Rectification of a property’s cadastral classification: protection of the taxpayer against the Internal Revenue Service – 2020 Supreme Court 28134

The firm assisted a client in litigation concerning an irregular reclassification of the cadastral rent of a property, which had resulted in an increase in the taxes claimed on the same.

The client was victorious from the first instance, before the Provincial Tax Commission of Rome, but the Administration’s appeals took the case all the way to the seat of legitimacy before the Supreme Court of Cassation.

The latter, in upholding our client’s position, reiterated that when proceeding to the reclassification of a property, the Administration is obliged to indicate in detail what interventions and transformations have led to the redevelopment of the municipal micro-zone considered. The measure must be sufficiently justified, including taking into account the specific features of the individual property unit and building. In particular, the act must state the elements that have concretely determined the changes within a microzone, specifying how these have affected the classification of the individual real estate unit.

Therefore, a generic justification, which considers all real estate units falling within the same zone in a unified and indistinct manner, is not legitimate. Similarly, a summary reference to the ratio of market value to cadastral value in the microzone under consideration compared to the same ratio in other areas of the municipality is not sufficient.

The full text of the ruling is available here: Supreme Court of Cassation, Order 28134 of 10/12/2020