Hundreds of millions not paid to the tax authorities during the GPs in Italy: the Fiamme Gialle are investigating foreign teams

Taxes evaded? The Guardia di Finanza of Bologna started investigations on foreign teams after the last 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 what was reported by Resto del Carlino, starting from information activities and the complaint presented by the Bolognese lawyer Alessandro Mei dating back to last June, the Fiamme Gialle are investigating alleged omissions by the teams to the tax authorities of income taxes produced by foreign drivers during the races held in the Bel Paese. 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 would not have complied with the withholding tax on their drivers’ wages, having therefore not paid the taxes generated by the drivers’ work (i.e. the races) carried out in Italy to the tax authorities. It should be remembered, in fact, that pilots are considered self-employed workers under Italian law, and payments must be made by the teams to which they belong, which are their clients and act as withholding tax, thus withholding the due part. The investigations of the Bolognese Financial Police are added to those of the Courts of Auditors of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. The taxation of athletes not resident 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 at the center of a parliamentary question in 2020. In addition, according to other RacingNews365 sources, the Guardia di Finanza has launched an investigation into all current and former F1 drivers, despite neither them nor their respective teams having ever been asked to pay taxes. The tax authorities have in fact contacted the pilots to request the submission of tax returns for the 2025 tax year, with the authorities intending, where legally possible, to collect unpaid taxes dating back several years. If the unpaid amount exceeds 50,000 euros, for some pilots it would constitute a criminal offence, with sanctions and the recovery of taxes.