The new limit for cash payments and fines for those who do not accept debit and credit cards

Here we are: starting today, 1 January 2022, the crackdown on cash payments begins. The maximum ceiling drops to one thousand euros. This means that all transactions exceeding € 999.99 must be traceable, i.e. they can no longer be carried out in cash. The new stakes for cash payments are those provided for by the tax decree of the summer of 2020 during the Conte-bis government which set a décalage with a threshold of two thousand euros starting from July a year and a half ago, with the promise of go down again, to a thousand euros, from 1 January 2022.

What essentially changes? We return to the situation of 2011, when the “Save Italy” decree set the maximum cash expenditure at one thousand euros. This measure was then modified in 2016 to strengthen the fight against blackmail and the cashless strategy. The maximum cash limit covers all types of payments: purchases, professional services, but also, for example, a loan to another person, which must be made with a traceable method such as a bank transfer. In the event of non-compliance with the law, a fine will be triggered, ranging from a minimum of one thousand euros (no longer two thousand as currently in force) both for those who donate the money and for those who receive it.

The fight against black and the cashless strategy is a road to which the squeeze approved during the parliamentary examination of the Recovery decree law also looks and which therefore requires shopkeepers and professionals to consider the ATM or credit card as forms of payment for any digit. In case of refusal by the merchants, the fines will start from a minimum of 30 euros, a figure to which a percentage will be added based on the value of the product or service purchased. For professionals or for those who do not report irregularities to the territorial directorates, the fine remains from three thousand to 15 thousand euros.