Licence taxes relating to mobile phone subscriptions are due only from the defaulting client and not from the telephone operator, since the latter cannot be characterized as a substitute for nor as liable for the tax, nor is it merely responsible for debiting of the tax. This is the principle that can be inferred from Order no. 11017/2019 of the Italian Supreme Court, in relation to the appeal filed by Wind Telecomunicazioni, assisted by the team from Tremonti Romagnoli Piccardi e Associati, which was composed of partner Giuseppe Pizzonia and senior associate Laura Trimarchi.

The Italian Revenue Agency, in relation to the non-payment of the licence tax by users subscribing to mobile telephone services, had requested payment directly from the operator Wind, and not the parties involved; the subscribers, which included some public entities, had paid the tax due for residential users, even though they were actually companies or institutions. Following a hard-fought litigation, won at first instance by the company and on appeal by the Agency, it was definitively confirmed that the telephone company is not obliged to pay the licence tax, the payment of which in the event of non-collection can be enforced only against the user/holder of the mobile phone license, since it is the only taxable entity.

The Supreme Court also affirmed the relevance of the final decision reached between the same parties in relation to the same legal relationship, not finding the autonomy of the different tax years to be an obstacle where the constituent elements of the case tend to be of a permanent nature.