Taxi License Transfer Without Payment: Supreme Court Rejects Tax Claim

Although nowadays there are many innovative ways to share a long journey relying on private carriers, car sharing,etc. , the taxi at least as far as the short distance is concerned, it always remains the preferred one.

As in other industry sectors restricted in the number of merchants, to become a taxi driver you have to wait for a place to be vacated. At that point there are two possibilities: the first is to participate – and win – a competition held by the municipality where the service will take place; the second, much more accessible, to buy the license from a taxi driver who withdraws from the service.

Since this second solution does not involve waiting for a competition or the risk of the place going to someone else, it is certainly the most chosen route, even if this advantage comes at a cost. The prices of licences for sale are very high.

Among the taxi drivers who decide to change jobs, there is T. C., now exasperated by the traffic of the metropolis in which he is forced to drive many hours, day and night, bythe dodgy individuals who increasingly populate the city streets.

On the other hand, he is attracted by the prospect of a new job and more time to spend with his family. It is the only thing he has in mind, without second guessing, because his license, even if the market prices are very high and such a sale would allow him to live serenely for some time, will come for free since he has not placed any price.

The pleasure of taking away some satisfaction, after so many years of renunciation,will pay him for everything and for this reason he decides to give the license free of charge.

The Tax Office is made suspicious

But Mr. T.C. did not come to terms with one thing: the control of the Internal Revenue Service.

On every commercial transaction, uttermost on those involving commercial licences, the Tax Office demands a sum by way of taxation. In the case of the sale of a taxi licence, which generally takes place at very high prices, the Revenue Agency obtains large sums.

For this reason a free taxi license is not passed unnoticed at all.

The problem for T. C. is that if he could first afford to enliven his life-changing dreams, being enough to give up the stressful job of taxi driver, now with a conviction for paying such a high tax, without having cashed in the price, things get very complicated.

Using investigative tools found on the internet, the Internal Revenue Service identified the most likely figure for a sale of a taxi license, and applied it to the concrete case of the unfortunate tax payer, requesting a spending commitment tha textinguishes his dreams of glory, forcing him to review the plans for the future: no holidays, no investments, but many instalments to be paid to the Tax Office.

Goodbye dreams of a quieter life

Generally, any change of habits is bound to affect family life. Even a new machine is capable of making an impact.

The work of the taxi driver is very special, the shifts can happen during holidays and night hours. This can cause many problems in those families where there are small children, but it can also force continuous reorganizations for holidays, leisure, commitments.

It will therefore not have seemed true to Mr. T.C.'s wife that her husband had found a buyer for the taxi and that it was finally time to enjoy the family. He never thought that all this had to clash with the harsh reality, and with the anguish of having every month a significant amount to pay to the Revenue Agency.

Google search triggers Tax suspicion

But what state of mind to deal with this misadventure if not bitterness and disappointment?

It may also be tolerated that the Revenue Agency reviews the calculations made with respect to the declaration made by the taxpayer, but T.C. does not accept that to decree the shutdown of his dreams must be an internet search.

What most of all causes T.C. to challenge the decision, is precisely the fact that the Internal Revenue Service has resorted to Google to challenge its free choice to surrender the license at a zero price.

Lawyer insists on victory

Can this singular element be enough to establish an appeal before the Internal Revenue Service? Surely it is necessary to rely on a good lawyer, one who knows what are the most thorny issues for the taxman, and who knows how to identify them in the specific case.

Otherwise it will be hard to think that you can win the appeal and stop having to pay the instalments to finally devote yourself to the change of course so coveted.

Twice the Internal Revenue Service has won

The route to the goal was full of obstacles. The hardest to overcome was to continue to have hope and courage to move forward after losing both the first and second degree of judgment.

The IRPEF assessment notice for the taxation of the capital gain made by the transfer of the license, according to the Revenue Agency, was an obligatory act because no justification for this free transfer was given.

There is no bond of kinship or friendship, there was no debt between the two, so why could T.C. have decided to get rid of the taxi without asking for even a single euro? Evidently, he must have thought of the Tax Office, the sale took place and the price was paid but without reporting it to the Tax Office to avoid paying taxes.

The taxi driver is right: the sale must be proven

Even if the sale had taken place with the payment of the price, as the Revenue Agency claims, there was no proof of this payment in the process. In the absence of a fixed price, the Revenue Agency cannot apply a tax on the basis of data simply found on the Internet.

In summary, with this reason the Court of Cassazione has adhered to the suggestive defensive argument of T.C.'s lawyer who perhaps at first glance did not have much chance of being accepted.

Thecalculation of the amount of the disputed capital gain,lacking both specific elements of valuation and serious, precise and agreed presumptions, have prevented any valid dispute by the taxpayer. Such could certainly not be considered the results ofthe results of unknown sources of the web, however not even listed.

On this basis, the Supreme Court overturned the tax claim, specifying that the notice of investigation must contain by law the fact and the legal reasons that justify it, and be understandable to the point of permeating to the person concerned to be able to defend himself without difficulty.