Additional municipal tax on passenger boarding fees for aircraft

Article 2, paragraphs 47 et seq. of Law no. 92 of 28 June 2012 amended the legislation on the collection of the increase in the additional municipal tax on passenger boarding fees for aircraft, as referred to in Article 2, paragraph 11 of Law no. 350 of 24 December 2003, and Article 6-quater, paragraph 2 of Decree-Law no. 7 of 31 January 2005, converted, with amendments, by Law no. 43 of 31 March 2005.

The above provisions have been amended over time to make the process of collecting the increase in the additional municipal tax on passenger boarding fees for aircraft more effective. These sums constitute sources of financing of the Solidarity Fund for the air transportation and airport system sector (Air Transport Fund) and, also, of the Scheme for Welfare measures and social security schemes support (GIAS).

Airport service operators must notify the INPS of the amounts remitted by individual airlines by the end of the month following that of the collection of taxes (INPS Circular no. 112 of 25 July 2013).

The increase in the additional municipal tax on passenger boarding fees for aircraft, laid down by Article 6-quater, paragraph 2, of Decree-Law no. 7 of 31 January 2005 in the amount of Euro 3 per passenger, was further increased by an additional Euro 2 per boarded passenger as of 1 July 2013 (Law no. 92 of 28 June 2012).

The transmission of data, as of the collection for the month of July 2013, shall occur online on the INPS website through the dedicated service.

As a transitional measure for the year 2019, Article 26 of Decree-Law no. 4 of 28 January 2019 provided for a new allocation of the increase in the additional municipal tax on passenger boarding fees for aircraft, referred to in Article 6-quater, paragraph 2, of Decree-Law no. 7 of 31 January 2005, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

More specifically, for boardings relating to the periods from January 2019 to December 2019, the airport management companies remitted to the INPS the collected increased additional municipal tax in the amount of Euro 5 per passenger (Euro 1.5 for the Air Transport Fund and Euros 3.5 for GIAS).

From 1 January 2020, on expiry of the transitional period, the greater revenues deriving from the aforementioned increase have been allocated to GIAS entirely (INPS Circular no. 28, 15 February 2019).

Further changes were introduced by Article 204, Decree-Law no. 34 of 19 May 2020, converted, with amendments, by Law no. 77 of 17 July 2020, which further amended, effective from 1 July 2021, the allocation of the increase in question. It has been set out, in particular, that the greater sums deriving from the increase in the additional municipal tax on boarding fees (in the amount of Euro 3) be equally allocated to GIAS (50%) and to the Air Transport Fund (50%).

Therefore, for boardings relating to the periods from 1 July 2021, the airport management companies shall remit to the INPS the collected increased additional municipal tax in the amount of Euro 5 per passenger (Euro 3.5 for GIAS and Euro 1.5 for the Air Transport Fund) (INPS' Circular no. 108, 15 July 2021).

In the INPS Circular no. 112 of 25 July 2013and, lastly, INPS Circular no. 28 of 15 February 2019 and INPS Circular no. 108 of 15 July 2021, instructions have been provided for the indication, in the UNIEMENS flow, of the amounts due as an increase in the additional municipal tax for passenger boarding fees, as well as instructions for remittance by the airline companies of the collected amounts through Form F24.