Italy Scams Guide!

There are scammers in every country and Italy is no exception. Here at the Business e via Italy we keep a constantly updated list of scams notified to us by our clients. We’re sharing the top ones with you below.

The lesson is this – if you receive any communication you don’t understand, particularly if it seems to concern tax, pass it to your commercialista to check out.

1. 1. Marketing Ploys. If you have a new business in Italy, you may be targeted by companies encouraging you to market your fledgling business by paying for an insert in a publication such as The List of Italian Firms Operating in Europe. One company sent our client a plain brown envelope containing only a pre-printed payment order. It was made out in the name of our client for the eminently reasonable sum of €390.57. It looked like a typical bollettino from the Italian Authorities and our client believed it was an official communication requiring him to pay the sum shown. Fortunately he passed it to us for inspection and we were able to tell him that it was nothing more than a cunning marketing ploy. But how many others have handed over their money unwittingly?
2. 2. Email Scams. One of our clients received an email apparently sent by the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue). The message stated that their tax repayment had been calculated and in order to receive it they should fill out the on-line form attached to the e-mail. Needless to say, the form requires you to give your bank details, identity card number and tax code (codice fiscale). The message in full reads as follows: “Cari Richiedente, 2009 – Ricalcolare Rimborso Fiscali. Dopo l’ultimo calcolo annuale della vostra attività fiscali abbiamo stabilito che si ha diritto a ricevere un rimborso di 284.23 EURO IL TUO NUMERO DI RIMBORSO FISCALE: 2790216815IT1/48. Si prega di compilare il modulo di pagamento da e-mail. Si prega di inviare il rimborso fiscale e ci permettono 3-9 giorni lavorativi al fine di processo. Grazie, Paolo Barricelli –Agenzia delle Entrate – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it – via G. De Marchi, 16 30175 Marghera”. If your Italian is good, you may be alerted by the less than perfect grammar, but otherwise it might well seem a valid request. Luckily, our client was suspicious and forwarded it to us to check over before he filled it in. Bearing in mind that there are over 12.4 million taxpayers in Italy who have been waiting on average 14 years for tax reimbursements, this really does seem a trick in very poor taste.
3. 3. Crazy Demands: This isn’t really a scam, just one of the more idiosyncratic features of the Italian Revenue! It’s a phenomenon known as “cartelle pazze” (crazy demands), where tax-payers with no debts to the Italian Revenue suddenly receive tax demands for bizarre and substantial sums of tax. These demands seem to be issued automatically without any check being made of the taxpayer’s actual record. They often stem from a validly made payment being allocated to the wrong tax period, and sometimes even to the wrong taxpayer! These demands should be passed on immediately to your Italian accountant so that the position can be checked and an appeal lodged against the assessment. We have had innumerable instances of cartelle pazze landing on our clients’ doormats, and we are proud to say they have always been withdrawn after our intervention.

If you, or people you know, have been on the receiving end of a scam here in Italy, please let us know the details so that we can post them here. The more publicity these scams receive, the less likely they are to be successful. BEV now has a Service Centre where you can contact a list of accountants with just one click of the mouse.

The Secrets of the Cassetto Fiscale

If you’re a tax payer in Italy then you’ll be used to hearing many Italian accountancy terms used by your commercialista. Some of these unknown expressions can be confusing to a non-Italian and you may not always want to ask, so we’ve written a series of articles to help you.

Let’s begin with the mysterious-sounding cassetto fiscale. Just what is it?

A literal translation of cassetto fiscale is “tax drawer”. However, it doesn’t mean that your tax declaration has been shoved inside a metal cabinet in the Italian Tax Office! Far from it.

In fact, the cassetto fiscale is a recent and highly successful innovation from the Italian Inland Revenue. Basically, if you’re a tax payer in Italy, you’re allocated your own virtual file or cassetto. Whenever a tax document is registered on your behalf it automatically goes into the relevant file. This is really convenient because everything is in one place. All your yearly tax returns, VAT (iva) returns and withholding certificates are all available for inspection, together with records of all payments (and reimbursements!) of tax you’ve made or received during the period.

In short, the arrival of the cassetto fiscale means the personal and comprehensive tax history of every Italian tax payer, both individuals and companies, is accessible on-line. It covers all taxes too, except for ICI (Italian Council Tax). Isn’t that wonderful? (Sorry - we Italian accountants get very excited by things like this!)

Take a Look in Your Own “Tax Drawer”!

As a tax payer in Italy you have the right to view your own cassetto and you can authorize your commercialista to have access as well. This not only gives your accountant (and you)an instant photograph of your tax situation, it also makes it far easier to see if returns have been missed or if there’s some other issue which needs to be dealt with.

Another great advantage of this on-line system is that it’s far easier to change commercialista. You don’t have to continue using someone you’re not happy with through fear of your records getting lost in a handover. Now you can simply authorize your new commercialista to access your cassetto fiscale and they’ll instantly have a record of all the tax documentation filed on your behalf.

To register so that you can inspect your cassetto fiscale, go on-line to the Agenzia delle Entrate and follow the instructions to apply for your PIN: http://telematici.agenziaentrate.gov.it/Main/Cassetto.jsp

And if you want to switch to an Italian accountant who really speaks your language, BEV now has a Service Centre where you can contact a list of accountants with just one click of the mouse.

The Bribery Act 2010: when does a gift or hospitality become a bribe?

The Bribery Act 2010 has been devised with the aim of reducing corruption and increasing transparency in business practices throughout the UK.

The Bribery Act creates four offences: two general offences -"active" and "passive" bribery - relating to the offering, promising or giving of an advantage, and requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of an advantage; a further specific offence of bribing a foreign public official; and a wide-reaching "corporate offence" which would occur when a person associated with a business bribes another person for the benefit of that organisation.

In the latter situation there would be no need to show that there had been negligence or even involvement on the part of the organisation. The penalty for individuals who commit such offences may be a fine or jail for a period of up to ten years. Organisations found to have committed a corporate offence may be subject to unlimited fines.

The only defence available for organisations will be to demonstrate that they have devised "adequate procedures" to defend against bribery.

A particularly complex aspect of the new legislation is that certain types of corporate hospitality and gifts may be regarded as illegal bribes and thus constitute a corporate offence. The guidance available so far indicates that reasonable hospitality which forms a normal part of business deaings would not be an issue. However, more lavish hospitality directed at specific individuals in a way that could be interpreted as intending to influence them could present a problem.

Currently the government is devising guidance about procedures that commercial organisations can put in place to prevent bribery. In the meantime businesses are advised to start examining their potential risk in respect of practices that could be considered bribery prior to devising internal policies and practices that will amount to "adequate procedures". Training will also be needed at an appropriate stage to make sure all employees understand the scope and implications of this new legislation.

For further information please contact :

Caterina Iodice, Associate

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www.grm.co.uk