Avoid Tax Audits: Tips for Filing Your Tax Returns

How to Avoid Tax Checks on Income Declaration

For many taxpayers, being subject to Tax Office checks on income tax returns is a nightmare.
Making a compilation error that somehow alters income or tax due can lead to a tax assessment.

Even for those who have nothing to hide, responding to a Tax Office check is always a headache: the burden of proof always falls on the taxpayer.
If the administration believes that something is wrong, it is up to the declarant to prove otherwise.
However, it is not always easy to do so, as it is not always easy to find all the necessary documentation.
That is why people tend to avoid checks at all costs.

Avoiding Income Declaration Checks

With the pre-filled tax return form, preventive checks are averted for those who submit the form prepared by the Revenue Agency without any modifications.
This provision has led many taxpayers to refrain from changing the form even if the data provided were incomplete, missing deductions or allowances to which they were entitled.
This demonstrates how the risk of being subject to preventive assessments is a genuine scare.

Exempt from checks are also those who amend the pre-filled form with data that does not affect the determination of total income or tax due: such changes can relate to personal data or tax withholding agents and do not alter the payment amount.

When are there no checks on the simplified declaration?

Similarly, taxpayers who, for the year 2024, opt for the new simplified declaration by confirming without modifications the data held by the Revenue Agency, will avoid preventive checks.
The same exemption from checks as for the pre-filled declaration applies to those who modify data that do not affect the determination of income or tax due.

It is important to clarify that by accepting or confirming without changes the data provided by third parties (healthcare facilities, banks, schools, etc.) through the pre-filled form or simplified declaration, preventive checks are avoided.
However, this does not exempt from potential formal checks, which the Revenue Agency carries out in cases of discrepancies or inconsistencies in the declaration.

When and how are checks on the declaration carried out?

Since the tax return form (or the Income Tax return form) is a statement that the taxpayer submits regarding their income for the determination of taxes to be paid, the Revenue Agency may verify the veracity of the data declared in the forms.

Preventive checks take place within four months from the final deadline for the submission of declaration forms, which does not occur when submitting an unaltered pre-filled form or opting for the simplified declaration by confirming the data held by the Revenue Agency.

In case modifications are made affecting income or tax:

• For forms sent via the Revenue Agency’s website or through a tax withholding agent, document checks will only focus on the expenses that have not been altered in the pre-filled form.
  The checks will, therefore, concern only the data that led to the modification.
• For forms submitted through a Tax Assistance Center, document checks are also carried out on expenses pre-filled by the Agency and not altered (with the exception of healthcare expenses, for which checks only occur for undocumented expenses in the pre-filled form).