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Sicily tax court bars association representative’s personal appeal over 2016 gaming assessment

Regulation2 min read

In brief

  • Sicily's second-instance tax court ruled an association's legal representative could not appeal an ADM assessment in his own name.
  • The assessment covered games and lotteries for 2016; the dispute is worth about €50,000.
  • The court confirmed the assessment and did not address the merits of the tax claims.

The Court of Justice of Taxation of Sicily, sitting at second instance, ruled that the legal representative of an association had no interest in appealing in his own name against an assessment issued by the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM). The dispute concerned an ADM assessment on games and lotteries for 2016.

The assessment was issued against an association based in the province of Agrigento. It was served on the person who held the post of the association's legal representative at the time. The value of the dispute is about €50,000. The representative appealed in his own name and obtained a favourable decision at first instance from the Court of Justice of Taxation of Agrigento.

ADM then appealed against that decision, arguing that the judges had not examined the facts underlying the assessment or the validity of the tax claim against those actually liable. According to ADM, the notice contained no tax claim addressed directly to the representative. The second-instance court upheld the appeal, finding that the notice had been served solely because of the recipient's representative function. The judges observed that the assessment formulated no tax claim against the individual who brought the appeal. On that basis the panel found a lack of interest in appealing from the outset.

The ruling does not address the merits of the tax claims relating to the activity covered by the assessment. It does not rule out tax liability for association representatives in cases provided for by law. The court confirmed the assessment originally challenged and offset the costs of both instances.

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