With the Pnrr decree, Italy accelerates towards digital payments: no more POS receipts to keep for 10 years, electronic flows will suffice. Simplifications for citizens and businesses, traceability also guaranteed for deductions and pagoPA
Objective: zero paper. Italy accelerates the digitalization of payments and changes the management of receipts. From March it will no longer be mandatory to keep paper receipts issued by POS for ten years. Less bureaucracy and paper for citizens and businesses, but traceability remains guaranteed by digital flows. In a few weeks, proof of payment will be increasingly digital.
Goodbye POS receipts: what has changed since March
With the Pnrr decree comes the obligation to conserve POS paper receipts has been eliminated for payments by credit, debit, prepaid card or other digital methods. The stop comes on beginning of Marchwhen the digital matching function between POS terminals and cash registers will be available in the reserved area of the Revenue Agency website. This step completes the integration between electronic payment and commercial document, thus making the printing and storage of the POS receipt superfluous. In practice, communications and digital traces sent by banks and financial intermediaries will be sufficient to demonstrate electronic payment has taken place, provided that they contain all the information relating to the individual operations and are stored in such a way as to guarantee full consultation. Digital account statements can therefore also be used to certify the traceability of spending, an essential requirement for many tax benefits. Stop, therefore, the obligation that required the conservation of paper documents for 10 years to prove payment.
730 deductions: the “talking” receipt is enough
And what will be done for the tax return? For example, what must be submitted to obtain deductions for a medical expense paid by card? Simple: it will be sufficient to keep the receipt, which already contains the indication of the payment method, with the wording “electronic payment” when the transaction took place with card or app. This element certifies the traceability required by tax legislation. You also don’t need the POS receipt, which is often printed on thermal paper which fades in a few months. Therefore, no paper duplicates for years.
Stop using paper also for pagoPA
It also changes for payments to the public administration. The decree establishes that it will no longer be mandatory to keep the paper version of receipts for payments made via pagoPA or other electronic channels to the State. The administration will have to verify the payment and will no longer be able to ask the citizen to show the paper receipt, not even for tax purposes or to obtain a deduction.
Towards the total electronic receipt
Eliminating the obligation to keep POS receipts is the first step. Parliament has indicated a roadmap to progressively overcome the requirement for paper receipts. From 1 January 2027, large-scale distribution companies will have to adapt; from 2028 it will be the turn of operators with turnover above a certain threshold; from 2029 to all other merchants. However, the customer will still have the possibility to request the printing of the commercial document.
