ADM Calabria 2 annuls two tax assessments over gaming terminals

Italy's customs and monopolies agency has withdrawn, through self-review, two tax assessments that concerned three totem devices at a business in Isola di Capo Rizzuto, in the province of Crotone. The ADM Calabria 2 office took the decision after recognising that the rule on prior consultation with the taxpayer, Article 6-bis of Law 212/2000, had not been applied.

Both assessments were issued on 4 September 2026 for the single tax governed by Legislative Decree 504/1998. One of them, for tax year 2021, provided for recovery of €176,040 in tax, €31,966.93 in interest and an administrative penalty of €251,737. The total contested under that assessment was €459,743.93, plus notification costs. The same assessment also ordered the ancillary sanction of closing the business for six months. The tax claim was calculated using a flat daily taxable amount of €3,000 for each of the three devices, assuming 326 days of operation in 2021, for a total taxable base of €2,934,000.

The case stems from checks by the Questura di Crotone on 8 and 10 February 2022 at a catering business, which found three devices commonly called totems, connected to mains power and the Internet but not to the state gaming network. ADM said the devices were of the type described in Article 110, paragraph 6, letter b) of the TULPS. It also said they allowed games similar to new slots, offered Internet browsing, and gave access to gaming platforms run by parties without a concession or authorisation.

Lawyer Bernardo Procopio of the Crotone bar had challenged one of the assessments before the first-instance Tax Court of Catanzaro, seeking its annulment and an interim suspension. The defence said that on 9 December 2025 it sent defence briefs and observations on the draft assessments to ADM Calabria 2 by certified email. According to the defence, ADM stated in later measures that the parties had not submitted observations. Article 6-bis of the taxpayers’ rights statute requires the administration to take received observations into account and to give reasons if it does not accept them.

The self-review measure was digitally signed by Pierpaolo Trapuzzano, head of ADM Calabria 2. It refers to defence briefs logged on 11 December 2025 and records that they had not received a reply as the rules require. The measure annuls under Article 21-novies of Law 241/1990 the two assessments of 4 September 2026, citing non-application of Article 6-bis of Law 212/2000.

The appeal had also raised the operating period of the devices, their technical classification, the documents underpinning the tax claim, and the proportionality of the penalties. The defence disputed reconstructing the activity of the three totems in 2021 from a check carried out only in February 2022. It also contested the monetary penalty set at 143% of the tax and the six-month closure of the business. The ADM measure addresses the procedural issue of prior consultation and does not expressly rule on the other substantive questions raised in the appeal.