Fraudulent Tax Evasion (Art. 11 D.Lgs. 74/2000)

Fraudulent Tax Evasion (Art. 11 D.Lgs. 74/2000)

Fraudulent evasion of tax payments arises when a person carries out fraudulent acts on their own assets in order to evade payment of taxes, penalties or interest owed to the treasury.

In corporate criminal law, the offence frequently manifests through transfer, disposal or asset-stripping operations which, while appearing formally lawful, are concretely suitable to render the collection action of the financial administration ineffective or particularly difficult.

Investigation Structure

Criminal investigation requires verification of the existence of a tax debt, the carrying out of fraudulent acts affecting the taxpayer's assets and the suitability of such conduct to prejudice or make more difficult the collection of the sums due. The analysis must concern not only the individual patrimonial operation but the overall economic and corporate context in which it is embedded.

Defence Method

The defence is based on the reconstruction of the disputed patrimonial operations and the verification of their real purpose, with particular attention to the distinction between legitimate management or patrimonial reorganisation operations and conduct actually aimed at removing assets from the guarantee of the treasury's credit. In corporate criminal law, the analysis of the economic context and the business motivations that determined the disputed patrimonial choices takes on central importance.