Tax, VAT on works of art drops from 22 to 5%. Giuli: "Mission accomplished"

" VAT on works of art, sale and purchase, drops from 22 to 5% ". This is the announcement made today, Friday 20 June, by the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, at a press conference. He presented the measure in this way, after the Council of Ministers in which "a decree was approved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which I thank for the fruitful dialogue". "This is news we have been waiting for years: now we can say mission accomplished " he concludes.

Federculture expresses "great appreciation for the approval by the Council of Ministers of the decision that will lead to the lowering of the VAT rate to 5% on the sale of works of art: a step that places our country perfectly within the competitiveness of the European market in line with the parameters of France and Germany, which have rates of 5.5 and 7% respectively". Appreciation is then expressed "for the work done by the offices of the Ministry of Culture and Economy and Finance, to whose heads Federculture had repeatedly represented the importance of this measure, presenting detailed and articulated proposals in this regard. We therefore thank Ministers Alessandro Giuli and Giancarlo Giorgetti for the attention we found".

"The reduction of VAT on cultural products - starting with works of art - is a theme that Federculture has always considered central to its representation activity and on which we have been working with conviction for years. The adoption of today's measure therefore represents a decisive step towards the common goal: the application of the same VAT rate to all cultural products that are now subject to different regimes (books are now 4%, records are now 22%, exhibitions and live shows are now 10%, museums are exempt from VAT and works of art are now, finally, 5%). As always - the note concludes - we remain at the disposal of the parliamentary commissions and the competent ministries to continue to express the point of view of our members and we will guarantee our collaboration in support of the entire cultural sector".

Apollo Group

"We express great satisfaction for the reduction of VAT from 22% to 5% on the sale and importation of works of art. It is a historic result, the result of a concerted effort, and today is truly an important day for the entire sector" declared the Apollo Group, the confederation that brings together all the main associations of the art industry in Italy, a sector that – according to the latest report commissioned by the Apollo group and produced by Nomisma in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, presented in March – is worth 1.36 billion euros.

"We thank the Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli for having kept his promise to intervene on a fiscal issue that penalized the competitiveness of our market compared to other European countries - continues the Apollo group - This measure is the sign of a renewed attention to the economic and cultural potential of the sector and represents a decisive step towards making Italy a true hub of the artistic market in Europe".

Finally, the Apollo Group underlines how the synergy between the operators in the sector - galleries, auction houses, collectors, professionals - with the institutions, first and foremost the Government, in particular the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Parliament has had "a decisive role in achieving this goal, in compliance with what is provided for at Community level by European Directive 542/2022. Special thanks go to the presidents of the Culture Commissions of the Chamber and Senate Federico Mollicone and Roberto Marti and the Honorable Alessandro Amorese for the dedication and support shown".