The conviction of the professionals who have collaborated with the entrepreneur in the commission of tax crimes should lead to the automatic suspension of registration in the professional register. This was stated by the general commander of the Guardia di Finanza, Saverio Capolupo, before the Senate Finance Commission, in the context of the hearings on the relationship between the tax authorities and taxpayers.
Experience in the field - said Capolupo - demonstrates that the most sophisticated forms of subtraction of taxable matter from the tax authorities, through operations of avoidance, abuse of law and transnational fraud, have the characteristic of having been devised by unscrupulous professionals, who they played the role of directors of the illicit architectures. In order to carry out their criminal purposes, in fact, companies and entrepreneurs make use of the services of consultants or experts who, through the preparation of ingenious tax or corporate packages, make it possible to disguise the transfer abroad of sums of evasion proceeds or to create complex forms of avoidance.
In these cases, of course, the professional competes in the commission of tax crimes, but the current article 12 of legislative decree 74 of 2000 is limited to providing, as an accessory sanction, the disqualification of the professional from one to five years from the functions of representation and assistance in tax matters. We need to strengthen the reaction of the legal system in the face of these criminal behaviors - General Capolupo argued -, making it impossible for the convicted professional to practice his profession in any form. This in order not only to increase the deterrence of the sanctions - he continued -, but also to better safeguard the prestige of the many honest consultants.
Another weak point of the legislation, which brings out the weapons of the fight against tax evasion, is in the discipline of tax litigation - Capolupo said -, which helps to distance the extent of the collection of taxes evaded from the results of the tax assessments carried out by the administration financial. The recent tax enabling law provided for a reorganization of litigation, but it is above all important to improve the professionalism of tax judges, possibly by envisaging full-time careers; but also by reinforcing the still unsatisfactory regime of incompatibilities.
The instruments for the facilitated definition of tax assessments are also under fire from the Guardia di Finanza. While these tools are useful for reaching an agreed definition of tax obligations, on the other hand their ever-increasing appeal also makes it possible to reduce penalties to a minimum, producing the effect of weakening the effectiveness and deterrence of controls.
In this framework, it should be precluded - according to the Fiamme Gialle - the possibility for taxpayers to produce in court elements not presented at the time of the tax inspection, although already available.
Furthermore - observed the general commander - the lack of definition by the legislator of precise regulatory parameters of reference for the tax payer, but also for the financial administration, as in the case of abuse of law, can generate discrepancies between the control phase and that of assessment or litigation.
Among the other requests made by the Guardia di Finanza to the Senate, the possibility of directly imposing the sanctions for the infringements detected in relation to receipts and tax receipts, without waiting for the provision of the Revenue Agency.
Finally, the Fiamme Gialle have called for the unification of the numerous databases existing in the various structures of the financial administration (Department of Finance and Tax Agencies) in a single IT platform, to ensure the interconnection and homogeneity of data and standardize access procedures. Furthermore, the Guardia di Finanza should be able to have free access not only to all the databases existing in the financial administration, but also to the databases of other state bodies.
