Principio di colpevolezza ed onere della prova nel sistema sanzionatorio tributario

The most recent tax regulations tightened both criminal and administrative sanctions against the taxpayers who break the law. In this context, art. 5, d.lgs. n. 472/1997 states that no administrative sanctions can be imposed on the taxpayer who doesn’t infringe tax law consciously and negligently: therefore, the subjective state of the taxpayer who violates fiscal regulations is a fundamental element that has to be evaluated in order to decide, in the specific case, whether to impose sanctions or not. The tax authority is allowed to presume that any violation of tax law was committed with guilt, while the taxpayer has to prove that he acted diligently in order to exclude sanctions. Nevertheless, this distribution of the burden of proof doesn’t’ allow the tax authority to impose sanctions when the taxpayer proves with specific elements that he didn’t act negligently, nor justifies the most recent rulings of the tax courts, according to whom the taxpayer has to give proof of his lack of guilt beyond the burden set by the law