The following (google translation) was posted on the German domestic site:
Flying-in-Italy again due to current events : Luxury Tax
Hello Jan Brill and the community: from page 70 in the PUF issue May 2022 (not April!) there is an article about the Italian luxury tax for passengers. It’s been around since 2012 and I’ve never had any stress with it (although the last time was in 2020), neither in the club plane nor in my own plane. Apparently, private flights at least €100 per PAX and leg have recently become due, for return flights to Lido di Venezia LIPV with 3 PAX together, for example €600. The PUF article concludes with the bold statement: “… Italy should definitely be deleted from the list of excursion destinations.”
Maybe somebody can find the actual text in that magazine? Small attributions are normally ok.
Anyway, this looks like a passenger tax, not the original “luxury tax”. And not an import VAT hit, either 
If that’s correct I will move these off to a new thread.
Or maybe it is all three? This is Italy
Yes but registering makes you less competitive, so sole traders try to avoid it. The mandatory threshold is now £85k. My point stands; the vast majority of individuals who fly planes won’t have a VAT number. What some (myself included) have done in these situations is they have used the VAT # of their employer, which makes no sense at all but it keeps the airport staff happy. You could just make one up but there is an EU website where you can check them, so it’s best not to do that.
Re the luxury tax angle, reading back up this thread finds that the tax applied only if you stayed for quit a long time. So that’s a different thing to imposing it on companies or AOC holders (which actually makes no sense at all).
Airborne_Again wrote:
According to Wikipedia this is called “Sole proprietorship”. It may not be available in all jurisdictions, but (again according to Wikipedia) it is available in the UK.
It certainly is and you have to have it if your freelance income exceeds a certain amount. Can’t remember the exact amount (it’s been quite a few years since I left the UK), but IIRC it was around GBP 60-80k p.a. That’s about 15 years ago.
Peter wrote:
(Spain was known for that, IIRC, even if anybody with more than 2 braincells would have known that private individuals don’t have VAT numbers)
Actually private indiividuals can have VAT numbers if they personally run a business. According to Wikipedia this is called “Sole proprietorship”. It may not be available in all jurisdictions, but (again according to Wikipedia) it is available in the UK.
No; you can give them Vlad the Impaler as the owner
The trap I see here is this: a lot of owners own their planes through a limited company. This may have been done to
Now, if you turn up on say Elba and tell them you are PA28 Aviation Ltd, they might sting you. Whereas if you just gave them your name (which is also 100% legit; you do have all the ID docs for that) they might not.
It’s something to be aware of.
There is really no point, anywhere in Europe (except possibly Belgrade LYBE?? – cheap fuel) in trying to use a company name at airports even if your plane is actually owned by a company.
We are discussing stuff which is little more than rumours which somebody spread and then washed their hands of clarifying when requested (sooo often the case in GA, especially when somebody tells me they had problems with such and such, I post it, and then I get beaten up because the person refuses to let me post important detail, to preserve his dealer relationship 
) but there may be something in this, and perhaps not offering a company name is a good idea. Any fuel invoices can still be used for company trips; you just put them in your expenses in the usual way. If the invoice has a VAT # on it, your company (if VAT registered) can still reclaim that VAT even if the invoice is made out to your name.
The typical N reg will be with a Trustee, does this preclude using a person as operator?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
If I remember right, the original luxury tax was a different tax however based on the airframe. This now looks like they have “invented” a passenger fee, which I was not aware of existed in the original tax?
No. Both have been part of the “Salva Italia” package of PM Mario Monti of 2011. As I said, both have existed since that time, at least on paper.
As most of the complaints appear to come from people who have visited Venice Lido, I still think it is quite vital information for all of us until it can be clarified what it is based on and if there are ways to avoid it. Lido is a very popular airport, if not the most popular for tourists in all of Italy.
There are also a few reports from other airports. But again, so far – as far as we know – only aircraft with MTOW >2 tons and only where the operator put a company name in as the operator details when paying landing fees (which obviously does not mean that the flight is an air taxi flight).
Your and PnF’s dedication to inform about this is highly appreciated! I just thought it may be a good idea to make the information available here as well.
All good. Again, the overall info is still too sarce to write much more.
boscomantico wrote:
Nothing really “went away”. The luxury tax (the one for air taxi flights) has existed for 10 years now. But until recently, it was either not enforced at all, or only for “real” AOC flights (as intended by the law).
If I remember right, the original luxury tax was a different tax however based on the airframe. This now looks like they have “invented” a passenger fee, which I was not aware of existed in the original tax?
As most of the complaints appear to come from people who have visited Venice Lido, I still think it is quite vital information for all of us until it can be clarified what it is based on and if there are ways to avoid it. Lido is a very popular airport, if not the most popular for tourists in all of Italy.
Your and PnF’s dedication to inform about this is highly appreciated! I just thought it may be a good idea to make the information available here as well.
“Of course” I know something about it and have been involved in the making of that short article.
Unfortunately, so far, AOPA Italy has really let us down here After PuF received several messages from “affected” aircraft owners/operators, we enquired with AOPA Italy about their knowledge about the issue and any recommendations. They said they know about the issue and that they would come back to us but that was almost a month ago. The problems with Italians is that when something like this happens, they deploy a hoard of lawyers and tax advsiors, have them write endless “relazioni” and “missive”, but that really pushes everything into the long grass. No “intermediate” response either.
So, for now, we weren’t able write much other than to avoid flying to Italy if one really wants to be 100% sure to not be hit by such tax claims. Or at least to avoid putting company names into any forms filled out for landing fee invoicing purposes…
Nothing really “went away”. The luxury tax (the one for air taxi flights) has existed for 10 years now. But until recently, it was either not enforced at all, or only for “real” AOC flights (as intended by the law).
Peter wrote:
When P&F reports “Several people in recent times have been billed massively for “luxury passenger tax” after visiting places like Venice Lido” can they come up with first hand reports? Date, aircraft type, reg, how much paid, etc.
They would not report it if they could not. If there is one aviation journalist whom I trust totally in the GA field, it is Jan Brill.
