ITALY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Maurizio Marullo, Giorgio Vagnoni, Francesco Amoresano and Fausto Consolo, LAWP Studio legale e tributario
• issuing invoices for fictitious transactions (Article 8 of Legislative Decree 74/2000), which is punishable by up to eight years’ imprisonment. Artificial capital gains under the FIGC Justice Code Artificial capital gains are also sanctioned under Italian sports law, especially in football – the pro - fessional sport most vulnerable to such fraudu - lent practices. Article 31 of the FIGC Justice Code sanctions violations of sports provisions concerning man - agement and economic matters with measures that may include (depending on the severity of the violations): • fines; • points deductions; • relegation; • exclusion from relevant competitions and demotion to lower-tier championships; and/or • revocation of the title of Italian champion and/ or winner of the relevant championship/com - petition. Case law in Italian football: the “Juventus Case” In recent years, the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office has investigated many transactions involving major Italian football clubs accused of generating arti - ficial capital gains. However, only a few cases have resulted in sanctions, as courts have ulti - mately upheld the defendants’ arguments that football is a free market where player values and prices are determined by free negotiation between clubs, making it challenging to estab - lish the fair value of a player or prove the fraudu - lent intent of clubs.
The most recent case involves a major pro - ceeding in the FIGC’s sports justice bodies that began in 2022, which eventually led to sanctions against Juventus FC, its directors, and certain executives. Initially, the FIGC justice bodies discharged all clubs and managers involved, acknowledging that while capital gains in financial statements should be based on certain evaluation criteria, there are no specific laws or sports rules that define criteria for evaluating players in football market transactions. However, the case against Juventus FC was reopened by the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office fol - lowing investigations by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Turin. New documents and wiretaps provided evidence of the club’s fraudulent conduct – specifically, that, accord - ing to the Prosecutor’s Office, Juventus FC had established a systematic scheme of exchanging players with other clubs (including foreign clubs) in order to generate artificial capital gains and improve its financial results. On the basis of this new evidence, the FIGC jus - tice bodies confirmed the fraud and imposed a ten-point deduction on the club in the 2022-2023 Serie, A championship. At the same time, most of the club’s management received disqualifica - tions ranging from several months to years. Tax Residence for Sportspersons: New Identification Criteria An athlete’s decision to perform in Italy is often influenced by the tax implications of their pres - ence in the country. Even if an athlete resides outside Italy and competes internationally, hav - ing certain business or personal interests in Italy may subject their profits to Italian taxation.
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