After 3 months of lockdown that has affected most of the small and very small economic activities in the country, the tax authorities would have exulted, which would have seen the tax evasion present in the country "decrease" by 27,5 billion euros.

The provocation, because we are talking about this, is raised by the CGIA Studies Office which has reached this economic result, starting from a very widespread consideration among public opinion. That is, that the people of tax evaders present in Italy are made up almost exclusively of self-employed workers.

The evasion from 110 drops to 82,5 billion

According to estimates by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, there would be about 110 billion tax evasion per year in Italy. Many observers believe that this revenue loss is largely attributable to activities characterized by a direct commercial relationship with the end customer as in the case of many construction workers, painters, plumbers, electricians, goldsmiths, hairdressers, beauticians, bartenders, restaurateurs, small traders, etc. Based on these considerations and on the fact that these 3 months of closure have affected precisely these activities, we can say with good approximation that tax evasion has decreased by 25 percent: or by 27,5 billion euros, dropping to 82,5, XNUMX billion the total amount of lost revenue. A result that obviously has no scientific rigor, but serves to launch a provocation and, at the same time, contest a thesis which, unfortunately, is unjustly labeling the category of self-employment.

The coordinator of the Studies Office Paolo Zabeo declares: “Always referred to as the hungry people, it cannot be excluded that in the coming months, when this economic depression will result in a probable social crisis, the self-employed will be called to pay the bill. While waiting for the money from the Recovery fund to arrive, a campaign against tax evaders will almost certainly begin, with the aim of targeting artisans, traders and VAT numbers in particular. The first signs are already there, as authoritative opinion leaders have begun to invoke the democracy of the receipt. It is clear, the evasion / avoidance must be opposed wherever it lurks, both among those who do not issue the receipt and among those who, thanks to ethically highly questionable corporate operations, have moved the headquarters to the tax advantage countries. However, we must not generalize, let alone hit in the pile, also because the tools to fight those who do not pay taxes have been there and for a long time ".

CGIA secretary Renato Mason declares: “Large or small, evaders should be prosecuted wherever they hide. However, if our tax department were less demanding, the effort required would be more contained and the tax authorities would probably also benefit. With a lower tax burden, many of those who today are marginal tax evaders would become honest taxpayers. I remember that our civil justice is very slow, the bureaucracy has reached unacceptable levels and the Public Administration remains the worst payer in Europe. Despite these inefficiencies, the demand from our tax authorities is very high and, for these reasons, it appears completely unjustified ".

In Italy the tax burden on businesses is at 59,1 per cent. In the EU only the French are more harassed than we are

Although it is a comparison that must be analyzed with great caution, according to the latest data from the World Bank (Doing Business), only France (60,7) has a tax burden on businesses (as a percentage of commercial profits) higher than the Italian figure (59,1 , 42,8). If the Euro Area average is 16,3 percent (48,8 points less than here), Germany records 47 percent and Spain 60 percent. For each country examined, this processing refers to a medium-sized company (limited liability company) with about 2018 employees and to the taxes paid in 2017, in the second year of the company's life (i.e. born in 2018). The incidence of total taxes on commercial profits recorded by Italy in 59,1 (2015 percent) is quite in line with the 62 figure (2016 percent). In the two intermediate years (two-year period 2017 and 48) there was a significantly lower incidence (respectively of 53,1 and XNUMX), attributable to the effect of the introduction of some temporary measures that have lightened the cost of labor, in particular way of new hires with a permanent contract.

The taxman has all the tools to eradicate tax evasion

The CGIA Studies Office recalls that the approximately 110 billion tax and social security contributions reported by the Ministry of Economy and Finance have been practically stable for at least 10 years, while in the same period the Financial Administration has seen a significant increase in the number of instruments available to counter tax evasion.

In a nutshell, the main measures available to the tax office 007 are:

1. abolition of banking secrecy;
2. financial reports registry established by periodically sending the tax reports balances to the Tax Registry;
3. Serpico super brainsman of the taxman, who uses the various information collected on taxpayers, the Revenue Agency will also use advanced technologies to process them, exploiting the interconnections between the data contained in the Registry of financial reports and the other databases available;
4. obligation to report monthly movements of cash equal to or greater than 10.000 euros to the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit);
5. Synthetic Fiscal Indices;
6. profitometer (summary assessment on the basis of the comparison between declared income and expenses incurred);
7. control methodologies for SMEs and self-employed workers;
8. 117 (public utility number of the Guardia di Finanza);
9. electronic transmission of fees to the Inland Revenue;
10. electronic invoice;
11. split payment in the case of billing to Public Administrations, these are the ones that retain VAT and pay it directly to the tax authorities;
12. reverse charge mechanism according to which it is the buyer or the customer who pays the VAT;
13. limit on the use of cash equal to € 2.999, from 1 July 2020 it will be reduced to € 1.999 and from 1 January 2022 it will drop to € 1.000;
14. payment obligation with traceable instruments of the deductible charges for personal income tax purposes (with the exception of health expenses) in order to be able to deduct them in the tax return;
15. automated control of tax returns and correct payment of stamp duty;
16. in the case of works exceeding € 200.000, the clients are obliged to verify the correct payment of the withholding taxes of the employees of the contracting companies;
17. withholding tax made on bank transfers for the payment of expenses relating to interventions on the building stock and energy savings;
18. to be able to offset tax debts with credits of an amount exceeding € 5.000, certification of credits by a professional is required;
19. esterometer: electronic transmission (quarterly) to the Revenue Agency of data relating to economic operations with non-resident subjects;
20. quarterly communication to the Revenue Agency of the data relating to the periodic VAT payment.

Almost 2 million companies are involved in compliance letters, assessments and controls

In addition to the tools listed above, the tax authorities can also counter tax evasion by means of the control, verification and verification activities that the tax agencies and the Guardia di Finanza carry out on a daily basis. In 2018 (latest available data) the Financial Administration sent:

• over 1.900.000 letters for the activation of compliance (requests for clarifications on detected or potential irregularities).

Furthermore, the following were performed:

• almost 152.500 ordinary checks [1] on companies;
• almost 252.000 automated partial assessments [2];
• almost 521.000 instrumental checks [3] carried out by the Guardia di Finanza.

Tax evasion down: "thanks" to the lockdown 27,5 billion less