Tax evasion: in 2022 record recovery of over 20 billion

Checks, scrapping but above all anti-fraud activities on building bonuses. These are the measures that led to a record recovery of tax evasion in 2022: the sum reported in the state coffers amounts to 20.2 billion euros as a result of the overall activity of the Revenue Agency and the Revenue-Collection Agency: it is the highest figure ever. In addition to the increased revenue deriving from controls, last year the Revenue Agency also ensured “less expenditure” from the state budget thanks to risk analyzes and anti-fraud activities, which made it possible to freeze 9.5 billion of euros between credits, bonuses and refunds not due. Of these, the preponderant part concerns fictitious credits generated by building bonuses, identified in synergy with the Guardia di Finanza.

Also in 2022, spontaneous revenue also grew: the taxes administered by the Revenue Agency paid by taxpayers amounted to almost 510 billion (+11% compared to 2021), while the refunds paid in 2022 to households and businesses came close to 20 billion. These are some of the data presented today during a press conference by the Director of the Revenue Agency and Revenue Agency-Collection, Ernesto Maria Ruffini, on the results achieved in 2022 and the future prospects of the two Agencies. The event was attended by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, and the Deputy Minister, Maurizio Leo.

Control receipts are growing
Of the 20.2 billion total brought back to the State coffers last year, 19 billion derive from ordinary control activities, broken down as follows: 10.9 billion from payments made through F24 following control activities, 3.2 billion from letters for compliance and 4.9 billion from payment orders of the Revenue Agency-Collection. The proceeds from extraordinary measures (fiscal peace and “scrapping”), on the other hand, amounted to 1.2 billion. The overall activity of the Revenue Agency – Collection, also carried out for other entities, made it possible to recover 10.8 billion: 9.2 billion through ordinary activities and 1.6 billion through scrapping-ter and the balance and write-off.

Letters for compliance and Pnrr – Again with reference to the recovery achieved by the Revenue Agency, the 3.2 billion in collections from compliance (i.e. those referring to anomalies found in the declarations) were 52% higher than in 2019, when the relative sums to the “alerts” of the tax authorities they stopped at an altitude of 2.1 billion. From January to December 2022, more than 2.5 million communications were sent, significantly exceeding the targets set by the Pnrr, both in terms of the number of communications sent and collections, equal to 20% more than the set target.

Anti-fraud activities
In the context of anti-fraud activities, fictitious credits for 9.5 billion were blocked in 2022: 6.3 billion generated by construction bonuses and 2.1 billion intercepted at the time of the sale. To these data must be added 912 million of undue compensations and 207 million of VAT refunds not due.

Refunds and contributions to households and businesses
The past year also saw an extraordinary commitment to disburse the tax refunds due to households and economic operators. Last year, 3.4 million reimbursements were recognized for almost 20 billion euros, of which 17 billion disbursed to businesses. If the tax refunds for the three-year period 2020-2022 (58.8 billion) are added to the sums “credited” as non-repayable grants in the same period (25.3 billion), the liquidity injected by the Revenue to support the economy in the Covid period exceeds the 84 billion euros. Furthermore, thanks to the recent simplifications developed by the Agency, the payment times for refunds of direct taxes have been reduced by around 30 days.

The services of the Revenue-Collection Agency
Currently, almost all of the services offered at the counter can be used directly on the internet. Since last summer it has been possible to request and obtain installments of payment orders up to 120 thousand euros directly online. In 2022, in addition to the possibility of booking an appointment at the counter through the website or through the contact center, the video call assistance service was further extended, thanks to which taxpayers can connect from PCs, smartphones and tablets to converse on video with an employee and receive specific information on folders, installments, suspensions, refunds and carry out operations.

The services of the Revenue Agency
To further reduce the need to physically go to the help desk, in 2022 too the Agency has focused on enhancing “remote” services. The video call assistance service was introduced, which allows you to remotely register a contract, obtain assistance with declarations and refunds, request a duplicate health card. The possibility of using the “pre-call” has also been extended, thanks to which the user is contacted a few days before the office appointment to see if it is possible to provide the requested service directly by telephone. Furthermore, thanks to the evolution of the web ticket service, it is now possible to “detach”, online or via the Agency’s app, a queue-eliminating ticket to be used in the office. The numbers confirm the growing diffusion of online services: the registration of rental contracts and the sending of declarations of succession now takes place electronically in over 90% of cases, with peaks of 98% for consulting the cadastral databases and mortgage inspections.

Pre-compiled declarations
Over 23 million pre-filled 730s were prepared in 2022. Of these, more than 4 million were sent in complete autonomy by citizens. In addition, almost one in 4 (23.6%) was sent without changes. Last year, preparatory activities were also carried out for the preparation of the pre-compiled VAT return, which since 10 February has been made available to around 2.4 million VAT numbers.

Consultancy and measures for the attractiveness of investments – 2022 saw the Revenue Agency responding to almost 16,000 interpellations at the regional level and over 2,000 at the central level. In addition, 36 circulars and 81 resolutions were drafted. The tax authorities also provided assistance and specialized consultancy to businesses: through the ruling on new investments, 19 requests were answered in 2022, which are expected to bring about 2,500 jobs and multi-year investments of over 10 billion euro . In addition, 15 companies were admitted to the cooperative compliance scheme last year, bringing the total number to 92.