Concordat 2.0 and tutoring: the Carbone era at the Inland Revenue begins

A choice in the name of continuity, even if only for one year. Both for the roles he has played within the Agency so far, and to continue the path to which he has personally contributed in the implementation of the tax reform. Vincenzo Carbone arrives at the Directorate of the Revenue after the resignation of Ernesto Maria Ruffini who, after being confirmed just under two years ago by the current government, expressed his discomfort with the positions and attacks on the work of the Italian tax authorities by various members of the majority.

Also in the light of the different views and sensitivities within the government and the political forces supporting it, the indication from the Council of Ministers on Monday 23 December, which is the first step for the subsequent institutional steps destined to conclude with the registration of the Court of Auditors, was to focus on the internal solution until January 2026 (when Ruffini's term of office would expire), when a new political decision will have to be made. Carbone (61) is, in fact, the acting deputy director and head of the Taxpayers Division in Via del Giorgione. But in the Agency he has held positions both at a territorial level, heading, among other things, the provincial directorates I and II in Rome, and at a central level, for example, with the appointment to the Large Taxpayers Directorate. An experience as a manager of the financial administration machine gained, therefore, in the field. And a link with the deputy minister of the Economy Maurizio Leo, who supported Carbone's choice also after the relationship consolidated on the ground of the implementation of the tax delegation.

In July 2023, Ruffini entrusted him with the task of coordinating the 'activities aimed at the preparation of the implementation tools of the tax reform in progress' and, in particular, 'the development of the collaborative compliance regime (tax control framework), the new model of the two-year preventive agreement, and the organic reorganisation of the rules governing tax matters'. Precisely because he is the man at the Agency who has followed these strategic issues most closely, the choice of continuity has prevailed. The new tax-taxpayer relationship, which also extends to the collection phase, is characterised by an investment in the ex ante phase of dialogue to try to bring out the tax base and thus avoid chasing evasion with all the difficulties always associated with the recovery of the tax gap.

Carbone's challenge will therefore be to try to refine and make even more effective instruments, which have been outlined or have had an initial debut thanks to the implementing decrees of the delegation. The first thought is on the dossier of the two-year composition agreement. The budget has been defined as 'discreet' by Leo with about 600 thousand adhesions and 1.6 billion in revenue, but above all (and this is the data on which they are aiming to work) the 190 thousand who were well below the tax reliability threshold and by choosing the concordat have brought themselves into a 'virtuous' zone. This is why the mission will be to make the instrument simpler from the 2025-2026 edition, perhaps by acting on the tax forms (the Isa). After all, Carbone knows what he is talking about because he was president of Sose (now incorporated into Sogei), which first dealt with sector studies and then precisely with the Isa.

The other front of ex ante taxation is the tutoring for larger companies that are outside the revenue and compensation parameters of the Isa. The cooperative compliance, i.e. IRS mentoring, expects to take off in 2025 with the full operation of the Tax control framework certification by accountants and lawyers. This will make it possible to start a step-by-step joint path that accompanies taxpayers towards compliance and thus towards the determination of taxable income and taxes due with a view, precisely, to mutual cooperation.