Manage habitual exporter status and the VAT plafond (art. 8 DPR 633/72) in SamBooks

What habitual exporter status is

A habitual exporter (esportatore abituale) is a resident company that, having carried out a significant volume of VAT-exempt operations abroad, earns the right to purchase goods and services without applying VAT up to an annual ceiling called the VAT plafond.

It is a substantial financial benefit: instead of advancing VAT on its own purchases and then claiming it back at period-end, habitual exporter status allows you to not pay it at all, up to the plafond accrued.

The status is self-certified by the company. AdE does not issue a "habitual exporter certificate" — it is the company itself that declares the right via a letter of intent (dichiarazione di intento) to its suppliers, taking responsibility for it.

The legal requirement

You are a habitual exporter (legal reference: art. 8 §2 DPR 633/1972 and art. 1 DL 746/1983) if in the previous calendar year — or in the previous rolling 12 months (the company's choice) — the volume of your "VAT-exempt" operations exceeded 10% of total turnover.

The operations that count in the calculation

These are "VAT-exempt" operations (for the 10% requirement):

• Extra-EU exports (art. 8 DPR 633/72), direct or triangular sales.
• Intra-community B2B supplies (art. 41 DL 331/93): sale of goods to a VAT-registered party in another EU state with transport out of Italy.
• International services connected to international trade (art. 9 DPR 633/72).
• Supplies to habitual exporters (art. 8 §1 lett. c DPR 633/72): sales made against a letter of intent received.

These do NOT count: domestic supplies with VAT, exempt operations under art. 10 (healthcare, finance), out-of-scope operations under art. 7-bis.

Calculating the plafond

The available plafond for year N is exactly the amount of VAT-exempt operations carried out in year N-1 (or the previous 12 months, depending on the method chosen).

Example: in 2025 you carried out €600,000 of intra-EU exports against €1,200,000 of turnover → 50% > 10%. You are a habitual exporter for 2026 with a plafond of €600,000.

Once the plafond is used up, subsequent purchases go back to ordinary VAT (or you need a rolling plafond).

What it enables in SamBooks

Turning on the "Habitual exporter" flag in the tax profile enables in SamBooks:

1. VAT plafond module — a dedicated page that tracks in real time the available plafond, the operations carried out (VAT-free purchases with a letter of intent issued), and the risk of exceeding the plafond.
2. Letters of intent issued — generation and electronic filing to AdE of the letters of intent to your suppliers (AdE multi-purpose form, by calendar year or per single operation).
3. Letters of intent received — management of the letters received from your customers who are habitual exporters, with automatic validity checking via real-time AdE lookup (a free AdE service).
4. VAT-free invoicing to habitual exporters (TD01 art. 8 §1 lett. c) — on documents issued to customers who have sent you a valid letter of intent, the correct wording appears automatically: Operazione non imponibile - art. 8 c. 1 lett. c DPR 633/72 with the letter's protocol number and the residual plafond.
5. VAT-free supplier invoicing (your purchases) — when you record a supplier invoice covered by a letter of intent you issued, SamBooks automatically draws down the residual plafond.

Without the flag, these features are disabled to avoid offering flows that your company cannot legitimately use.

Should you turn it on or not?

Only if you actually have the status — that is, if in the previous calendar year (or the previous 12 months) you exceeded the 10% requirement of VAT-exempt operations.

Turning the flag on without genuine requirements exposes you to:

• Recovery of the VAT due on purchases made VAT-free (with interest and penalties from 100% to 200%).
• Criminal penalties in the event of fraudulent issuance of letters of intent (art. 7 §4-bis DLgs 471/97 + art. 8 DLgs 74/2000).

When in doubt: your accountant verifies the requirement by checking turnover and VAT-exempt operations in the last closed tax year. It is a calculation done once a year (by January of year N for the right to operate within N itself).

How to turn on the flag

From the product:

1. Open Settings → Tax profile.
2. Tick the box "Esportatore abituale (art. 8 c. 2 DPR 633/72)".
3. Save. The VAT plafond module appears in the sidebar.
4. Go to VAT plafond → Initial configuration to set the starting plafond for the current year.

Or from the chat with Sam:

"Sam, turn on the habitual exporter flag for me: in 2025 I did €250k of intra-EU exports against €800k of turnover."

Sam asks you to confirm the calculation (250/800 = 31% > 10%, OK), opens a preview card to activate the flag and waits for your go-ahead (HITL). Once confirmed, the action goes into the timeline and is reversible.

Frequently asked questions

Does the status lapse automatically? Yes. The right is valid only for the year for which the requirement was calculated. In January of each year N it must be recalculated on year N-1's turnover: if you are below 10% you lose the status for N. SamBooks proactively warns you at year-end.

How do I give up the status? Simply by not issuing new letters of intent and informing your suppliers. No formal notice to AdE is required. In SamBooks you just clear the flag.

How do I issue a letter of intent? From the VAT plafond → Letters issued → New module: you select the supplier, choose "calendar year" or "single operation", and state the plafond amount to cover. SamBooks generates the AdE multi-purpose XML form, files it electronically and tracks the receipt protocol.

How do I handle the letters of intent received from my customers? SamBooks shows them under VAT plafond → Letters received. For each one it checks the AdE validity in real time (a free service). From then on, your invoices to that customer automatically carry the "non-taxable art. 8 lett. c" wording.

What happens if I exceed the plafond? Exceeding it (splafonamento) is a breach: the VAT not paid on purchases beyond the threshold must be regularised through voluntary correction (ravvedimento operoso) — reduced penalty plus interest. SamBooks warns you when the plafond is close to exhaustion (alerts at 80% and 95%).

I'm a flat-rate taxpayer (RF19) — can I be a habitual exporter? Technically yes, but in practice no: the flat-rate taxpayer issues invoices without VAT by nature, so the non-taxable regime adds nothing. SamBooks suggests not turning the flag on if the tax regime is RF19.