Fairer and more proportionate sanctions. Today the Council of Ministers approved the ninth implementing decree of the fiscal delegation which intervened on tax, administrative and criminal sanctions. As regards the administrative ones, the Deputy Minister of Economy, Maurizio Leo, explained that these “will be reduced by a fifth to a third, bringing them closer to European parameters and introducing a principle of greater proportionality”. The criminal sanctions will instead be adapted to the rules relating to non-punishment, helping those who cannot pay, due to force majeure, and those who decide to comply, also through installment payments, paying the entire tax, penalties and interest. Zero understanding instead for the crafty ones.
''Fraudulent, simulative and omissive behavior to the detriment of the tax authorities will be affected,'' Leo assures. ''The State must accommodate honest taxpayers, but it cannot and must not lower its guard towards those who are clever,'' he concludes. Still on the criminal sanctions side, the text approved in the Council of Ministers provides that the penalties for tax crimes are reduced by up to half and without additional penalties “if, before the end of the first degree hearing, the tax debt, including administrative sanctions and interest, is extinguished”, or if it is “in the process of being extinguished through installments” also following the conciliation and acceptance procedures for the assessment. A notable step forward given that currently the sentence discount is obtained only if the tax debt is paid off “before the declaration of the opening of the first instance hearing” with “full payment of the amounts due” also following the conciliation procedures.
Tax penalties
In addition to the reduction by one fifth and one third, among the approved innovations it is foreseen that the sanction will be “increased up to double against those who, in the three years following the entry into force of the sentence which ascertains the violation or the incontestability of the act, has committed another violation of the same nature”. Furthermore, the taxpayer who complies with the indications provided by the Tax Office “provides, within the following 60 days from the publication of the same (circulars, requests) the presentation of the supplementary declaration and the payment of the 'tax due' is not punishable, 'provided that the violation is due to objective conditions of uncertainty regarding the scope and scope of application of the tax law'.
VAT
Finally, one last tax news on VAT. You can say goodbye to sanctions that could reach up to 240% for VAT numbers and self-employed workers. With the tax reform implementing decree approved, the penalties will never exceed 60%. “For those who have not had anything to do with Equitalia over the years, it may seem like a small thing, but for those who felt their legs trembled when they opened the green envelopes and saw their debt quadruple, I can assure you that it is a day to celebrate. I still remind claimants that anyone who receives tax bills is not a tax evader”. This was declared by Lino Ricchiuti, deputy national manager of the Business and Productive Worlds Department of Fratelli d'Italia.
