Ideal time
After the year has closed and the returns have been sent: the position is up to date and the handover is clean.
Individuals and companies · Handover
Switching your accountant
Changing your commercialista (chartered accountant) is a routine procedure, and simpler than it looks. The difficulties almost always come from two things: records that never arrive, and online authorisations that stay active in the name of the previous professional.
01 · The timing
When to switch accountant and when to wait
Technically, the cleanest moment is after a cycle has closed: for an individual, after the annual tax return has been filed; for a company, after the financial statements have been filed and the returns sent. At that point the year is closed, the records are complete and the handover does not break off a job halfway through.
That does not mean it cannot be done at other times. A mid-year switch simply needs more care in reconstructing what has already been done: VAT settlements already filed, advance payments made, communications sent.
In fact, there are situations where waiting is the worst choice: deadlines nobody is watching, returns not sent, letters from the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency) left unanswered, no way of getting documents or information. In those cases every month of waiting adds penalties.
Acceptable time
The start of a VAT quarter or just after a major deadline: you restart from a defined point.
Delicate time
Close to a deadline. It can be done, but first you check who files what, to avoid duplicates or omissions.
When not to wait
Deadlines already missed or Revenue Agency notices left unanswered: here the delay costs more than the inconvenience of switching.
02 · The steps
How the handover works
The switch is made in four stages. The practical work is handled by the incoming practice; the client essentially has two letters to sign.
Preliminary check
We examine the cassetto fiscale (your online tax file with the Revenue Agency) to get a picture of the real situation: returns filed, payments made, pending communications.
Withdrawal and request for records
Formal notice withdrawing the engagement from the outgoing professional, with a request for the accounting and tax records.
Taking over the authorisations
Activating the new authorisations for the cassetto fiscale, electronic invoicing and online services, and revoking the previous ones.
Realignment
Reconstructing anything outstanding, setting up the deadline calendar and starting routine management.
Authorisations: the step people forget
Withdrawing the engagement does not automatically revoke the online authorisations. If they stay active, the previous professional keeps access to your data and keeps receiving the Revenue Agency's communications.
- Cassetto fiscale: viewing your tax position
- Electronic invoicing: viewing and storing invoices
- Entratel/Fisconline services: sending tax returns
- INPS social security file (INPS is the Italian social security institute), for anyone with contribution records
- Digital domicile: where official notices are delivered
03 · What has to come back
The records you are entitled to
The code of conduct of the Ordine dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili (the professional body for chartered accountants) requires that, when the engagement ends, the professional returns the documents the client handed over and makes available the records needed to carry on the work.
Not everything is "client documentation", though: the work produced by the professional in the course of their activity follows different rules. In practice, a professional who behaves correctly hands over whatever is needed so that management is not interrupted.
- Original documents handed over by the client: invoices, contracts, bank statements
- Accounting registers and the general journal, with the closing balances of the last financial year
- Financial statements for recent years, with a breakdown of the items
- Tax returns filed and the related online receipts
- F24 forms (the Italian tax payment form) receipted for the payments made
- Register of depreciable assets and the depreciation schedule
- History of multi-year deductions: building bonuses, remaining instalments
- Company books, officially stamped, for companies
- Correspondence with the Revenue Agency and other bodies
On the so-called right of retention (holding on to documents against unpaid fees), the established position is restrictive: the professional cannot refuse to return documents that belong to the client in order to get paid. If the fee is disputed, it has to be discussed elsewhere.
04 · What gets checked
A snapshot of your position
Before taking on a position, the practice checks its actual state. It is not mistrust of a colleague: it is how we know where we are starting from, and how we avoid quietly inheriting someone else's problems.
The check is made on the cassetto fiscale, which holds the objective history of the position, and on the documents received.
- Returns filed in recent years and the related acceptance receipts
- Payments made, checking for any missed or short payments
- Notices of irregularity and avvisi bonari (preliminary tax notices), with the time limits still open
- Payment demands and tax rolls that may have been registered in the taxpayer's name
- Instalment plans in progress and whether payments are up to date
- Tax credits built up and not yet used
- Remaining instalments of multi-year deductions to be carried forward
- Contribution status with INPS and professional pension funds
If the check brings irregularities to light, it does not necessarily mean the previous professional is to blame: very often they come from documents that were not handed over or communications the client did not pass on. What matters is sorting them out before they turn into tax assessments.
05 · What to avoid
The mistakes that complicate switching accountant
Not revoking the authorisations
The previous professional keeps accessing your data and receiving communications. It is the problem that comes up most often, months later.
Not asking for the bonus history
Multi-year deductions are lost if nobody carries them forward. Ten years of instalments can be worth thousands of euros.
Switching without saying so
Leaving the engagement in limbo leads to duplicates or omissions: each professional thinks the other has dealt with it.
Not recovering the registers
Without the closing balances of the last financial year the accounts have to be rebuilt from scratch, at a cost that could have been avoided.
Putting it off until after the deadline
If the relationship is already compromised, the next deadline is unlikely to be handled any better than the last one.
Not updating the digital domicile
Official notices keep arriving at the old PEC address (certified email), and the time limits run all the same.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
Do I have to tell my previous accountant?
Yes, the withdrawal of the engagement has to be notified formally, usually by PEC or registered letter. It closes the relationship on a certain date and establishes who is responsible for what from that point on.
The letter can be prepared by the incoming practice: all the client has to do is sign it and send it from their own address.
Can the accountant hold on to my documents if I have not paid?
The established position is that documents belonging to the client must be returned, and that non-payment of fees does not justify refusing. The code of conduct of the Ordine dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili points the same way.
If the fee is owed it has to be paid, and if it is disputed it has to be discussed in the proper forum, possibly with the involvement of the Council of the Ordine. But the two questions remain separate.
How long does the switch take?
The technical part (checking the cassetto fiscale, new authorisations, setting up management) takes a few days. The real time depends on how quickly the records arrive from the previous professional.
In most cases the switch is completed in two or three weeks. If the records do not arrive, we go ahead anyway, reconstructing from the cassetto fiscale whatever can be reconstructed.
Do I lose anything by switching?
If the switch is done properly, no. There are two concrete risks: losing the history of multi-year deductions, and losing continuity in the accounting balances. Both are avoided by asking for the right documents from the start.
That is why the request to the outgoing professional is detailed rather than generic: listing what is needed reduces omissions and saves time.
Can I switch if a tax audit is in progress?
Yes, but it has to be handled carefully. Proceedings in progress have time limits running and documents already filed: taking over means reconstructing precisely the state of the proceedings and the defence already put forward.
In these cases the assessment is made case by case, and sometimes the most sensible choice is to see the proceedings through with whoever has been handling them and transfer the position afterwards.
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Let's talk
You can switch at any time of year
Some moments suit better than others, but none is impossible. If something is not working in your current arrangement, waiting twelve months rarely makes it better.