economy
February 12, 2026
Tax Evasion Flourished for Years, Now Collection and Fines Follow
Italy's new upgraded tax system discovered as many as 86,000 citizens and companies in last year's processing who had never declared taxes or contributions despite having economic activity for a long time.
TL;DR
- Italy's new tax system identified over 200,000 tax evaders, including individuals and companies.
- 86,000 of these were completely unknown to tax authorities, operating illegally.
- 57% of identified evaders never filed a tax return, despite having income.
- 43% of identified evaders were unknown to the tax authorities.
- 2.4 million letters will be sent to taxpayers to clarify discrepancies between reported and paid taxes.
- The tax authority aims to encourage corrections with minimal penalties before formal audits.
- Tax evasion is particularly prevalent in value-added tax (VAT) calculations.
- If current recovery trends continue, tax revenues could increase by up to 0.3% of GDP by 2028.
- This could reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio by over 4 percentage points by 2041.
- Italy still has high levels of tax evasion compared to other European countries.
- Measures like split payment, reverse charge, and electronic invoicing have improved VAT collection.
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