Crypto, risk of compliance letters from automatic exchange of information
There are transactions and transfers that are not relevant for Italy's tax authorities and therefore do not have to be reported in the Rt panel
Key points
The automatic exchange of tax information risks causing some bitter surprises for Italian taxpayers holding cryptoassets and cryptocurrencies. From 2026 onwards, intermediaries in the crypto world must in fact send to their country's tax administrations all data relating to possession and transactions inblockchain technology, data that will then be exchanged with the tax administrations where the holder is tax resident.
The risk of 'false positives'
The lack of alignment between national tax laws may, however, generate 'false positives', i.e. taxpayers wrongly suspected of declaratory infidelity. There are in fact transactions and transfers that, although subject to disclosure under the exchange of information, are not relevant for the Italia tax authorities and therefore the taxpayer does not have to indicate them in the Rt panel of the tax return (this is the case, among others, of exchanges between crypto-assets with the same characteristics and functions, or transfers between accounts in the name of the same person, at the same or other custodians of the wallet).
When, starting in 2027, the automatic exchange will be activated, the Revenue Agency will inevitably detect a conflict between the data received from abroad and those relating to the declarations of individual taxpayers. With the predictable outcome of sending thousands of compliance letters for spontaneous compliance. Which, however, laws in hand, is not due.
