Tax bills with notification via certified e-mail, how can they be contested?

In the tax sector, notification is increasingly carried out via certified e-mail, even for tax bills.
In this type of notification, however, the validity of the communication is decisive.
A recent ruling by the Tax Court of Justice established that only certain formats can provide a non-refutable act of notification, in all other cases the notification can be challenged.
To demonstrate correct notification and receipt of tax bills by the taxpayer, a paper printout of the letter sent is not enough, the email itself is necessary.
But is a PDF file enough for this or is the native format necessary? More and more often the Revenue Agency notifies tax bills via certified e-mail also because certified e-mail is now mandatory for professionals, entrepreneurs, artisans and traders.
From July 2023, private citizens can also obtain a PEC on which to receive communications from the Public Administration.
It is therefore a convenient tool and above all with legal value and for this reason it is widely used.
Precisely because this means of notification is expanding more and more, it is good to know that for the notification to be valid, some rules must also be respected by certified email and not everyone knows this.
The things to check when you receive an electronic letter from the Revenue Agency (or other collection body) are different.
Certified e-mail has legal value.
The certified e-mail, when used correctly, has the legal value of a registered letter.
In fact, it is possible to prove (as with the signature placed on the registered letter) that the message was received by the recipient given that he also has a delivery receipt.
It is, therefore, a fast and safe way to deliver messages that have the same value as a registered letter.
At the same time, then, it allows you to overcome disputes that are linked to the delivery of paper mail, such as the unavailability of the recipient or the delivery to a different person.
The advantages of notification via certified e-mail One of the advantages is that, as illustrated in the previous paragraph, there is no possibility of opening a dispute against the notification regarding the delivery methods.
If a notification arrives on a person's certified e-mail and its receipt is documented, the delivery cannot be contested.
Another advantage is found in the savings that this form of delivery has.
Even if the annual PEC subscription has a cost, sending a single registered letter probably costs more.
Without considering that with the PEC you practically don't have to move from home either to send or collect.
When is a notification via certified e-mail valid? Even the notification of a tax bill via certified e-mail must comply with specific rules to be considered valid.
Both the recipient and the sender must have their own certified email inbox: the notification sent from a PEC inbox to a simple email inbox is not valid nor the one sent from a simple email inbox to a PEC.
The validity constraint is that the message starts from a PEC box to arrive at another PEC box.
This is not enough to make a notification valid.
What everyone doesn't know is that all certified email addresses must be consultable and catalogued.
The Collection Agent, therefore, must send the notification from a certified email address correctly entered in the public registers.
The Collection Agent, as required by the Digital Administration Code, must use certified email addresses included in special lists that everyone can consult, to ensure that the sender can be identified without a shadow of a doubt and without the notification being exchanged.
for a scam.
There are currently four public registers, specifically: Ipa (which is the one of interest for the notification of tax bills); Reginde; Ini-Pec; Inad.What should you check when you receive a notification via certified email? When you receive a payment notice, before proceeding to settle any debt, it is always a good idea to check the sender's certified email address to see if it is present in the IPA which is the register in which the certified email addresses of public companies are listed.
Administrations and those who provide public services.
If the address is not present in the IPA list, the notification must be considered null and the person who received it can lodge an appeal within 60 days of receipt.
read also Canceling a tax bill due to invalid certified e-mail: here's what's happening at the Revenue Agency How do you dispute a notification via certified e-mail? To prove the notification via certified e-mail, it is not sufficient to print the email on paper or even to save it as a PDF.
To test the notification via PEC you need the file in its native .eml or .msg format.
These are two formats that allow you to analyze the communication in detail, verifying whether the notification actually took place.
A printout on paper or a .pdf file does not allow for any verification and this principle is fundamental to guarantee the transparency of tax notifications and the protection of taxpayers.
If you receive a notification via certified e-mail and wish to dispute it, the sender must prove that the message was sent correctly and to do so he must show the native files, otherwise the notification is considered to have never occurred.