QUALITALY 139

May 2024 X MAGAZINE also includes the preparation of meals for immediate consumption, either in vans equipped for street catering or at market stalls. Entertainment and show business, if any, is included. This category does not include the production of ice cream, sorbets and the like without direct sale to the public (which fall under class 10.52); the production of fresh pastry products without direct sale to the public (10.71); the production of packaged pizzas (10.85); the retail trade of food through vending machines (47.99); canteens and continuous catering on a contractual basis (56.29) The subcategories under this category are: 56.10.1 CATERING WITH SUPPLY; CATERING RELATED TO AGRICULTURAL AND FISH FARMS • 56.10.11 Catering with supply. This includes activities such as restaurants, fast-food outlets, delicatessens, fry shops, pizzerias, etc., which have seating, but also beer gardens, pubs, wine bars and other similar establishments with a kitchen. • 56.10.12 Catering activities related to farms • 56.10.13 Catering activities related to fish farms (one of the items added by the 2022 amendment) 56.10.2 CATERING WITHOUT SUPPLY WITH TAKE-AWAY FOOD PREPARATION This category concerns the preparation of ‘take-away’ meals and thus includes rotisseries, fry shops and pizzerias by the slice that do not have seating. Ghost kitchens may also fall into this category. 56.10.3 ICE CREAM AND PASTRY SHOPS 56.10.4 MOBILE CATERING AND ICE CREAM PARLOURS • 56.10.41 Mobile ice cream and pastry shops • 56.10.42 Street catering. This heading includes both vans equipped for the itinerant catering of food ready for consumption (food trucks) and the preparation of food for immediate consumption, such as that which may take place at market stalls. 56.10.5 CATERING ON TRAINS AND SHIPS Catering related to the transport activity, if carried out by separate enterprises 56.20 PROVISION OF PREPARED MEALS AND OTHER FOOD SERVICES This category identifies all catering or canteen services, whether they concern specific events or have a more structured contractual basis as is the case, for example, in company canteens. The category has not been updated and is subdivided as follows: • 56.21.00 Event catering: covers special events, such as a wedding or a conference with refreshments; • 56.29.10 Canteens of offices, schools, hospitals... • 56.29.20 Catering on a contractual basis: activities engaged in supplying ready-to- eat meals to various establishments on a regular basis, based on a contract with its customer. 56.30: BARS AND SIMILAR ESTABLISHMENTS WITHOUT A KITCHEN This group identifies all activities that offer the possibility to buy and consume drinks on site, but do not have a kitchen. The difference between this category and 56.10.11 (Catering with ) is that whereas the latter also includes bars, pubs or wine bars that offer customers the possibility of sitting down and consuming something cooked on the premises, the activities identified by code 56.30 offer only the service of preparing drinks and the possibility of consuming them on the premises. The ATECO code should be chosen in such a way as to describe your activity as accurately as possible, and it is possible to assign several Ateco codes to a single VAT code; for example, a restaurant that has a permanent establishment and a food truck, or that also provides catering services, may adopt codes 56.10.11 (catering with food) and 56.10.42 (itinerant catering) or 56.21.00 (catering for events) at the same time. ‘The choice of the ATECO code,’ Antonino Ganci points out, ‘is definitely important because various consequences derive from the correct classification of the economic activity. For example, if one is in the flat- rate regime, the ATECO code determines the profitability coefficient to be applied to calculate the taxes to be paid’. For restaurant activities, for example, the profitability coefficient indicated by the respective Ateco codes is 40%. In addition, the ATECO index is used to indicate which activities are eligible for tax bonuses (e.g. in the case of subsidies granted during COVID) or to participate in public tenders or have access to funding.