With the sentence of 6 November 2018 (relating to the joint cases C-622/16 and C-624/169) the EU Court of Justice ruled on the appeal brought by two Italian private entities against the decision with which the European Commission declared illegitimate the exemption from the payment of the IMU foreseen until 2011 for properties owned by non-profit and ecclesiastical entities, intended exclusively for the performance of welfare, social security, health, teaching, accommodation, cultural, recreational and sporting activities, as well as religion and cult – according to the provisions already pursuant to article 7, first paragraph, letter i), Legislative Decree no. 504/92, as subsequently amended and supplemented - considering, however, the initiation of a recovery procedure by the State as "absolutely impossible" due to internal organizational difficulties.
The Court of Justice not only affirmed that the aforementioned exemption represents a real "state aid", a selective measure and, as such, illegitimate pursuant to art. 107, ph. 1, TFEU, but, in contrast with what was held by the European Commission, it also sanctioned Italy, condemning it to the recovery of the sums whose payment was not fulfilled until 2011.
The national legislation applied from 2012 onwards must instead be considered legitimate, as it has provided for the obligation to pay the ICI (tax that replaced the IMU) for all the buildings in which activities, even if only in part, are carried out economic, regardless of the nature, commercial or otherwise of the owner entity.
