Shareholder loans and the presumption of hidden revenue: the proof that saves

Sums paid by shareholders into the company are presumed to be loans unless the financial statements show a different basis: so provides Article 46(1) of the TUIR, the Italian Consolidated Income Tax Act. On the assessment side, Article 32(1) no. 2 of Presidential Decree 600/1973 allows the tax office to base its adjustments on bank account movements, while Article 39(1)(d) admits adjustments resting on serious, precise and consistent presumptions. A payment with no documented basis therefore risks being read as unrecorded revenue.

For those defending the company in a tax audit, pre-established evidence makes the difference: the loan must be formalised before the funds are advanced, through board or shareholders’ minutes or a private deed bearing a certified date, and the money must move by bank transfer from the shareholder’s personal account. If the office raises a challenge, the observations filed within the sixty-day mandatory pre-assessment dialogue under Article 6-bis of Law 212/2000 (the Taxpayers’ Charter) allow basis and source of funds to be documented before the deed is issued.

Summary note by the CommercialistiAvvocati network, based on specialised legal and practice sources. The text does not reproduce original contributions and does not constitute professional advice.