The houses never registered
Operationally, the amendment aims to implement Reform 1.12 of the PNRR for the emergence of tax bases, making use of spontaneous compliance based on the sending of compliance letters. This is the strategy also adopted for the adjustment of income for properties subject to redevelopment by Superbonus.
The recovery of revenue for the emergence of houses that were never declared was not expressly verified, but from the PIAO 2025-2027 it emerges that the reconnaissance activities allowed the identification of 1,035,034 “ghost” residential real estate units, which correspond to a presumed cadastral income of approximately 305 million euros. Obviously these properties are also completely unknown to the Municipalities, which leads to a loss of IMU revenue, also in this case of several hundred million euros.
The PIAO envisages the intensive use of technology to achieve these results, maintaining the objective of covering an increasingly greater percentage of the national territory with advanced cartographic surveys (aerial and satellite photos) (target confirmed at around 70%). The Government has indicated the end of 2027 as the deadline to complete the regularization of properties not included in the land register. The amendment therefore aims to provide the necessary tool to manage the regularization of the mass of over one million properties that the PIAO 2025-2027 has already targeted for the next two years.
Compliance letters
The proposed text, therefore, confirms the methods of verification and detection in the area and then regulates the sending of compliance documents. In fact, it is envisaged that to facilitate the fulfillment of the declaration obligations for the purposes of updating the cadastral database and the emergence of the taxable bases, the Revenue Agency, through a specific communication, will make the elements and information in its possession available to the cadastral owners of the properties on which the never declared buildings fall. The identified owners can then report to the Agency any elements, facts and circumstances not known by it, or can regularize spontaneously.
In the event that the fulfillment of the omitted declaration obligation is carried out before notification of the presumed income by the Agency, the declared cadastral income produces fiscal effects from the date of completion of the construction works on the building or, if earlier, from the date on which it is used in any case.
If the land registry does not allow the owners to be identified for notification, the Agency publishes the list of interested municipalities in the Official Journal and publicizes the parcels of land involved.
Presumed income and penalties
If the owner does not submit the update documents within 90 days of the arrival of the compliance letter or the publication of the lists in the Gazette, the Agency automatically proceeds to assign a presumed income and create a schematic map of the property.
In this case, the amendment proposes to apply a penalizing calculation: for homes the highest assessment rate of group A (homes) in the census area applies, and for non-residential properties the highest rate of group C (commercial/artisanal) applies. The deemed annuities produce retroactive tax effects from 1 January of the year of publication of the press release in the Gazette.
In fact, in this case, as long as the presumed income is not adjusted, in addition to the effects on income, you will have to pay more IMU, given that the tax is calculated on the cadastral income. One more reason to immediately take steps to comply.
Land registration does not cure illegal properties
However, the regularization of ghost properties does not protect against municipal controls in the event of building abuse. As expressly indicated in the text, in fact, “The control powers of the municipalities in urban planning and construction matters and the applicability of the related sanctions remain intact”.
In essence, revealing income has no bearing on the possibility of being subjected to a demolition order or criminal sanctions for illegal works.
