The voluntary contributions of the Clergy Fund

Those enrolled in the Clergy Fund may pay voluntary contributions using the payment methods through the MAV (payment by notice) or, in specific cases, by bank transfer.

Beneficiaries registered with the Clergy Fund are authorised to make voluntary payments.

MAV paying-in slips replace the postal current account slip for contribution payments of beneficiaries of the Clergy Fund.

The MAV mode refers only to those registered who provide the payment independently and identified as:

• secular Catholic priests excluded from the sustenance referred to in Law No. 222 of 20 May 1985;
• non-Catholic ministers of religion required to carry out individual checks on the basis of the provisions for each confession by the relevant inter-ministerial decree (Article 5, paragraph 2, Law No. 903 of 22 December 1973) which extended the provisions of law 903/73 to the religion they represent;
• secular Catholic priests and non-Catholic ministers of religion in voluntary contributions.

MAV paying-in slips can be paid by recipients through the dedicated on-line service provided by INPS. Alternatively, payment can be made at bank counters without commissions or at the post offices with a commission charge.

The service has been launched to prevent the loss of MAV-paying in slips received during the supply inducing beneficiaries to use ordinary postal slips by filling them out independently. It is in fact possible to obtain the immediate printing of another MAV-paying in slip which is fully compliant with the one received.

Furthermore, the method of the single payment by bank transfer for payments made on behalf or by the Central Institute for the Support of the Clergy, with reference to Catholic priests falling within the sustenance system as per Law No. 222/85, or of the various non-Catholic faiths remains confirmed, with reference to their own ministers of religion in cases where the decree - which extended the applicability of Law 903/73 to the religions they represent - provides for a single payment.

In addition to cumulative payments made by parties other than those enrolled in the Clergy Fund, the use of bank transfers is exceptionally allowed also to individual beneficiaries who are abroad (voluntary tax payers or obligatory tax payers at the service of an Italian diocese or equivalent figure for non-Catholic ministers of religion) for payments which they are obliged to make in a timely manner. This last exception has been envisaged to facilitate compliance outside Italy.