Superbonus, for fake tax credits seized in total 9.3 billion

The superbonus even in fraud always presents record numbers. The counter of seizures of fake tax credits for renovation work or energy requalification of apartment blocks that were never actually carried out has reached 9.3 billion. Constantly updating it is the Guardia di Finanza, which, in synergy with the Inland Revenue, now systematically intervenes to block the use of these tax credits, which most often do not exist or are the result of fake discounts on invoices.

The investigations carried out after targeted risk analyses all have a common denominator: the use of fraud is always carried out by complex criminal networks that create false credits, which are then transferred and monetised through so-called 'cartiere' companies and front men. Also directors and condominiums who purchased non-existent tax credits in good faith end up in the fraud net.

The strategy of the financial administration and in particular that adopted by the Guardia di Finanza, explain the General Command, rests on a double pillar: prevention, through risk analysis to prevent the circulation of fictitious credits; repression through criminal investigations and administrative measures.

The offences ascertained concerned, for the most part, illegal activities all carried out before the regulatory clampdown that arrived in November 2021. Tightening with which, first the perimeter of the number of assignments and the subjective profile of the assignees was defined, so as to make it easier for the financial administration to monitor the different passages of credits between the various subjects and, subsequently, limited the possibility of accessing the invoice discount or the assignment of credit. From November 2021 to date, underlines the General Command of the Guardia Finanza, 'the total amount of non-existent credits in construction and energy subject to preventive seizure amounts to over EUR 9.3 billion'.

The fraud scheme, as mentioned, almost always revolves around shell companies. These are companies administered by front men or blockheads who are able to issue invoices for non-existent transactions to be passed on to other parties in order to deduct fictitious costs, reduce taxable income, or accrue non-existent tax credits. In this latter context, such as building bonuses, the paper company plays the role of intermediary not only to 'generate' non-existent tax credits but above all to sell them to third parties and then quickly disappear.