Tax assessment: what it is, how it works, how to defend yourself and prescription

I have been subjected to a tax assessment, how can I defend myself, what are the statute of limitations and what do I risk? Tax evasion is a problem that Italy has been dealing with for decades and, although the strategy aimed at spontaneous compliance has increased over time, the need to also carry out tax assessments remains.
This has two main functions: to recover tax revenue; be a deterrent.
Why is tax assessment a deterrent? Taxpayers, knowing that by declaring incomes and assets that are lower than the truth, can be subjected to a tax assessment and be forced not only to pay what is due, but also penalties and interest, have greater hesitations in engaging in behavior aimed at paying less taxes.
Furthermore, in the most serious cases there is a risk of criminal convictions.
Naturally in a democratic system, such acts must be implemented with particular protection of the interests of taxpayers as well.
Precisely for this reason the legislator has taken steps to dictate detailed regulations that avoid the violation of the taxpayer's rights.
The assessment activity was most recently integrated and implemented through the amendments to the Taxpayer's Statute which now provide for the establishment of a preventive cross-examination with the taxpayer before the notification of an assessment notice, the objective being to limit the proposition of jurisdictional appeals, encouraging dialogue between the tax authorities and the taxpayer, thus achieving greater tax revenue with lower costs.
Let's now see how tax assessment activities work.
read also The new Taxpayers' Statute 2024, how does the Tax Office change? Tax assessment: what it is, how it works, how to defend yourself and prescription What are the tax assessment activities Protection of the taxpayer in the tax assessment activity Preventive cross-examination and tax assessment notice The motivation in the assessment notice The prescription of the tax assessment The contents of the tax assessment notice The notification of the tax assessment notice What to do if an assessment notice is served? What are the tax assessment activities? The tax assessment activity can be carried out on any fact or behavior that may have a tax value, for example an unregistered rental contract, an unjustified and uninvoiced collection, an unsubmitted declaration , a payment not made, deductions and deductions not due, use of tax credits not due, in short, any fact that could lead to an illegal tax saving.
The tax assessment is a complex procedure aimed at verifying that the taxpayer: has correctly declared the tax base; has correctly applied deductions and deductions; has correctly claimed tax credits; has paid the amount due (insufficient or omitted payment); in some cases aimed at verifying that the declaration activity has been implemented.
Tax assessment activities are carried out in most cases by the collection body, this is the Revenue Agency, but for local taxes, for example the IMU, the assessment documents and the consequent possible assessment notice are implemented by the local authority itself through specialized structures whose collaboration it uses.
The assessment activities of the Revenue Agency are different: automated and formal control of tax declarations; invitations to cross-examination and questionnaires; external investigative activities (for example, targeted checks and tax audits); financial investigations; tutoring activities for larger companies.
read also Tax inspections 2024, the new guide from the Revenue Agency Taxpayer protection in tax assessment activities During assessment activities, the tax authorities/controlling body must implement all the protections required by law, for example accesses, inspections and checks carried out in the premises where the profession is practiced must be carried out during ordinary working hours and in such a way as to cause the least possible disruption to the activities carried out in the premises.
When the on-site inspection begins, the taxpayer must be informed of the reasons for this inspection activity and the object of the activity.
In this phase the taxpayer can be assisted by a professional, it must be carried out in the shortest time possible and at the end of the operations the report of the operations carried out must be issued to the taxpayer.
Of course this is just an example, for each control procedure there are specific procedural rules.
Contradictory estimate and tax assessment notice The final objective is the recovery of the tax revenue due and not paid.
At the end of the tax assessment, a provision is issued which is now no longer the notice of assessment but a "scheme of provision" with which the taxpayer is granted a deadline of 60 days within which he can establish a dispute with the proceeding body in order to provide documentation, clarifications and in any case reveal its position regarding the act itself.
Within this deadline the taxpayer can also simply pay the higher amounts requested by the Administration.
If the taxpayer establishes a cross-examination, the proceeding Administration has the obligation to take it into account, it may still not accept the taxpayer's findings, but must justify this choice.
After this period of 60 days, the financial administration can proceed with the notification of the actual assessment notice, this must be motivated and can be challenged before the tax justice bodies, the deadline is generally 60 days from notification.
The taxpayer can take legal action before the tax justice bodies even without the presence of a lawyer, but only for assessment notices for an amount of less than 3,000 euros.
Of course, from a purely technical point of view it can be difficult to judge alone.
To be valid, the assessment notice must have certain characteristics which we analyze individually: obligation to state reasons; timeliness; form; notification; The motivation in the assessment notice.
The assessment notice must be adequately motivated, we remind you that the taxpayer according to the new rules (Legislative Decree no.
219 of 30 December 2023 in implementation of the delegation law 11 of 2023) must immediately be made aware of the evidence and facts that the administration has collected and must be informed about which rules have been violated, in this way he can fully exercise his right of defense.
The new article 7 of the Taxpayer's Statute, amended with Legislative Decree 219, provides that if the justification refers to another prerequisite act, the same must be attached.
The prescription of the tax assessment The assessment act must also be timely, in particular the tax body in sending the notice of assessment must respect the limitation and forfeiture terms provided for the individual tax.
For example, in the case of failure to submit the tax return, the statute of limitations is 8 years, the deadline starting from 31 December of the year in which the return should have been submitted.
The term is shorter, i.e.
5 years, in the event that the declaration has been submitted, but there are "anomalies".
For each type of tax the assessment deadlines may be different, for example in the event of failure to pay the car tax, the Region must send the assessment notice within 3 years starting from 1 January of the year following that in which the tax was to be paid.
The content of the tax assessment notice The tax assessment document must also comply with the formal requirements, consequently in addition to containing the motivation as described, it must have: identification number of the tax assessment so that it is easily identifiable at the time of which you want to establish a cross-examination; header, in this section the tax authority is identified (Region, Revenue Agency); subscription; indication of the sums to be paid by way of additional tax, interest, penalties; indication of the rates applied; identification of the office from which it is possible to obtain information as well as the person responsible for the procedure; indication of the judicial body to which an appeal can be lodged; terms for appeal; payment methods and terms.
Notification of the tax assessment notice In order for a tax assessment to be valid, it must also be correctly notified to the taxpayer.
The legislation provides for notification via: registered letter with return receipt; through a bailiff at the domicile, residence or registered office (for companies) of the taxpayer; PEC (Certified Electronic Mail).
In the event that the notification of the document occurs by the hand of the messenger, article 60 of Presidential Decree 600/73 applies which establishes that the messenger must have the consignee sign the document or notice or indicate the reasons why the consignee did not sign.
For notification carried out by the judicial officer, article 137 of the code of civil procedure applies which specifies that notification is carried out by delivering to the recipient a copy conforming to the original of the document to be notified.
The notification can also be made via the postal service, in this case it is necessary to pay attention if: in the municipality in which the notification must be carried out there is no residence, office or company of the taxpayer, in this case the sealed notice is affixed in the municipal noticeboard and the notification, for the purposes of the deadline for appealing, is considered to have been carried out on the eighth day following the day of posting; it is not possible to carry out the delivery due to unavailability or due to incapacity or refusal of the persons indicated in the previous article, the judicial officer deposits the copy in the house of the municipality where the notification must be carried out, affixes notice of the deposit in a closed and sealed envelope to the door of the the recipient's home, office or company and informs him by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt.
read also Registered Revenue Agency, when is it notified? We remind you that filing an appeal against the incorrectly notified document cancels the notification defects.
What to do if an assessment notice is served? If you receive a notice of assessment, it is possible to carry out various activities: Acquiescence of the notice of assessment: the taxpayer does not appeal and pays the amount due, including interest and penalties; Facilitated definition of penalties only: in this case the taxpayer seeks an agreement with the taxing body on the penalties and reserves the right to appeal against the assessment notice only for the higher taxes.
In this case it is still possible to obtain reimbursement of any fines paid; filing of the appeal, within the terms indicated in the assessment notice and before the judge indicated in the notice itself; submission of a request for assessment with settlement: the taxpayer, within 60 days of notification of the tax assessment, can submit a request for assessment with settlement, in order to reach an agreement with the Office regarding the tax due.
In case of agreement, the sanctions are reduced to one third; submission of a request for assessment with settlement: the taxpayer, within 60 days of notification of the tax assessment, can submit a request for assessment with settlement, in order to reach an agreement with the Office regarding the tax due.
In the event of an agreement, the sanctions are reduced to one third.
In this case the deadlines for filing an appeal are not suspended.
The assessment notice is enforceable, this implies that, once the established deadline has elapsed, if the taxpayer does not carry out any of the behaviors seen, forced execution procedures can begin on the taxpayer's assets.
Among these we remember the foreclosure by third parties.
read also Tax bill void or voidable, in which cases?