Reduction of the cash threshold to Euro 1,000

Legislative Decree 124/2019 - Budget Law 2020 - introduces a further lowering of the threshold for cash payments, which will go from the current two thousand to one thousand euros, starting from 1 January 2022.

This limit is imposed with the clear aim of combating tax evasion. Furthermore, the lowering of the cash ceiling reinforces the government's cashless strategy, which provides that from 1 January 2023 shopkeepers and professionals are required to accept ATMs or credit cards as a form of payment, whatever the amount (the penalty is € 30.00 plus 4% of the refused transaction for each infringement).

The threshold of one thousand euros is applicable regardless of the reason and of the subjects between which the money is transferred The only subjects excluded are the currency exchanges registered in the register kept by the Authority provided for by the Consolidated Law on Banking

Withdrawals and deposits on bank or postal current accounts remain legitimate as well as the payment of an amount exceeding the threshold, provided that this is done partly in cash and partly in traceable instruments (checks, credit cards, etc ...), it being understood that the part in cash does not exceed the established threshold and that the transaction is not carried out in order to circumvent the law.

Furthermore, payments made in several installments below the threshold are allowed, provided that the plurality of payments is inherent to the transaction itself, or is the consequence of a prior agreement between the parties. However, the administration reserves the right to evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, if there are elements such as to configure a division made with the aim of circumventing the prohibition of the law.

The ultra-threshold transactions between different subjects concretize the conditions on the basis of which the territorial accounts of the State can issue heavy penalties both for those who made the payment and for those who received it.