Evaded taxes?
The Guardia di Finanza of Bologna has launched investigations into foreign stables after the latest Formula 1 races held in Italy on circuits such as Monza (home of the Italian Grand Prix), Imola (of Emilia-Romagna) and Mugello (of Tuscany in the 2020 world championship). According to reports from Resto del Carlino, starting from intelligence activities and the complaint filed by the Bolognese lawyer Alessandro Mei dating back to last June, the Fiamme Gialle are investigating alleged tax omissions, by the teams, of income taxes produced by foreign drivers during races held in Italy.
The investigation is still in its early stages, but if this were to be ascertained, the omission of payments to the Treasury would amount to hundreds of millions of euros. The investigations, in this specific case, are focusing exclusively on ‘non-resident’ teams, which allegedly failed to operate withholding tax on their drivers’ fees, thus not having paid the Treasury the taxes generated by the drivers’ work (i.e., the races) carried out in Italy. It should be remembered, in fact, that drivers are considered self-employed workers under Italian law, and payments must be made by the teams to which they belong, which act as their clients and tax withholding agents, thus retaining the due portion. The investigations by the Bolognese Guardia di Finanza are added to those of the Courts of Accounts of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Tuscany. The taxation of non-resident athletes in Italy (with a similar system also in force in other nations such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States) had already been the subject of a parliamentary question in 2020.
In addition, according to other sources from RacingNews365, the Guardia di Finanza has launched an investigation into all F1 drivers, current and former, despite neither they nor their respective teams ever having been asked to pay taxes. The tax authorities have indeed contacted the drivers to request the submission of their tax returns for the 2025 fiscal year, with the authorities intending, where legally possible, to collect unpaid taxes dating back several years. Should the unpaid amount exceed 50,000 euros, for some drivers this would constitute a criminal offense, with penalties and tax recovery.
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