limitations has expired.
New Rai license fee 2024 For the years 2024 and 2025 the annual amount of the Rai license fee drops from the current 90 euros to 70 euros, as provided for by the 2024 Budget Law.
What must be underlined, however, is that the 20 euro cut for each family unit will not be entirely borne by Rai given that the resources will also be integrated by state support paid in three equal installments in the months of January, March and June 2024.
The amount from the Rai license fee in the energy bill electricity, therefore, also changes the monthly amount with an increase on the bill itself, equal to 7 euros per month for 10 months, or 14 euros per two months for five two months.