False invoices and criminal liability: acquittal by the Florence court of appeal

On 31 October 2024, the Court of Appeal of Florence delivered a decision that represents a turning point in the field of tax criminal law. The Court acquitted a company director who had been convicted in the first instance for the alleged use of false invoices (art. 2 Legislative Decree 74/2000), ruling that the alleged conduct did not exist.

This judgment is of particular importance as it clarifies the boundaries between tax assessments and criminal liability, reaffirming fundamental principles of Italian criminal procedure.

THE CASE

The case concerned a company director accused of having used false invoices for tax purposes. The first-instance court had convicted him based mainly on presumptions derived from the tax audit. The Court of Appeal, however, overturned the decision, ruling that fiscal presumptions cannot, by themselves, be sufficient to establish criminal liability without adequate corroborating evidence.

THE LEGAL REASONING

The judgment clarified several key points regarding the burden of proof:

• Art. 192 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure requires that a conviction be based on serious, precise, and consistent evidence. The statements of a co-defendant or tax irregularities alone are not sufficient.
• The mere economic disproportion of a contract is not proof of its fictitious nature.
• The criminal judge cannot substitute themselves for the entrepreneur in evaluating the convenience or appropriateness of business decisions.

In essence, the Court drew a clear distinction between the tax judge’s role (focused on presumptions and fiscal logic) and the criminal judge’s role, which requires proof of fraudulent intent beyond any reasonable doubt.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DECISION

This ruling reinforces a cornerstone principle of tax criminal law: the burden of proof lies with the prosecution, which must demonstrate not only the objective falsity of the invoices but also the intentional fraudulent conduct of the defendant. The Court’s decision restores balance between tax and criminal proceedings, ensuring that criminal liability cannot be founded solely on presumptive assessments.

CONCLUSION

The Court of Appeal of Florence’s acquittal sends a strong message: in criminal tax proceedings under Legislative Decree 74/2000, and in particular under art. 2 (use of false invoices), the threshold of proof required for conviction is significantly higher than that used in tax litigation. This judgment will serve as a reference point for future case law, protecting defendants from convictions based only on fiscal presumptions and reaffirming the guarantees of due process in criminal law.