DUBAI LIST AND MORE… IT’S TIME TO PLAY EARLY

International collaboration between governments in the fight against tax evasion is starting to take effect. In recent months, the German Government has purchased from anonymous sources the so-called “Dubai List”, containing information relating to millions of taxpayers from all over the world who own assets in the Arab Emirate. Germany immediately made the list available to other countries and Italy was the second country (after France) to acquire its contents. Laura Castelli, undersecretary for the economy, reported that the Revenue Agency is already verifying how many Italian taxpayers have not declared their capital abroad and the Director of the AdE, Ernesto Maria Ruffini, informed that they are under analysis about 700 positions. Added to all this are the checks that the Guardia di Finanza is carrying out on the basis of circular letter no. 18399 of 2 July 2021 on transactions registered by financial operators and professionals for amounts exceeding 15,000 euros, carried out abroad on behalf of or in favor of entities or natural persons, regardless of whether they are residents or not. In addition to the recovery of taxable income and tax penalties (which moreover double in the case of “Black list” countries such as Dubai) there is the concrete risk of liability for tax crimes, which can only be avoided in the event of a prior taxpayer compliance. It is therefore better to move early. Through active repentance it is in fact possible to benefit from significant reductions on tax penalties. Furthermore, if the repentance or presentation of the omitted declaration occurs before the interested party has had formal knowledge of the start of any assessment activity, one will be able to benefit from the non-penalty liability for the crimes of fraudulent declaration, unfaithful declaration and omitted declaration . The Firm is able to offer a qualified screening of the client and a due diligence on the criminal risks associated with tax regularization to evaluate the feasibility of the operation.