The certification notation or auditors' report (Italian: Visto di conformità) is a formal audit note under Italian tax law. It was introduced by Decree Law No. 241/1997 and serves to confirm the formal correctness of certain tax information and its conformity with the available documentation.
It is a declaration of conformity issued by an authorised external expert which, unlike a substantive audit, ensures the formal consistency of the data before it is used for tax purposes.
A basic distinction is made between:
"Visto leggero" – simple declaration of conformity:
The expert confirms only the formal correctness of the information and documents.
"Visto pesante" – qualified/extended declaration of conformity:
This involves a more in-depth review of the content in terms of tax applicability and compliance with legal requirements.
A certification notation is therefore a simple declaration of conformity (Visto leggero).
The certification notation is required in the following legally relevant cases in particular:
(*) Companies and freelancers can raise the thresholds mentioned when they hit a certain level of credibility in the ISA (Indici sintetici di affidabilità fiscale) reliability index calculation.
A certification notation may only be issued by authorised professionals. These must meet certain legal requirements and generally belong to one of the following groups:
Additional requirements include authorisation to submit tax returns electronically to the revenue agency (Italian: Agenzia delle Entrate) and proof of appropriate professional liability insurance covering potential damages resulting from errors in the audit.
The process can be summarised in two steps:
The certification notation was introduced to achieve several objectives:
The certification notation is an important formal legal instrument in the Italian tax system. It ensures that certain tax information and tax reliefs are formally correctly documented and checked before they are used for tax purposes. The obligation to attach it depends on the type of compensation or tax relief.