Tax authorities: 200 databases to combat tax evasion. Parliament: a check on any misuse of AI

Casasco emphasises: ‘In accordance with the Constitutional Court’s guidance, the Commission has upheld the principle that tax assessment proceedings cannot be impeded by the – albeit legitimate – need to protect the private interest in confidentiality, but must always strike a reasonable balance between the two requirements, highlighting how a restrictive interpretation by one Member State compared with others may affect economic competitiveness within the European Union’.

This refers to the possibility of carrying out web scraping, which, as emerged during the hearing with Vincenzo Carbone, Director of the Revenue Agency, on 29 October 2025, is permitted in France but not in Italia.

The Commission emphasises that the investigation also highlighted the issue of the ‘insider threat’, that is, the risk arising from the unlawful use of databases by individuals who, by virtue of their institutional roles, legitimately possess the credentials required to access information systems. In this regard, Casasco’s conclusions state that ‘this particular type of risk cannot be attributed solely to shortcomings in technological defences but must be viewed within the context of issues concerning the management of authorisations, the constant monitoring of access, and the prevention and immediate suppression of unauthorised access and the misuse of information obtained unlawfully’

What, then, should be done? “To combat this phenomenon,” emphasised the chair of the bicameral supervisory committee, “there is no alternative but to strengthen preventive controls on access to databases and to develop increasingly effective and immediate tools for detecting behavioural anomalies.”

The Commission is firmly committed to the interoperability of databases because ‘it enables the existing information resources to be utilised to the full, promoting the sharing of information between public authorities and facilitating more effective monitoring, planning and decision-making’.

At the same time, ‘the development of interoperability processes must go hand in hand with the strengthening of security systems, through full traceability of access, the adoption of periodic audit mechanisms and the ongoing verification of the proportionality of the processing carried out.’

‘The aim should not be to restrict the flow of information necessary for the performance of public functions, but rather to ensure that such a flow takes place within a framework of rules that is transparent, accountable and respectful of fundamental rights.’

The Commission also welcomes ‘the possibility of establishing a sandbox dedicated to experimenting with artificial intelligence in the tax sector, which would allow artificial intelligence systems – intended, amongst other things, for tax risk analysis, fraud prevention, the detection of anomalies, the promotion of voluntary compliance and the simplification of relations between the tax authorities and taxpayers’.

The Commission is closely examining the proposal by the Guardia di Finanza to switch from annual to monthly transmission of accounting information from the Financial Transactions Register, in order to make it available more promptly to the relevant authorities.

Among the simplifications suggested by Maurizio Casasco is the proposal to extend notaries’ access to the Tax Register, thereby improving operational efficiency, simplifying compliance procedures and contributing to the quality of tax information.