Italian Finance Police launch major operation against false invoicing: a network of 32 shell companies dismantled

The operation concluded with the seizure of around a thousand products that did not comply with the safety standards laid down in the Consumer Code.

The presence of two companies in the same commercial premises aroused the suspicions of the Trani Tax Police, who, upon carrying out further checks using the databases at their disposal, discovered the existence of a fictitious lease agreement for the business unit between the ‘long-established’ company subject to the tax audit and the new company operating in the same warehouse.

The lease of the business unit, deemed to be entirely lacking in authenticity, authenticity, veracity and economic substance, was carried out for the sole purpose of shielding the transferring company from recovery actions by the Revenue Agency’s Collection Department, given the outstanding tax debts of over 500,000 euros that had never been settled.

In parallel with these investigations, tax inspectors from the Barletta, Andria and Trani Provincial Command continued their tax audit, which revealed a series of irregularities relating to commercial dealings with certain suppliers based in other parts of the country, which presented high levels of tax risk, such as the absence of the required returns for direct tax and VAT purposes, the failure to pay taxes, the absence of employees, of movable and/or immovable property registered in the company’s name, and of lease agreements for premises where the business was carried out.

This led the Guardia di Finanza to suspend the tax audit and promptly report the matter to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Trani on suspicion of tax fraud.

Under the direction of the Trani judicial authorities, the Trani tax police have expanded their investigation and identified a group of 32 shell companies, which were found to have issued, in the three-year period 2023-2025, for non-existent transactions, resulting in a corresponding tax liability of over 30 million euros.

Following the investigations, a total of 65 individuals were charged with issuing invoices for non-existent transactions, making fraudulent declarations using invoices or other documents relating to non-existent transactions, fraudulent evasion of tax payments, and fraudulent bankruptcy. Furthermore, 32 companies that benefited from the fraud have been referred to the authorities on grounds of administrative liability arising from criminal offences.

Finally, subject to authorisation from the judicial authorities, a request was submitted to the Revenue Agency to revoke two VAT registration numbers belonging to ‘shell’ companies that are still active, in order to prevent them from continuing to issue tax documents for non-existent transactions.