Taxpayers must be vigilant when sending tax returns

It is the duty of the taxpayer to verify that the merchant entrusted with the task correctly transmits the tax return to the Inland Revenue Agency electronically. This was reiterated by the Tax Chamber of the Court of Cassation in its Order 22742/2025, filed yesterday.

The Court of Cassation, in fact, found justified the appeal of the Inland Revenue Agency against a taxpayer for undue horizontal compensation. The taxpayer had received a recovery notice, which he had appealed against at first instance, where the appeal had been upheld only in the part relating to the penalties, considered undue. In the second instance, after the Revenue Agency had appealed against the part unfavourable to it, it had been confirmed that the penalties were not due for the taxpayer. The Agency had thus appealed to the Court of Cassation, relying on the jurisprudence of legitimacy for thecriminal liability of the taxpayer.

First, the ordinance emphasises that, in the case of penalties for tax violations, the burden of proof of no fault lies with the taxpayer. It then recalls the jurisprudential principle according to which the taxpayer is liable "for the failure to submit the tax return by the professional charged with its telematic transmission if he does not prove that he has supervised the latter". The Supreme Court thus extends the principle to the case at hand, i.e. the undue horizontal compensation committed by professionals entrusted with the execution of tax obligations. Even in the absence of the subjective element, the taxpayer's liability is excluded only when it can be proven that the professional in charge, with a fraudulent attitude, acted in order to conceal his negligence.