Summer suspension: what stops in August and what doesn’t

With the arrival of August, the summer suspension periods provided by law for various tax and judicial obligations come into effect once again. However, not all deadlines follow the same timetable: depending on the type of act, the suspension periods may differ by several weeks.

Starting with tax litigation, procedural time limits—such as the 60-day period for filing an appeal or lodging a petition—are suspended from 1 to 31 August (Article 1 of Law No. 742/1969). Where a time limit would otherwise begin during this period, it instead starts on 1 September.

The rules applicable to dealings with the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) are more nuanced. Payments due through the F24 form between 1 and 20 August—including, for example, the monthly VAT payment ordinarily due on 16 August—may be made by 20 August without penalties (Article 37, paragraph 11-bis, first sentence, Decree-Law No. 223/2006).

Requests for documents, questionnaires and desk-based tax audits benefit from a longer suspension, lasting until 4 September, as does the deadline for paying avvisi bonari (friendly tax assessments) resulting from automated or formal tax controls (Article 37, second sentence, and Article 7-quater, paragraph 17, Decree-Law No. 193/2016). However, the issuance of these notices follows a different rule: it is suspended only from 1 to 31 August (Legislative Decree No. 1/2024). It is therefore important not to confuse the suspension of the notice itself with the suspension of the payment deadline. Likewise, deadlines for submitting defensive observations following a draft assessment are extended until 4 September.

As regards tax collection, the notification of tax collection notices and other enforcement measures is also suspended throughout August, together with the related time limits for challenging them.

The suspension does not apply to requests made during ongoing tax inspections, audits or investigations, VAT refund procedures, urgent and non-deferrable acts, applications for tax settlement by agreement (accertamento con adesione), for which the 30-day deadline remains unchanged, or precautionary proceedings in tax litigation.

In summary, where taxpayers need additional time to respond or defend themselves, the law generally grants it; where urgent action is required, it does not. Keeping an up-to-date calendar of deadlines, reviewed on a case-by-case basis, remains the best way to avoid unpleasant surprises when returning from the summer break.