Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale), No. 137/2025, 28 July 2025

The Constitutional Court provides a constitutionally oriented interpretation of the evidentiary preclusion set forth in Article 32, paragraphs 4 and 5, of Presidential Decree No. 600 of 29 September 1973, considering it not to infringe the rights of defense, to a fair trial, or to silence, provided that its application is excluded when the documentation contains elements not unequivocally favorable to the taxpayer or already in the possession of the tax authorities.

Article 32(4) and (5) of Presidential Decree No. 600 of September 29, 1973

Article 24(2) Italian Constitution

Article 25 Italian Constitution

Article 111(1) Italian Constitution

Article 6 ECHR

Art. 47 Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell'Unione europea

Article 47 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Article 48 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Article 8 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 10 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 11 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

1. The provision that prohibits the use in court of information requested by the tax authorities during the administrative phase, which the taxpayer failed to produce or transmit, is constitutionally legitimate, provided that it is interpreted in a restrictive and constitutionally consistent manner. It may apply only to information that is unequivocally favorable to the taxpayer, meaning those elements that could have prevented the assessment or reduced the scope of the tax authority’s potential claim.

2. According to a constitutionally consistent interpretation, information with mixed content – that is, elements that are even partially unfavorable to the taxpayer – is excluded from the scope of the evidentiary preclusion.

3. According to a constitutionally consistent interpretation, information in the possession of the tax authorities or obtainable by them through database queries is excluded from the scope of the evidentiary preclusion.