Circular 9/E of 21 October 2026: over-indebtedness and discharge of debts, what the Agenzia delle Entrate will do

In brief: with circular no. 9/E of 21 October 2026 the Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency) completes its commentary on the Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza (Business Crisis and Insolvency Code) with Part II, devoted to sovraindebitamento (over-indebtedness) and esdebitazione (discharge of debts). These are instructions to the offices: they set out how the Agency will assess consumer repayment plans, how it will vote in the concordato minore (minor composition agreement) and when it will challenge the abuse of the fiscal cram-down. For those assisting a debtor, these are the rules by which the tax authority will read the proposal.

What does circular 9/E/2026 cover?

The instruments of the Code (Legislative Decree (d.lgs.) of 12 January 2019, no. 14) for those who are not subject to judicial liquidation: civil debtors, professionals, minor entrepreneurs and, more generally, all parties not subject to bankruptcy. Across 144 pages it covers:

• the debt restructuring of the consumer and family procedures;
• the concordato minore, from the proposal to confirmation and revocation;
• the liquidazione controllata (controlled liquidation);
• the esdebitazione (discharge of debts), including that of the insolvent debtor with no means (sovraindebitato incapiente).

It incorporates the contributions to the public consultation opened on 26 June and closed on 24 July 2026. It is Part II of the commentary on the Code and follows the approach of Part I.

Long consumer plans: what will the office look at?

Convenience compared with liquidation. The circular recalls that case law admits plans even beyond five or seven years, and asks the offices to verify that proposals with multi-year payments, including after a moratorium, are justified by their convenience compared with the liquidation alternative certified by the OCC (art. 67, para. 4). Among several solutions that are all convenient, the office will choose the one that best protects the tax authority, including as regards payment timing.

If the plan provides for a two-year moratorium on privileged tax claims, the office will verify that the proposal pays statutory interest, which accrues throughout the moratorium even if payment is deferred.

Concordato minore: who votes for the tax authority and what happens if it stays silent?

For taxes administered by the Agency, the competent Provincial Directorate votes, for all claims: including those already entered on the tax roll (a ruolo) and entrusted to the Agente della riscossione (collection agent). The collection agent votes only on the collection fees due to it.

Silence means consent: if a creditor does not notify the OCC of its acceptance or dissent within the deadline set by the judge, it is deemed to have accepted the proposal (art. 79, para. 3). For this reason the circular asks the offices to examine the proposals "with the utmost promptness" and always to communicate their position to the OCC within the deadlines.

The concordato minore is approved by the majority of the claims admitted to vote; if a single creditor exceeds that majority, a majority by heads is also required, and where there are classes the majority must be reached in the greatest number of classes.

Fiscal cram-down: when will the Agency challenge abuse?

The court may confirm the concordato minore without the accession of the tax administration when that accession is decisive for the majorities and the proposal is more advantageous than controlled liquidation, also on the basis of the OCC report (art. 80, para. 3). The comparison is made on "homogeneous, concrete and verifiable" data: realisable value of assets, priority rights, times and costs of liquidation, recovery actions.

The circular sets out two fixed points:

• No mandatory fiscal transaction: it recalls Cass. no. 14555 of 16 May 2026, according to which the fiscal cram-down in the concordato minore does not require a proposal of fiscal transaction under art. 88 of the Code.
• Abuse only with concrete indications: where debts are almost all owed to the tax authorities, the offices will consider pleading inadmissibility for fraud (citing App. Genova no. 48 of 29 July 2025), but the prevalence of tax debt alone is not enough. Elements such as the repeated failure to fulfil tax obligations although resources are available, or preferential payments, are needed.

Discharge for the insolvent debtor with no means: the conditions

It is for the deserving natural person who cannot offer creditors any benefit, not even a future one (art. 283). It can be obtained only once. If within three years of the decree further assets arrive, the debt becomes payable again within the limits of para. 9: financing does not count as an asset.

• Income threshold: a person is also considered to have no means if their annual income, net of production costs and of the maintenance of the family, is not higher than the social allowance (assegno sociale) increased by half, multiplied by the ISEE equivalence scale parameter of the household.
• Application through the OCC, with the list of creditors, extraordinary acts of administration of the last five years, income tax returns of the last three years and household income, plus the detailed OCC report. The OCC's fees are halved.
• Annual declaration of supervening assets, on pain of revocation, supervised by the OCC for three years.

What changes for your practice

• Proposals: build the comparison with controlled liquidation on the data the circular lists, because those are the data the office will check.
• Moratorium: include in the plan the statutory interest on the suspended privileged tax claims.
• Debt almost entirely tax-related: document why there are no repeated omissions or preferential payments, before the office challenges it.

The engagement also has an anti-money-laundering dimension. According to the CNDCEC (National Council of Chartered Accountants) Technical Rules, the crisis manager appointed by the OCC acquires and keeps the appointment; whoever instead assists the debtor as a consultant follows ordinary customer due diligence (adeguata verifica), with the risk assessment to be documented. The free due diligence checklist for accountants distinguishes the two services and tells you the measure due. If the other side is a company (a creditor, a supplier of the debtor), you can see protests and insolvency procedures in a quick check before signing.

Sources

• Agenzia delle Entrate, circular no. 9/E of 21 October 2026, Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza, Part II: over-indebtedness and discharge of debts (introduction, §§3.1, 4.6, 4.7, 6.6), read on 23/10/2026
• Legislative Decree of 12 January 2019, no. 14 (Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza), arts. 67, 79, 80, 283, on Normattiva
• Court of Cassation, judgment no. 14555 of 16 May 2026, and Court of Appeal of Genoa, judgment no. 48 of 29 July 2025, as cited in circular 9/E/2026