Hiding goods or taxable sources

The (Im)possibility of criminal prosecution for committing the offence provided by Article 9 paragraph (1) letter a) of Law no. 241/2005 in case the goods or taxable source derive from the committing of a crime or from the trading of such goods

Abstract

Given the fact that an important source of state financing is represented by taxes owed by taxpayers and the fact that tax evasion is a constantly developing phenomenon, the temptation to apply the legal regulations that incriminate tax evasion in as many situations as possible is high. Thus, the question arose to what extent Article 9 paragraph (1) letter a of Law no. 241/2005 could be applied if the taxable good comes from a criminal activity. The doctrine and case-law prove that the answer is not necessarily an obvious one. In these circumstances, this material is intended to be a synthesis of these solutions, followed by references to the Court of Justice of the European Union`s case-law that are relevant in this context. The final part of the paper is dedicated to proposals for resolving the situations that bring into question the possibility of taxing such goods and the criminal law intervention.