Due to the persisting economic crisis, companies and other VAT registered persons increasingly struggle to cope with VAT payment deadlines and may fail to pay their VAT debt within the set deadlines. This failure, in certain circumstances, can be punished by Italian criminal tax law. Nevertheless the Italian Supreme Court seems to have, at least in more recent circumstances, taken a more lenient approach before considering a taxable person guilty. In this article, the authors provide a general overview of the criminal tax offence, and conclude with a brief description of some current and potential future developments.