Revenue Agency, the appeal to the TAR against the “size-fit” rules blocks the competition for 4,000 places

ROME – The rule should have speed up public competitions, with digitalised and simplified procedures (the oral exams are skipped), also eliminating the issue of rankings which last forever with a ceiling of 20% “of the places following the last of those advertised”. At the moment of “grounding”, however, with the two maxi-competitions announced byRevenue Agency (4500 seats in total), exactly the “size-fit” rule has proven to be an increasingly cumbersome obstaclewhich postponed the compilation of the final ranking from month to month and now it even risks invalidating the entire competition procedure if publication does not take place by May 15th. Even if the Revenue Agency is confident, and is waiting for a definitive opinion from the Public Function clarify the situation and allow the publication of the ranking as soon as possible.

The two competitions for officials: boom with 180 thousand applications

The two Revenue Agency competitions were announced in July, and involve the hiring of 3,970 officials to be assigned to tax activities e 530 to real estate advertising services. There were over 180 thousand applications, a little less than half of the candidates participated in the selections, it was easy to reach the number of people to hire. The question arose on the eligible candidates: the law decree on simplification of competitions and the conversion law provide two different rules to reduce their number. In fact, Legislative Decree 44/2023 provides that “in public competitions, candidates placed in the final ranking within 20 percent of the positions following the last of those advertised are considered suitable”. During the conversion, a simpler formulation is chosen, “candidates placed in the final ranking after the last winning candidate, in a number not exceeding 20 percent of the places available for competition”, become eligible.

The appeal of the candidates

The Revenue Agency has opted, also on the recommendation of the Civil Service, for the second formulation of the rule. But in the meantime the candidates have appealed, and the TAR of Lazio argued for the application of the law in force at the time the competition was announced: therefore all suitable candidates must enter the rankings. According to the calculations of the competition committees, which are based on the first publications of the results, there would be around 12 thousand people, therefore more than double those to be hired immediately. While with the application of the eligible cut-off we arrived – for the 3,970 place competition – at an “excess” ranking up to the threshold of 1,970 eligible candidates.

«We have been waiting for the final ranking since November, but the agency systematically postpones the date. The deadline will expire in May, after which we will probably proceed with the cancellation”, says a worried candidate who requests anonymity. «The agency doesn’t respond to us, doesn’t tell us anything, but announces new competitions, spending more money. We have families, we have closed VAT numbers, we have left our jobs.”

The Revenue Agency actually has all the publication and postponement notices on its website, which testify to the difficult development of the matter. The last deadline would have been April 8th. Now no deadline is given other than the legal one of May 15th. The Civil Service does not communicate its decision. And if it does not do so, the Revenue cannot proceed, nor is there time for a definitive ruling from the Council of State. The simplification didn’t work this time.