I simply said that for small amounts (12,000 euros in a year) the automatic controls of the tax authorities do not take place.
BS, not exactly like that in Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc.
Plenty of guys i know got letters of compliance for half that, usually they paid those (as they evaded way more
, nothing more followed). They all got them after some time, e.g. 2-3 years.
I'll give you an example: in Italy donations between individuals are not taxed. You don't even have to declare them in your tax return.
I call that half bulls**t.
A friend I know, Italian lawyer, told me it's true you don't have to declare the donations in your tax return, but you still have to pay a tax on the donations.
If it's between blood relatives there are low fees and a tax-free exemption of like 1mln eur.
If it's not, then there's no exemption and there's a fee to pay, like 6% of the amount
.
To call it a donation it has to be declared as such by notary act.
If you give them money by cash or wire transfer without declaring it, you will get in troubles for this after a while.
e.g. he told me about wedding donations in cash/wires, that happens frequently in Italy. The guests didn't declare them as donations and after years the married couple got a letter from the tax authority for those undeclared amounts... they treated them as if they were income... and had to pay taxes on that as they were not registered as donation.
Also the lawyer told me that the italian law doesn't say the exact amount (donation between non-related people) over which taxes are due, but it says something like "any valuable amount".
So it's a minefield even for lawyers. As sometimes 1k is valuable enough, sometime is more.
long story short, they'll try to shaft you in every way. it's more hellhole than you think.
