Centre for Local Authority Studies

The hunt for evasion does not enthuse municipalities: only 304 out of 7,900 participate in active reporting

The report speaks of qualified entries and reports at an all-time low in recent years

by Davide Madeddu

31 December 2025

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Municipalities' "qualified alerts"
In 2024 the lowest ever with 2.5 million euros
The surprise of Genoa
304 beneficiary municipalities out of 7,900
Dominant North
A way to go

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The commitment of municipalities in the hunt for evasion is falling. Only 304 out of 7,900 participate 'actively' in the qualified reporting tool. With the result that in the last seven years, revenues have more than halved and reports 'at an all-time low'. Outlining this scenario is an elaboration by the Centro Studi Enti Locali, which also highlights some positive cases.

The 'qualified reports' of the municipalities

Everything is linked to the possibility for municipalities to initiate, when cases of tax evasion are suspected in the territory, investigations to draw the attention of the Revenue Agency to the cases in question. If the suspicions turn out to be well-founded and the sums are recovered, the reporting authorities are entitled to a 50% share of the revenue subtracted from evasion. A percentage, increased from an initial 30% to a temporary 100% and then back to 50%, which, reading the Centro Studi's data, does not seem to convince the public administrations. Only with the 100% percentage, the survey shows, was there a peak with the 'maximum use of the instrument'.

In 2024 the lowest ever with 2.5 million euro

"The revenue recognised to municipalities for collaboration in the recovery of tax evasion in 2024 hit an all-time low, bringing just over EUR 2.5 million into municipal coffers," writes the Centro Studi Enti Locali, "a figure that compares with the approximately EUR 3 million in 2022 and 2023, EUR 6.7 million in 2021 and EUR 11.4 million in 2018.

The total recovery in 2024 was therefore around EUR 5 million, 'far from the levels recorded in 2012, when the mechanism guaranteed returns of more than EUR 30 million. To find a lower amount, the report points out, one has to go back to 2009.

The surprise of Genoa

Among the cases that are highlighted is that of Genoa, which "emerges as 'champion of collections' and, with its 406,000 euro received, leads the regional figure for Liguria. It is followed by Milan with 376,490 euro, Prato with 170,122 euro, Turin with 113,888 euro, Florence with 105,628 euro, Brescia with 62,011 euro, Bergamo with 55,094 euro, Bologna with 48,127 euro, and Cernusco sul Naviglio with 40,543 euro'.

There is no shortage of paradoxes: 'Bari, Italy's tenth largest city by population, does not appear among the municipalities benefiting from the allocation,' the study points out. Even more emblematic is the comparison between Rome and some micro-municipalities: Vasia, for example, a Ligurian municipality with less than 400 inhabitants, manages to collect more than twice as much as the capital: 20,710 euro against 10,145.

304 beneficiary municipalities out of 7,900

Overall, there are 304 beneficiary municipalities and they represent a very small share of the approximately 7,900 local authorities in Italy: less than 4% actively participate in the instrument of qualified alerts. The territorial distribution of these entities confirms a marked imbalance.

Dominant North

In the geography of the fight against evasion, the North appears dominant. Leading the way is Lombardy with 97 municipalities and 1,009,938 euros (about 40% of the national total). This is followed by Liguria (442,290 euro with 15 municipalities), Emilia-Romagna (362,471 euro with 66 municipalities), and Tuscany (300,454 euro with 17 municipalities). These four regions alone concentrate most of the resources. In the South and the Islands, the allocations remain marginal: Campania 7,306 euro, Apulia 1,495 euro, Sicily 6,791 euro, Sardinia 8,396 euro. "It is a gap that recalls not only (or not so much) the theme of evasion," the elaboration underlines, "but that of administrative capacity, the organisation of offices and the continuity of control activities.

A road to travel

For the authors of the study, one solution could be a return to the 100 per cent quota. "If confirmed," they read, "it could mark a turning point for a mechanism that today remains effective but underused, especially in territories where reporting is still episodic.