The Italian ISA
A score built from figures nobody verifies.
An annual rating from 1 to 10 that helps decide who is selected for audit. The Indici Sintetici di Affidabilità fiscale replaced the earlier sector studies from the 2018 tax period onwards. They condense several individual indicators into a single value and draw on two sources: the accounts — and non-accounting declarations filed once a year.
The methodology is public — the inputs are not
That is the decisive difference from most audit methods. The Note tecniche e metodologiche, with formulas, coefficient tables and allocation matrices, are published as an annex to the ministerial decree in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, organised by trade, manufacturing, services and the professions; the Agenzia delle Entrate additionally issues calculation software free of charge. With the formula known and the coefficients known, the inputs determine the result completely — and it is precisely the inputs that nobody checks.
What goes into the score
| Input | Where it comes from | Who verifies it |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue and goods input | from the accounts | the accounts themselves and the audit |
| Payroll cost and structure | from the accounts | the accounts themselves and the audit |
| Number of seats | declared once a year | nobody |
| Days open | declared once a year | nobody |
| Price level | declared once a year | nobody |
| Staff days | declared once a year | nobody |
| Floor space and equipment | declared once a year | nobody |
Verify the inputs and you verify the score
A wrongly declared seat count, or too many days open, changes the expected value — and with it the distance between expectation and declaration. That can be recalculated without arguing over a single euro of turnover. And because the calculation rule is officially published, the recalculation is reproducible: a third party working from the same figures arrives at the same score.
What the number is not
A low score is not a finding about the accuracy of the accounts; it is a distance from a statistical expected value. Reading it as an accusation means negotiating over something that has not yet been alleged. And improving it by adjusting the declaration instead of checking the figures merely moves the problem.
What we contribute
We recalculate the score from your own accounts — following the published specification, not a supposition — and check every non-accounting figure against what the records actually show. For every deviation you receive the origin of the number and its effect on the result.
The legal provisions cited here are given for information and do not replace legal advice.