Serie B: Genoa, towards a -2 for non-payments: Serie A moves away

Embarrassing. And for the moment it is better to limit yourself to this adjective. The Genoa case explodes and will have serious consequences in court. To date there is only the classic Covisoc report to the federal prosecutor after having ascertained an administrative irregularity. The Public Prosecutor’s Office itself has opened an investigation and will close the investigation shortly, requesting a trial with a referral. A practice that has been seen many times in Serie C but very rarely in Serie B. This too generates embarrassment in the club, which has fallen from the clouds and is making the necessary assessments to understand at a technical and temporal level if there has been mistake.

THE FACTS

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The problem is simple to say but very complex to explain. Basically, Genoa has not respected the deadline of 16 December (valid for clubs B and C) for the payment of taxes: at stake there would be a total of 21.8 million Irpef accumulated since January due to the legal suspension due to Covid, part of a debt with the Treasury to which 4.2 million INPS would have to be added, which however should have been paid (otherwise there would be criminal consequences). For this failure, the penalty is 2 points: the current standings would change little, but in a few months it could be a fatal penalty in the race for Serie A. But that’s not the point: not being promoted could be the lesser of evils.

EXPLANATION

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In a correspondence between the club and Covisoc, an attempt is made to explain that Genoa has tried to adhere to the famous “Lotito law”, the budget law passed by the government in December to help clubs indebted to the tax authorities after Covid. 18 clubs from A and several from B have joined, and Genoa would have liked to do so too. But he chose the wrong path. Because the request to the Revenue Agency was not made by the club, as per the regulation, but by Genoa Image srl, a subsidiary to which Genoa has sold the rights to exploit the brand for 16 years in exchange for taking over part of the debts, in particular those with the tax authorities. A procedure not permitted by federal law. It would have been enough to ask for information from the FIGC, or Covisoc, to be told stop. Genoa didn’t do it, they chose that path and made a huge mistake.

THE CONSEQUENCES

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The new law would have deferred Genoa’s debt for 5 years, with a 3% tax and three months’ advance payment: less than three million, in this case. Doubting that there was not that amount in the club’s coffers (yes, the embarrassment…), which the investments made so far tends to exclude, we are inclined to believe in the wrong strategy by 777 Partners, the owner Fund of the club. The deadline of December 16th had in fact been moved to the 22nd with the launch of the budget law, but Genoa did not access it, except on the 20th with Genoa Image srl.

IT DOES NOT END HERE

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Now we need to see what happens on February 16, the next deadline for salaries (which would always have been paid to the Griffin) and contributions. Genoa will have to comply with all the past plus the last two months (December and January); he will also be able to find a new agreement with the Revenue Agency, if he does it in time (there are just over three weeks left…), certainly without being able to count on the new law, which had to be exploited by 22 December last. Which Genoa tried to do but – we repeat – with the wrong formula, improvidently relying on a subsidiary company and not doing it personally. Quite different from what the club has done in the past, given that the debt with the tax authorities would be close to 100 million overall, and if it hadn’t been subject to regular installments, Genoa would never have been able to register for the previous championships. Therefore, if everything is not resolved by 16 February, failure to meet the second deadline – regulation in hand – will even lead to exclusion from the championship. A shocking scenario. For this reason, now, it is better to limit oneself to talking about embarrassment.