Tax notices and debts with the Tax Office: can over-indebtedness procedures reduce or cancel them?

In short: yes, debts with the Tax Office can fall within an over-indebtedness procedure, and the Business Crisis Code (Codice della crisi, D.Lgs. 14/2019) provides two different outcomes: paying them in part (consumer plan and minor composition agreement) or making them uncollectable through discharge (controlled liquidation and the insolvent debtor). Which one applies to you, and whether the Tax Office agrees, is decided by the court with the OCC (Organismo di composizione della crisi, the debt-crisis advisory body) and your lawyer: no one can promise you the outcome.

Can tax notices be written off through over-indebtedness?

"Write-off" (stralcio) is not a word used in the Code. The text speaks of two things: satisfying claims even in part (arts. 67 and 74-75) and declaring debts that remain unpaid uncollectable (art. 278). For tax debts, circular no. 9/E of 21 October 2026 of the Agenzia delle Entrate states that discharge, as a general rule, extends to them too, because they are not among the categories expressly excluded.

This does not mean that every tax notice disappears. It depends on the procedure, on the type of debt and on how you got here. The rules that weigh most:

• claims with privilege, pledge or mortgage can be paid less than in full only if they receive at least what they would obtain from the liquidation of the assets subject to the priority, as certified by the OCC (arts. 67, paragraph 4, and 75, paragraph 2);
• for these claims the plan may provide for a moratorium of up to two years from approval, with statutory interest due (art. 67, paragraph 4);
• criminal and administrative pecuniary penalties that are not accessory to extinguished debts remain outside discharge (art. 278, paragraph 7).

On VAT and withholdings (ritenute): the circular notes that under the old Law 3/2012 they could not be reduced. Arts. 67, 75 and 80, in the text in force as read for this guide, do not name any specific tax. If your notice is of this kind, ask your lawyer how the procedure you have in mind treats it.

What do you risk if you wait with the tax notices?

An unpaid tax notice remains a debt. The Code stops the accrual only after the petition has been filed: it suspends, for the purposes of the concurrent claims only, interest until the procedure closes, but not for claims secured by mortgage, pledge or privilege (art. 68, paragraph 5). In the consumer plan the judge may also suspend enforcement proceedings that jeopardise the plan and prohibit new enforcement and interim actions, if you ask (art. 70, paragraph 4).

A second risk concerns how your conduct is read. Circular 9/E/2026 states that, for the Agency, the mere prevalence of tax debt is not enough to challenge a minor composition agreement as fraudulent: concrete elements are needed, such as repeated omissions despite having resources, or preferential payments. On discharge for the insolvent debtor it reports that the courts are not uniform: some see systematic non-payment of taxes as an indication of gross negligence, while others admit discharge even with prevailing tax debts, if there is no fraudulent or wilful conduct.

The point is that the reconstruction of how the debts arose is something you do yourself, before entering the lawyer's office. The more precise it is, the less the OCC has to ask you.

Before booking the appointment with the lawyer: put creditors, income, expenses and deeds of the last five years in order in the free questionnaire, and bring your dossier, already prepared, to the OCC.

Which procedure treats tax debts how?

The comparison covers the four procedures of the Code. The choice remains with the debtor, with their lawyer and the OCC.

Procedure	Who can access it	How tax debts are treated	Vote or consent of the Tax Office
Consumer plan (arts. 67-73)	The over-indebted consumer (art. 2: debts incurred for purposes unrelated to business activity)	Payment, even partial and differentiated; privileged, pledged or mortgaged claims not in full only within the limits of art. 67, paragraph 4; moratorium of up to two years	No vote by creditors. Observations within 20 days; the judge approves. If the Tax Office disputes the advantage, approval follows if its claim receives at least what it would obtain in a controlled liquidation (art. 70)
Minor composition agreement (arts. 74-83)	Those in over-indebtedness, excluding consumers, if they continue the business or bring external resources that increase the assets to an appreciable extent	Payment, even partial, in classes; for privileged claims art. 75, paragraph 2 applies	There is a vote. Silence counts as consent (art. 79, paragraph 3). The judge may approve even without the acceptance of the tax authority and social security bodies, on two conditions (art. 80, paragraph 3)
Controlled liquidation (arts. 268-277)	The over-indebted debtor; for the insolvent debtor also a creditor, if the overdue and unpaid debts amount to at least €50,000	The Tax Office participates as a creditor: assets are liquidated and, after closure or three years from opening, claims left unsatisfied become uncollectable through discharge (arts. 278 and 282)	No vote. The Tax Office, like any creditor, files its claim for admission to the liabilities and may submit observations on the discharge application
Discharge for the insolvent debtor (art. 283)	The deserving natural person who cannot offer creditors any benefit, not even in future; only once	No payment. If further benefits arrive within three years, the debt becomes collectable again within the limits of paragraph 9	No vote. The decree is notified to creditors, who may file an objection within 30 days

Who votes for the Tax Office, and what happens if it does not reply?

In the minor composition agreement, for the taxes of the Agenzia delle Entrate, the competent Provincial Directorate votes, with regard to the generality of the claims. The collection agent votes only on the collection charges. If a creditor does not communicate anything to the OCC within the deadline set, it is deemed to have consented to the proposal (art. 79, paragraph 3).

Circular 9/E/2026 asks the offices always to state their position. For approval without the Tax Office's acceptance (art. 80, paragraph 3) two conditions are required: the acceptance must be decisive for the majority, and the proposal must be more advantageous than controlled liquidation, also on the basis of the OCC report. According to the Court of Cassation (judgment no. 14555 of 16 May 2026, reported in the circular), a tax settlement proposal under art. 88 is not required. The circular adds, however, that the proposal must respect the criterion of non-less-favourable treatment of tax and social security claims, and that the offices will object to inadmissibility if it does not. For those assisting the debtor, further reading: how the Agency assesses and votes.

Which debts, including tax debts, remain outside discharge?

Art. 278, paragraph 7, excludes: maintenance and alimony obligations; debts for compensation of damage from an unlawful act outside contract; criminal and administrative pecuniary penalties that are not accessory to extinguished debts. The rights of creditors against co-obligors and guarantors also remain unaffected (paragraph 6).

For tax penalties the circular asks the offices to assess case by case whether they are accessory: an effective dependence on the main debt is needed, it is not enough that a public body imposed them. As an example it indicates the penalties consequent to a breach that gave rise to a tax debt. Following the discharge decree, the offices suspend the items entered on the roll or the collections entrusted to the collection agent.

Discharge is not automatic. The court verifies the conditions of art. 280 and the absence of gross negligence, bad faith or fraud (art. 282, paragraph 2); for the insolvent debtor it assesses deservingness (art. 283, paragraph 7). The conditions are set out in the guide on discharge for the insolvent debtor.

What do you need to prepare for tax debts?

As soon as the OCC has been appointed, within seven days it notifies the collection agent and the tax offices, which within fifteen days indicate the ascertained tax debt and the pending assessments (art. 68, paragraph 4). Arriving with your figures already prepared lets you check them.

1. Debt situation from Agenzia delle entrate-Riscossione. It is consulted in the restricted area of the website, with SPID, CIE or CNS. The service shows the documents to be paid and those paid since 2000, the active procedures, the instalment plans and the tax amnesty (definizione agevolata), and lets you request in PDF the overall statement.
2. Tax assessments, pre-assessment notices (avvisi bonari) and tax notices received, with notification dates: they are needed for what is not yet entered on the roll.
3. Income tax returns for the last three years and the detail of what you have paid.
4. Any instalment plans in progress and payments already made.
5. The list of all other creditors, because every petition starts from the list of all creditors, with the amounts owed and the grounds of priority (art. 67, paragraph 2).

The full list of documents is in which documents to prepare.

What does the Over-indebtedness Report (€29) contain?

The Over-indebtedness Report is a party-prepared document, not the OCC report and not legal advice. It contains:

• your dossier organised as the lawyer and the OCC request it: causes, creditors, income, expenses, assets, deeds of the last five years;
• the overview of the figures: total debts, secured and unsecured, income, available share and satisfaction scenarios;
• the cross-check with public data in your name: protests, proceedings, adverse registrations, offices, shareholdings and properties (Cadastre);
• the points to discuss with the lawyer and the document checklist, including those from Agenzia delle Entrate-Riscossione;
• the Code's procedures with the relevant articles and a PDF to hand to your lawyer.

In the questionnaire you list the Tax Office as a creditor, with amount and guarantee. The Report does not read your tax notices, does not say whether your tax debt can be reduced and does not predict how the court will decide. Single payment, no subscription.

Sources

• Legislative Decree of 12 January 2019, No. 14 (Business Crisis and Insolvency Code), text in force on Normattiva: arts. 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 75, 79, 80, 88 (paragraph 1), 268, 270, 278-283 and art. 2, letter e), read on 29/10/2026
• Agenzia delle Entrate, circular no. 9/E of 21 October 2026, Business Crisis Code, Part II: over-indebtedness and discharge (§§ 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 6.1, 6.6), read on 29/10/2026
• Agenzia delle entrate-Riscossione, restricted area for Citizens and Businesses: debt situation, and the guide "The new debt situation" (April 2026), read on 29/10/2026

This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice: anyone with tax debts needs a professional who looks at their case and at the text in force.

Do you have tax notices and want to reach the lawyer with the case already in order? The Over-indebtedness Report costs €29, single payment, and gives you the PDF to hand to them and to the OCC.