Cassazione Civile - Ordinanza n. 06258/2026

Key Facts

Tax Type

Issues

• Whether the costs related to the parent company's activities (magazzino and merce) can be considered 'inerenti' to the subsidiary's business under art. 109 TUIR, given the lack of direct connection to the subsidiary's operations and the parent's ownership of the assets.
• Whether the denial of IVA suspension regime (art. 8 d.P.R. 633/1972) for export transactions was lawful when declarations of intent (art. 1 d.l. 746/1983) were submitted post-transaction but not challenged for authenticity or existence.
• Whether the Corte di Giustizia Tributaria's application of presumption rules (art. 2729 cod. civ.) and burden of proof (art. 39 d.P.R. 600/1973) in determining the inerenza of logistics costs was legally sound, particularly regarding the sufficiency of evidence and the standard of 'id quod plerumque accidit'.

Tax Years

• 2015
• 2013
• 2014

Holdings

• The court rejected the second motive, which challenged the lower court's use of inductive evidence to infer cost absorption. It affirmed that the lower court's reasoning was based on reasonable probability and proper application of evidentiary rules (Cass., Sez. V, 18 agosto 2022, n. 24880).
• The court accepted the third motive, ruling that the lower court erred in denying VAT exemption (art. 8, d.P.R. 633/1972) due to the timing of intent declarations. It annulled the contested sentence with referral for further examination (Cass., Sez. V, 5 aprile 2019, n. 9586).
• The court found the first motive of the appeal to be unfounded, as there was no violation of the procedural rules (art. 112 cod. proc. civ.) regarding the non-deductibility of costs related to the parent company's warehouse and goods. The court emphasized that the lower court's decision was correct in determining the lack of inerence of these costs.

Remedies

• The first and second grounds of appeal are rejected by the court.
• The court grants the third ground of appeal, rejecting the first and second. The contested sentence is annulled and the case is referred back to the competent court for further examination, including the liquidation of litigation costs.
• The contested sentence is annulled by the court.
• The case is referred back to the competent court for further examination, including the liquidation of litigation costs.

Tax Issue Category

• Deductibility / Allowances
• Other

Legal Principles

• The court addressed the application of legal presumptions in tax matters, particularly the 'id quod plerumque accidit' principle. It emphasized that presumptions based on common experience must be reasonably plausible and not speculative. The decision clarified that while the lower court's factual inferences are generally insusceptible to review, the reasoning must not rely on mere conjecture but on established patterns of experience.
• The court also ruled on the application of VAT exemption for export transactions under art. 8, d.P.R. 633/1972. It determined that the timing of a declaration of intent from the buyer does not invalidate the cedente's legitimate application of the regime, provided all factual prerequisites for the exemption are met.
• The burden of proof regarding the relevance of business expenses was analyzed. The court held that the taxpayer must demonstrate the existence and business relevance of costs, particularly when the tax authority contests their inerence. The decision reinforced that the taxpayer bears the responsibility to provide evidence supporting the deductibility of expenses.

Disputed Tax Amount

Precedent Name

• Cass., Sez. V, 5 aprile 2019, n. 9586
• Cass., Sez. V, 11 maggio 2022, n. 14893
• Cass., Sez. III, 25 maggio 2021, n. 14268

Cited Statute

• Civil Code
• DPR 633/1972
• TUIR
• DPR 600/1973
• Code of Civil Procedure
• DL 746/1983

Judge Name

• Caradonna Lunella
• Grasso Gianluca

Passage Text

• In tema di IVA, il regime di cessione all'esportazione in sospensione d'imposta, di cui all'art. 8, comma 1, lett. c), del d.P.R. n. 633 del 1972 (vigente ratione temporis), può essere legittimamente applicato dal cedente anche prima della ricezione della dichiarazione di intenti di cui all'art. 1, comma 1, lett. c), del d.l. n. 746 del 1983, conv., con modif., in l. n. 17 del 1984 (applicabile ratione temporis), purché lo stesso dimostri la sussistenza di tutti i presupposti di fatto caratterizzanti detta cessione, in quanto derogatoria rispetto alla disciplina ordinaria.
• In tema di prova per presunzioni, nel dedurre il fatto ignoto dal fatto noto, la valutazione del giudice del merito incontra il solo limite della probabilità, con la conseguenza che i fatti su cui la presunzione si fonda non devono essere tali da far apparire l'esistenza del fatto ignoto come l'unica conseguenza possibile dei fatti accertati secondo un legame di necessità assoluta ed esclusiva, ma è sufficiente che l'operata inferenza sia effettuata alla stregua di un canone di ragionevole probabilità...
• Non sussiste alcuna violazione tra il chiesto e il pronunciato, avendo la pronuncia ritenuto, nel rispetto dell'art. 112 cod. proc. civ., che la contribuente non potesse dedurre fiscalmente i costi inerenti all'attività della casa madre proprietaria del magazzino e della merce ivi contenuta.