The new version of the income meter designed by Maurizio Leo has not had much success: the Deputy Minister of Economy has in fact signed a policy document with which he effectively blocked the entry into force of the decree which had been published in the Official Journal on Monday.
It was Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who announced that the measure would be suspended to proceed with further investigations.
ANSA Agency The CDM home-saver, the finishing touches to the decree – News – Ansa.it Salvini: ‘It’s not an amnesty’. Curtains and heat pumps enter (ANSA)The new income meter, which met with opposition from part of the majority, would have covered almost every type of expense (from medicines to the purchase of plants and flowers, including the maintenance of a horse) to trace the taxpayer’s actual income in cases extremes (very low or no declarations and simultaneous possession of a luxury car or boat, for example).
Despite the stop to the income lens, however, the government specifies its intention to move forward against tax evasion, and in particular – underlines Meloni – to intensify the commitment against major tax evaders but without activating the ‘tax big brother’. This renewed commitment will also be there because tax evasion in the Bel Paese is a real mountain of money: just over 85 billion, according to the latest findings, which would be very useful at this moment also considering the extraordinary commitment to which Italy is called ( especially on debt) by the new rules of the recently reactivated stability pact. But progress will be made on this also thanks to the increasingly massive use of technologies such as artificial intelligence and the cross-referencing of databases already in the administration’s possession. We look at ‘tax avatars’ for example, algorithms capable of identifying accounting and tax anomalies. I am able to navigate through billions of data (transactions) in a few seconds and precisely identify fraud.
In addition to the fight against tax evasion, however, the focus is also on compliance, on the agreement with taxpayers put in black and white in the delegation. In fact, the biennial preventive agreement with the self-employed workers will begin shortly (the first agreement proposals should arrive in June to start the measure in September) which will thus make it possible to reach an agreement with the administration on how much to pay for the following two years while at the same time taking cover from the controls. Some experts have observed that the income meter could represent the ‘gun in the back’ of those who must adhere or not to the composition with creditors. A weapon that won’t be there anyway and that some define as ‘blunt’. In fact, it was abandoned in 2018 precisely because the results were very poor.
The government is therefore focusing on ‘tax friendly’ so much so that tomorrow the reform of tax sanctions should at least be launched: they will be lighter. From omitted or unfaithful tax declarations to cases in which less than what was ascertained is communicated to the tax authorities, the era of maxi-fines of up to 240% is over: the taxpayer will be asked for no more than 120% of the amount due. The new regime, which should come into force in September, provides for administrative sanctions reduced by a fifth to a third.
For those who do not present the tax or IRAP return or the declaration of the withholding agent, the fine will be 120%, instead of the 120 to 240% currently expected. While for unfaithful declaration, it goes from 90-180% to 70%. The tax penalties collected each year amount to approximately 2.27 billion: the cut in fines, which are reduced overall by approximately 10%, as explained in the Technical Report, will necessarily have a “negative effect” in terms of revenue from sanctions ; but with more proportionate and smaller fines, we are betting on greater compliance with the investigation.
News also for traders: for the omitted or late transmission or with incomplete or untrue data of the daily fees, there is a ceiling of 1,000 euros on the sanctions, while the omitted, incomplete or unfaithful communication of the capital losses will be punished with a maximum fine of 30 thousand euros (instead of 50 thousand).
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
