Combating undeclared work

From undeclared rents to beach resorts, here’s the summer tax evasion uncovered by the Guardia di Finanza

Widespread checks to protect workers and businesses operating within the law. The never-ending battle against tax evasion

by Pietro Menzani

12 August 2026

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La Guardia di Finanza ha effettuato operazioni contro abusivismo commerciale, caporalato ed evasione fiscale su concessioni demaniali

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Versione italiana

Key points

Illegal accommodation in Rome
The beaches of Bari and Vibo Valentia
Undeclared work in Vibo Valentia and Treviso

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Illegal commercial activity, illegal labour recruitment and tax evasion relating to state-owned concessions. Just as punctually as the Ferragosto bank holiday, the Guardia di Finanza’s never-ending battle against tax evasion and the black economy will resurface in the summer of 2026. One need only travel the length of Italy from north to south to realise quite easily that even the POS terminals go on holiday and that broadband connections are becoming increasingly unreliable.

The result? Missed connections, disrupted digital payments and a requirement for tourists and customers to carry cash, which certainly does not help with traceability, including in the fight against tax evasion.

With just a few hours to go before Ferragosto 2026, history is repeating itself, and it is once again the Guardia di Finanza that bears witness to this, stepping into the role of David as it attempts to take on Goliath, who is backed by a large army of tax evaders. All this is done with the aim of protecting not only the state’s revenue, but also those businesses that, on the contrary, abide by the rules without distorting competition in the hospitality and tourism sectors.

From Treviso to Vibo Valentia, via Rome and Bari, the Guardia di Finanza are continuing their efforts to protect the country’s healthy economy and to penalise business owners operating illegally, by carrying out wide-ranging checks.

Illegal accommodation

In Rome , as part of the crackdown on unauthorised accommodation, the Guardia di Finanza has identified and fined four establishments that were operating illegally as hotels . Three of these were formally registered as guesthouses, whilst the other was registered as a tourist accommodation. The establishments, which are located near Termini station, have been fined over 120,000 euros and have been ordered to suspend their activities until their administrative and tax affairs have been fully regularised.

The three guesthouses, according to the Italian Finance Police’s findings, each had eight rooms, exceeding the maximum limit of six laid down by regional law.

Furthermore, the Gdf noted the absence of the National Identification Code (CIN) – a unique alphanumeric code that is mandatory for all accommodation establishments – on the exterior of the buildings and on online booking platforms.

The premises, registered as tourist accommodation, however, had 13 rooms with a total of 34 beds. The business was providing customers with centralised services typical of hotels without authorisation, ranging from a 24-hour reception to daily linen changes and the serving of food and drink. The owner was charged with failing to register for VAT, failing to keep the mandatory accounting records and failing to have a digital cash register for the transmission of payment details.

Beach resorts

In Bari, the Finance Police’s Maritime Unit has dismantled a complex system of exploitation of seasonal workers at a beach resort. At the heart of the investigation is the offence of illegal recruitment, a phenomenon which, according to the Finance Police, is ‘increasingly common and affects numerous sectors of the maritime economy’.

There are four people under investigation, including a employment consultant who is alleged to have ‘adjusted’ the payslips to make the figures add up. The Guardia di Finanza has pre-emptively seized all the company’s assets, including property, cars, financial accounts and a state concession.

The investigations have uncovered a criminal scheme designed to exploit the work of lifeguards and other seasonal workers, who were forced to hand back in cash a portion of the wages they received in their pay packets. The cash was then used to pay other workers under the table, particularly during music festivals and other events. According to calculations by the Italian Tax Police, the actual wages of the employees – often young people in their first job, in need and facing complex social circumstances – were estimated to be between 2 and 5 euros gross per hour.

Still on the subject of bathing, the Air and Naval Operations Unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Vibo Valentia has uncovered irregularities concerning local IMU taxes, government concessions and state property fees along the coastline.

A number of defaulters have been identified who are alleged to have failed to pay IMU on properties built on state-owned maritime land under concession.

Specifically, a sole trader operating in the catering sector and the beach resort sector is alleged to have occupied state-owned land without ever paying IMU for the years 2021 to 2025.

Undeclared work in Vibo Valentia and Treviso

In Vibo Valentia, between 1 January and 31 July 2026, the Guardia di Finanza carried out 16 inspections of an equal number of commercial businesses operating in various economic sectors. The aim was to curb the spread of undeclared work, which the Guardia di Finanza describes as ‘one of the country’s greatest social and economic scourges, as it fuels exploitation, social injustice, unfair competition, and tax and social security evasion’.

The investigation led to the identification of a total of 98 workers, of whom 30 were working entirely off the books, without a proper contract or even the most basic forms of protection.

In a further 13 cases, however, the work was irregular: often, part-time contracts were used to conceal full-time employment in return for lower pay than was due, and, in other cases, it emerged that probationary periods had been carried out entirely off the books. The Labour Inspectorate therefore ordered the immediate and temporary closure of six companies, whilst, in a more serious case, one business was closed down permanently by the Provincial Administration of Vibo Valentia.

With the arrival of summer, the Vibo Gdf’s inspections then focused on the tourism sector: as part of an operation carried out against a beach resort, fines ranging from a minimum of 20,000 to a maximum of 117,000 euros were imposed.

Finally, still on the subject of undeclared work, the Gdf in Treviso carried out checks on 22 businesses during the weekends in June and July when customer numbers were at their highest. The operation led to the identification of 27 workers employed illegally, of whom 26 were working entirely off the books.

The fines will range from a minimum of around 64,000 euros to a maximum of over 371,000. Furthermore, at four premises inspected, breaches of the obligations to record sales takings were also identified.

Fines amount to 70 per cent of the VAT relating to the unrecorded supply or transaction, with a minimum of 300 euros.