TRIESTE – The Trieste Guardia di Finanza has strengthened monitoring activities on recreational boating, focusing on vessels flying a foreign flag.
The operation, carried out by the Aeronaval Operational Unit, took place at sea and in the tourist ports and marinas of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, where yacht and pleasure craft traffic increases during the summer period.
The inspections focused in particular on boats registered abroad but effectively used by Italian residents, a phenomenon known as “flagging out”. This practice, often adopted to reduce tax burdens, does not exempt owners from the obligation to declare the asset in the RW section of their tax return, as required by regulations on fiscal monitoring.
The operations, conducted by the Trieste Naval Station and the Lignano Sabbiadoro Naval Operations Section, led to the inspection of over 50 vessels considered potentially relevant. Cross-checking the information collected with the Corps’ databases made it possible to ascertain that eight of them had not been declared for one or more tax years.
The total value of the undeclared units amounts to 2,548,500 euros, while the administrative penalties, ranging between 3% and 15% for each tax year, exceed 75,000 euros.
The activity is part of a control plan launched in the early months of the year by the Guardia di Finanza.
