New expense - complete
When required by the company set-up, the basic expense is saved in the "draft" status and the user must proceed with the completion of the additional data relating to the document type, the accrual date and the expense location.
Tax usefulness of additional data
The type of document supporting the expense is a necessary information in Italy to determine which tax treatment must be adopted in the event of a missing document (due to loss or failure to issue a request to the supplier). In fact, the legislation requires that any expense reimbursements must be adequately documented to be exempt from taxation for the employee (you need the original receipt - now called a commercial document - or the invoice and not the credit card payment slip). If an expense is not properly supported, the company has two options: not to recognize it to the employee or to recognize it but subject it to taxes and contributions in the pay slip (it must not be forgotten that the expense reimbursements must be reported in the LUL - Single Labor Book). Since the expense report is, ultimately, a declaration from the employee to the company, it is considered appropriate for the employee to state in the expense report what type of tax documentation he/she uses as "proof" to support the expense incurred. Together with the declaration of the type of document, it is obviously necessary for the employee to attach a copy of the document itself (also as an electronic document).
The accrual date or the accrual period when the expense is incurred, in addition to having an accounting value, also assumes relevance for tax purposes in particular in terms of the deductibility of travel costs from business income. For expense reimbursement, in fact, there is a daily limit on the deductibility of meals and lodging expenses by the company, set at € 180.76 for domestic trips and € 258.23 for foreign trips. It is clear that if the employee reports only the payment date of the expense in the expense report (think of the hotel bill for stays longer than one night in which there are also charges for lunches and dinners), it would not be possible to allocate the cost incurred for each travel day in such a way that the deductible and non-deductible shares will be calculated and reported in the business tax return.
The expense location is relevant for tax purposes both in terms of employee income and in terms of business income. With regard to the aspects relating to the employee's income, for tax purposes only expenses incurred outside the municipality of work are exempt from taxation, with the sole exception of transport costs incurred in the municipality of work if documented through receipts issued by the carrier (e.g. public transport tickets or taxi receipts). On the business income front, we have already seen how the differentiation between domestic and foreign travel expenses is relevant for IRES purposes.
In conclusion, as far as it is certainly possible prepare and submit expense reports to the administration without the additional information indicated, on the assumption that in case of an audit by the Financial Authorities these data can be obtained through the examination of the expense receipts or through other internal sources, it is entirely preferable to ask the user directly to integrate the minimum expenditure data with this additional information.
The document type
The first section to complete the expense is that relating to the "document type", in which you are asked to select which document exists to support the expense between:
Receipt (in Italy also called "Documento Commerciale")
Invoice (these are courtesy copies as the original is only in electronic form and cannot be physically delivered to the buyer)
Missing (to indicate the lack of a document)
In addition to selecting the type of document, you must use the "Attach" button to upload the photo or scan of the voucher (if not already uploaded previously). The user interface in the web version of the program looks like this:
The accrual date
The second additional information required is the "accrual date" of the expenditure made. With the premise that in most cases it is simply a matter of confirming the date and continue, as the accrual date corresponds to the payment date, in other cases it is necessary to specify a different date or a period of start and end of the expense.
The above image shows how a single accrual date is proposed equal to the payment date and the same for all items. However, you can also choose to use one of the following options:
Accrual Period
It is possible to indicate an accrual period with start and end date, the same for all expense items (if item by item is not active) or specific for each expense item (if item by item is active).
Line by Line
It is possible to indicate an accrual date (or an accrual period) for each expense item.
The expense location
The last of the additional information required refers to the location where the expense was incurred and is simply to indicate a place on the map. It is possible to type the name of a city, a street address or even the name of a business (hotel, restaurant, etc.). The system uses Google Maps for research.
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