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architecturaleng
Community Member

Fatturazione Italia

**edited for Community Guidelines**

100 REPLIES 100

Hi Ilaria, yes, although it is not an ideal one because it involves me paying tax on the whole amount paid by clients, including the Upwork fee. I raise an invoice in Italian and in euro (based on USD/euro rate of exchange published by Banca d'Italia for the payment date). When I send my quarterly returns to my commercialista, I attach the two invoices generated by Upwork (one for client's payment to me and one for client's payment to Upwork), together with my own invoice for each assignment.  Good luck!

Ellen

Hi everyone. 
UPWORK  MODERATOR please PIN this answer to TOP. It is the final solution to the  problem.
Here is also in english the same text courtesy to Upwork:
- The invoice that Upwork issues on its behalf IS NOT A VALID DOCUMENT FOR THE ITALIAN TAX SYSTEM, it does not follow a chronology and numbering as required by our tax regulations
- You must issue an invoice with the wording "reverse charge" with the dollar amount towards Upwork but you must also indicate the amount in euros with the exchange rate on the day you completed the service.
This are the coordinates for invoicing as you can also see them in your invoices Upwork builds for you
Upwork Global Inc.
2625 Augustine Dr, Suite 601
Santa Clara CA 95054
USA
VAT ID: EU528002406
- The invoice must be issued to Upwork and not to the end customer
- On the amounts that Upwork invoices them as costs that he charges for the service, you must integrate the VAT and pay it by the 16th of the following month. or if you never did it you can do the RAvvedimento operoso procedure to pay for the unpaid  vat's

To find out the rates  to use for the exchange dollar Euro see bellow the reccomended Bank of Italy link
 Banca d'Italia - Tassi cambio

marafx
Community Member

Adding to the above post the  info from the Agenzia delle Entrate
https://def.finanze.it/DocTribFrontend/getPrassiDetail.do?id={AF88D6EC-617C-4D75-9756-7040954C2514}
Pertanto, laddove gli acquisti da Paesi comunitari siano di ammontare inferiore ai 10.000 euro, l'IVA è assolta dal cedente nel paese di origine dei beni e, conseguentemente, il cessionario che applica il regime forfetario non ha l'obbligo di iscriversi al VIES, né di compilare gli elenchi riepilogativi Intrastat, salva la possibilità per lo stesso di optare per l'applicazione dell'imposta in Italia anche prima del raggiungimento della soglia.
ENGLISH for the text above:
Therefore, where purchases from EU countries are less than 10,000 euros, VAT is paid by the transferor in the country of origin of the goods and, consequently, the transferee applying the flat-rate regime has no obligation to register with VIES, nor to compile the Intrastat summary lists, without prejudice to the possibility for the same to opt for the application of the tax in Italy even before reaching the threshold.

Thanks for this very clear explanation.  Just one query... How to you send your invoice to Upwork - just upload it to the client contract?  Upwork are not going to see it, let alone take any action to pay the reverse-charged VAT....  Or do you send it to them through snailmail?

Hello,

 

i have a question, where can i upload the invoice iussed to Upwork? Should i send it to an upwork mail?

 

Thanks,

 

Alessandro

As far as I could discover, it is not possible to invoice Upwork.  I raised invoices for each client and send them via Upwork messaging to the clients themselves.

According to Antonia B.V. post, The invoice must be issued to Upwork and not to the end customer.

How can i give it to Upwork? Is sure that i don't have to invoice the end customers?

I couldn't discover any way to invoice Upwork.  If you do manage to, I'd be interested to know more about it.

I think the main problem for invoice upwork is that its VAN EU528002406 is not VIES compliant.

How can we invoice upwork if its VAN is not VIES compliant? 

Hi Alessandro did you find a way to invoice Upwork?

Hello, I'm based in Italy too as Partita Forfettaria.

My tax advisor says that I shall translate Upwork's invoices (full amount, no deduction of Upwork's quota or "passive invoices"whatsoever and include the currency in Euro (exchange rate of the emission date), but should NOT send such invoices to Upwork or anyone else, it's pointless. If they ever needed them, they would have asked us.

The invoices that we translate are just for our local book-keeping, income and tax calculation.

He has asked me to retain the same numbers and date of the original Upwork invoices.

I will present all this to him and see if he asks for anything else.

My suggestion is to sort all this out with a local tax advisor. 

 

 

 

@Deborah

About sending or not the invoices. Make sure you send the  invoice at least to EU B2B customers. If they dont receive it they will make a self invoicing  invoice autofattura indicating the data about you. And this will make big issues  at the end of the day.

The invoice Upwork sends to the client is a proforma money request in  our name. It is our duty to send to the final client the stamped and numerated invoice with all the  elements,  with the date of the effective money withdrawal and currency conversion for that speciffic dya ( not the day the client  put money in escrow but the day we  have the money in our bank, card, paypal etc)

Note: As long as money are held in escrow, escrow is not a bank and you are not in the posess of the money. So they became yours only in the day you have them in your accout in euro or dollars ( if paypal or other)

 

4a0604a1
Community Member

Hi Antonia,
I'm a freelance with no Partita IVA since I'm a beginner and I've just ended my first job.
I have two questions.

1-Does the invoice "Ricevuta per prestazione occasionale" have to include both the amount I received by the client and the fee I have to pay to Upwork?

2-Can I send the invoice at the email address: **Edited for Community Guidelines**?
Thank you so much.
Mary

marafx
Community Member

  

 

Hi, I would like to share the legal solution and explanation with you. After a thousand rounds, consultations, fake online accountants (you know who I'm talking about), the truth came out.

Foreword: The freelancer has VAT. The guide below is not about those who don't have it.

 

  1. Is the invoice that Upwork creates and sends to the customer in our name wrong? NO! It is not wrong as it is not an invoice but a pro forma, a document without fiscal validity, also called a request for payment in English. The pro forma are identical in all respects to the invoices except that they are not numbered and are not stamped.
    Their purpose is to provide the customer with the justification of the payment, the payment details and a peremptory deadline for making the payment.
  2. The payment is done on the basis of the so issued pro forma goes to Upwork as an intermediary.
  3. Upwork retains the FEE at source and withdraws to us the difference accompanied by a fatura indicating the fee withheld as a service that it has provided us.

 

What do we have to do? Bill to Upwork? NO!

  • Considering that the proforma I mentioned in point 1 concerns the entire amount
    Considering that, for this proforma, the amount paid is XX
    We will invoice the final customer, using the details found in the Upwork proforma.
    In other words, we invoice what, according to the Upwork Freelancer agreement, and the proforma issued to the client.

 

  1. What taxes do we pay?
    1. VAT for invoices relating to the Fee and Membership - these are services that Upwork invoices us in reverse charge
    2. Taxes and Contributions: each year by 30/06 for the sum of the invoices we have issued to the END CUSTOMERS aka. GROSS

 

How do we invoice the final customer?

  •  By following and using data from the customer's proforma data
     Indicating the dollar amount
     Indicating the dollar rate ON THE DAY OF THE ACTUAL COLLECTION (when in the bank, paypal, revolut, in short, when the money you withdraw from escrow enters, or, if the conversion takes place at source, such as payment from Upwork to Intesa San paolo, the exchange rate indicated in the notula accompanying the withdraw)
  •  Indicating in the invoice the type of service and all the other normal elements of an invoice + 2 EURO STAMP WITH A PREVIOUS DATE to the invoice day.
  • What if the end customer has no VAT?
    if it has no VAT number and is European, it means a B2C invoice, therefore the normal practice of selling services to b2c is followed
  • if he has no VAT but is non-EU. The invoice is made as per B2B practice with Tax Exempt indication and legal references

 

INTRASTAT:
- necessary communication to be made for all invoices within 3 months that we issue to

EUROPEAN B2B customers.

 

I hope I have made it clear to everyone why and how.

I reiterate the concept that underlies the error of all of us (myself included): the invoice that Upwork issues to the customer for us is a simple pro forma, a request for payment without tax value, which precedes the actual invoice that we are. us to have to create it at the time of payment and reporting the date of the actual payment.

Thanks for your patience to read me

Antonia

f34c8611
Community Member

Hi, I'm Rino a new Italian freelancer on Upwork.

Thank you for your very detailed explanation, I would like to know if I understood everything correctly:

So, once a job is finished, we receive the proforma from Upwork but then we have to make the "real" invoice in the customer's name (not in the name of Upwork), right?

I have an Italian VAT number open with Aruba, it is through this website that I invoice my customers, I would like to be sure I understand correctly and not make mistakes when I will have to declare income at the end of the year.

I hope you can answer me soon because not even my accountant is so knowledgeable about this type of market and I can't wait to get started.

Thanks a lot!

Rino

marafx
Community Member

@Maria V.


Invoicing to Upwork will result in an error because you cannot make more than 1 mansion towards the same client and a ricevuta . More than one ricevuta for 1 client ( upwork) will result in a continuous employment situiation and it is illegal as no such  contract exists between you and Upwork.

For sure you have to make the Ricevuta di pagamento towards the Final client and make sure you dont have a continuation of ricevute with any of them.
The ritenuta d'acconto you need to pay it all, not partially because  your client ( if he is not  italian) won't  pay his share. Also he might also be italian and dont pay it "because reason"

Pay attention to repetitive mansions with the same client.
They cannot exists legally.
You can do  a repetitive invoicing to a client only as long as you have a VAT.

hope it helps

arminzrb
Community Member

Hi,

Thanks for the clear answer.

I read the whole thread and still have some problems with this topic.

With the mandated digital invoice in force from this year, what is Upwork's email address to send the invoices?

And if we have to pay the VAT in the end, isn't it a better idea to remove our partita iva from the Upwork website, so they pay the VAT?

With regime forfettario we are not allowed to deduct VAT charges, so we leave it on Upwork's shoulder...

I read nomadidigitali article and many other websites but still have problem doing the stuff myself/or even finding a comercialista in Rome that actually wants to deal with Upwork. Can you please let me know if this is something I can do myself or definitely need a comercialista? I only work on Upwork and opened the VAT and genstione separate myself.

 

Thanks a million

marafx
Community Member

I will post you here something. Plkease read it carrefully  as it is part of the contract you signed with Upwork.
This the italian translation of the piece located here
https://www.upwork.com/legal#relationshipwithupwork

2.1 RAPPORTO CON UPWORK

 

Offriamo un mercato del lavoro: una piattaforma online in cui gli utenti possono trovarsi e connettersi tra loro. Non siamo coinvolti direttamente nelle tue negoziazioni o nella fornitura dei Servizi di Freelancer e non siamo parte di alcun accordo che potresti stipulare con altri Utenti. Sei l'unico responsabile per i tuoi contenuti pubblicati su Upwork e per i tuoi accordi con altri Utenti, incluso il controllo reciproco e le prestazioni ai sensi degli accordi.
Upwork offre una piattaforma che consente agli utenti di trovarsi, entrare in rapporti e accordi di servizio, ricevere e fornire servizi per freelance ed effettuare e ricevere pagamenti tramite deposito a garanzia. Upwork non esegue né impiega persone per eseguire servizi di freelance. Riconosci e accetti che Upwork non supervisiona, dirige, controlla o monitora gli Utenti nell'adempimento di eventuali obblighi contrattuali che potrebbero avere ai sensi di un Contratto di servizio o Contratto diretto e accetti che: (a) Upwork non è responsabile di garantire l'accuratezza o legalità di qualsiasi Contenuto dell'Utente, di cui gli Utenti sono gli unici responsabili; (b) Upwork non è responsabile dell'offerta, delle prestazioni o dell'approvvigionamento di Servizi per freelance, (c) Upwork non rilascia alcuna dichiarazione o garantisce i servizi offerti da un particolare Utente, e (d) nulla creerà un rapporto di lavoro, agenzia o joint venture tra Upwork e qualsiasi Utente che offre servizi. Sebbene Upwork possa fornire determinati badge sui profili di Freelancer o Cliente, tali badge non sono garanzie, inclusa la qualità o l'abilità o la volontà del Freelancer o del Cliente con badge di completare un Contratto di servizio.
Riconosci e accetti inoltre che gli Utenti, e non Upwork, sono gli unici responsabili di (a) valutare e determinare l'idoneità di qualsiasi Progetto, Cliente o Libero professionista; (b) valutare se stipulare un Contratto di Servizio o un Contratto Diretto con un altro Utente e verificare qualsiasi informazione su un altro Utente, incluse le Informazioni composite; (c) decidere se stipulare un contratto di servizio o un contratto diretto su Upwork, nonché i termini del contratto, e (d) negoziare, accettare ed eseguire qualsiasi termine o condizione dei contratti e per eseguire e monitorare le prestazioni in base agli stessi. Tutti i servizi e i contratti diretti tra gli utenti sono direttamente tra gli utenti e Upwork non è parte di tali contratti.
Se sei un'Agenzia o un Membro dell'Agenzia, riconosci e accetti espressamente che, oltre alle disposizioni di cui sopra, l'Agenzia è l'unica responsabile del pagamento dei suoi Membri dell'Agenzia per il lavoro svolto per conto dell'Agenzia.
Nulla nel presente Accordo ha lo scopo di vietare o scoraggiare qualsiasi Utente dall'impegnarsi in altre attività commerciali o fornire servizi attraverso qualsiasi altro canale scelto, a condizione che, se applicabile, gli Utenti rispettino le disposizioni di Opt Out descritte nella Sezione 7. Utenti sono sempre liberi di impegnarsi in tali altre attività e servizi commerciali e sono incoraggiati a farlo.
2.2 TRIBUTI E BENEFICI

 

I liberi professionisti sono responsabili del pagamento delle proprie tasse, dell'ottenimento della propria assicurazione e della conformità alle leggi e ai regolamenti applicabili.
Freelancer riconosce e accetta che Freelancer è l'unico responsabile per: (a) tutte le responsabilità fiscali associate ai pagamenti ricevuti dai clienti di Freelancer e tramite Upwork, e che Upwork non tratterrà alcuna tassa dai pagamenti a Freelancer a meno che non sia richiesto dalla legge applicabile; (b) ottenere qualsiasi responsabilità, salute, risarcimento dei lavoratori, invalidità, disoccupazione o altra assicurazione necessaria o richiesta dalla legge e che il libero professionista non sia coperto o idoneo per alcuna assicurazione da Upwork; (c) determinare e adempiere agli obblighi del libero professionista ai sensi delle leggi e dei regolamenti applicabili in relazione alla fatturazione e alla comunicazione, alla riscossione o al pagamento di imposte o oneri applicabili; e (d) se al di fuori degli Stati Uniti, determinare se Upwork è obbligato dalla legge applicabile a trattenere qualsiasi importo delle commissioni per freelance e notificare a Upwork qualsiasi requisito di questo tipo e indennizzare Upwork per qualsiasi obbligo di pagare qualsiasi ritenuta d'acconto alle autorità competenti (incluse sanzioni e interessi). In caso di revisione di Upwork, Freelancer si impegna a collaborare prontamente con Upwork e a fornire copie delle dichiarazioni dei redditi di Freelancer e altri documenti che possono essere ragionevolmente richiesti ai fini di tale revisione, inclusi, a titolo esemplificativo ma non esaustivo, i registri che dimostrano che il Freelancer è impegnato in un'attività indipendente affari come rappresentato per Upwork.
f34c8611
Community Member

Hi, I'm Rino a new Italian freelancer on Upwork.

I would like to know if I understood everything correctly:

So, once a job is finished, we receive the proforma from Upwork but then we have to make the "real" invoice in the customer's name (not in the name of Upwork), right?

I have an Italian VAT number open with Aruba, it is through this website that I invoice my customers, I would like to be sure I understand correctly and not make mistakes when I will have to declare income at the end of the year.

I hope that someone answer me soon because not even my accountant is so knowledgeable about this type of market and I can't wait to get started.

Thanks a lot!

Rino

florianapastore
Community Member

Hi,

anyone knows how do I address an Italian digital invoice to a client that doesn't have his complete data upon the invoice provided by Upwork?

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**Edited for Community Guidelines**

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