Bills, cars, bank accounts: the Italian Revenue Service will chase evaders who pretend to be abroad
The Italian Revenue Agency is stepping up its fight against international tax evasion. The tax authority will focus on undeclared funds and income held abroad by Italian taxpayers who have become resident abroad since January 1, 2010.
Controls will be based on selected lists, which will first target the most irregular situations. The lists must match a series of requirements set by the Revenue Agency’s provision released on February 3.
The Agency will look for evidence regarding citizens who have remained in Italy despite moving their residence abroad and who still have utility bills under their name, own vehicles, hold a VAT account and have members or their family still living in Italy.
The Agency will also check whether they have participated in the Voluntary Disclosure program to declare previously hidden offshore income.
What the Agency will look at
The Agency will look at:
a. The declared residence in states with privileged tax regime;
b. Capital movement to and from abroad;
c. Information related to real estate and financial assets held abroad sent by foreign tax authorities under EU directives and automatic data sharing agreements;
d. Residence in Italy of the taxpayer’s family members;
e. Data showing the actual presence in Italy of taxpayers;
f. Active electric, water, gas, and phone bills;
g. Ownership of vehicles, motorbikes and boats;
h. Presence of an active VAT account;
i. Relevant holdings in individual companies or with limited ownership structures;
j. Corporate roles in companies;
k. Tax payments for home helpers;
l. Tax information sent through single certification forms and the 770 form;
m. Information about transactions including VAT sent to the Revenue Agency .
The Agency, in other words, is simply looking at the taxpayers’ daily lives.
The tax evader profile
The identikit of taxpayers with the highest risk of evasion will be outlined by the Agency by using a software called Sonore (Non Resident Subjects) and by comparing information available in the data center of the financial administration with that based on Agency calculations and data sharing based on EU directives (DAC1 and DAC2) and international agreements with foreign tax administrations (Fatca and Common Reporting Standard) which will be made gradually available.
The criteria used by the Agency are based on the existence of more elements indicating the actual presence of citizens in Italy. A classic case is one where subjects have moved their residence in a country with looser taxation regulation and did not participate in the Voluntary Disclosure program, transferring capital to and from abroad, and other factors that can suggest a continued and actual residency in Italy.
Collecting data
The Agency’s provision also establishes how to collect data of citizens who moved their residence abroad. Within six months from their request to be added to the AIRE (the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad), the Agency will receive the personal data of the taxpayers based on the conventions agreed with the Interior Ministry.
