(Finance) – New recovery record oftax evasion. They amount to 24.7 billion euros the sums flowing into the State coffers in 2023 thanks to the overall activity carried out by the Revenue Agency and the Revenue Agency-Collection: 4.5 billion more than in 2022 (+22%). It is the highest sum ever. In detail, 19.6 billion derive from the ordinary control activities carried out by the Tax and 5.1 billion from measures extraordinaryas “scrapping” of the files, definition of pending disputes and fiscal peace. The sums paid spontaneously by citizens are also increasing: the revenue relating to the main taxes managed by the Revenue Agency has exceeded 536 billion euroswith an increase of over 26 billion compared to the previous year.
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 2023 and on the future prospects of the two Agencies. The event was attended by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Giancarlo Giorgettiand the Deputy Minister, Maurizio Leo.
Of the 24.7 billion recovered, 19.6 come from ordinary control activities, broken down as follows: 11.6 billion from payments direct, 4.2 billion from compliance promotion activities and 3.8 billion from payment orders entrusted to the Revenue Agency-Collection. The proceeds from extraordinary measures, again referring to the Revenue Agency, amount to 5.1 billion: 4.3 billion from the scrapping of bills, 586 million from the definition of quarrels pendants (Budget Law 2023) and 245 million from the “peace tax”.
The sums paid spontaneously by citizens in 2023 for the main taxes managed by the Revenue Agency (direct, indirect, regional and municipal taxes) amount to 536.2 billion, with an increase of 26.6 billion compared to 2022 (+5%).
Through risk analysis and preventive anti-fraud checks last year the Revenue Agency also ensured “minor expenditure” from the State budget for 7.6 billion euros between fictitious credits, undue compensation and VAT refunds not due. In implementation of the rules introduced to combat the phenomenon of so-called “open and close” VAT numbers, the Agency has also officially terminated around 2,300 companies.
Also growing refunds tax, which in 2023 exceeded 22.4 billion euros (+12%). Of these, 19.5 billion went to the productive sector and 2.9 billion to families. As for theassistance activities, the Agency handled nearly 4.5 million requests in its offices, more than 3 million over the phone, and more than 2 million Civis requests. It is also growingonline, both in the Revenue area and in the Territory area: 92.3% of rental contracts are registered online, just as 92.7% of inheritance declarations are sent via the web. Information tools are also increasing: the Revenue Agency’s WhatsApp channel has been active since September 2023, with news and content of interest to citizens and professionals. With 680 thousand members it is the most followed among the institutional ones and seventh in the Italian ranking.
In 2023, the Internal Revenue Service responded to almost 13 thousand questions and provided specialized assistance and consultancy to businesses: 14 answers were given in the context of the question on new investments, which are expected to bring over 400 jobs and multi-year investments of more than half a billion. Furthermore, last year 19 new companies were admitted to the cooperative compliance regime, bringing the overall total to 111.
Growing results also for Revenue Agency-Collection, which last year collected a total of 14.8 billion euros (+37%): 7.6 billion from ordinary activities and 7.2 from extraordinary measures (“scrapping-ter” and “scrapping-quater”). With regard to the entrusted bodies, 8.1 billion were collected on behalf of the Revenue Agency, 3.7 billion for the INPS, 1 billion for the Municipalities and the remainder for other bodies (Inail, Ministries, Prefectures, Regions, etc.) .