Sardinia, maxi-operation of the Guardia di Finanza: 100 boats worth over 48 million euro discovered

One hundred vessels unknown to the tax authorities worth over EUR 48 million. This is the outcome of an operation called 'Red Jack' conducted by the Aeronaval Operations Department of the Guardia di Finanza di Cagliari. The activity began in 2025, when the first anomalies emerged during routine checks, which triggered a detailed reconnaissance of Sardinian ports.

A vast nautical patrimony evaded tax monitoring: although they were attributable to persons resident in Italia, the vessels identified by the Fiamme Gialle were operating in national waters flying foreign flags, without being reported to the Italian tax authorities. This is the system known as 'flagging out', a phenomenon in the sights of the financial police. The strategy often used by Italian individuals to circumvent the national tax system consists in registering their yachts and pleasure boats in foreign registers.

The practice aims to reduce management and insurance costs and is often used to evade transparency obligations towards the tax authorities. The heart of the operation was, in fact, the verification of compliance with tax monitoring regulations.

The rule requires residents in Italia to accurately declare the possession of movable property registered abroad. Failure to indicate in the tax return the property registered in a foreign State deceives the Treasury as to the real ability to pay and is, therefore, penalised according to the value of the property itself.

The operational activity carried out by the Naval Station of the Cagliari Guardia di finanza also took on vast proportions in relation to the tax residence of the various owners of the pleasure craft. In fact, the meticulous reconstruction made it possible to trace back to those who had failed to make tax returns, distributed throughout the country, through targeted action by numerous Corps units.