Regime impatriati returns, in English

What the regime does

Under the current rules (Legislative Decree 209/2023, for people who became resident from 2024), 50% of qualifying employment and self-employment income earned in Italy is exempt from income tax, on up to €600,000 of income a year. The exemption rises to 60% if you move with a minor child, or have or adopt a child while you are on the regime. It lasts for five tax years.

If you moved before 2024, you are generally on the previous rules (Decree-Law 34/2019), which exempted 70% of qualifying income, or 90% in the southern regions. We prepare returns under both.

Who qualifies

In short, all of these must be true:

• You were not tax resident in Italy for the 3 tax years before you moved. It is 6 or 7 years if you now work for the same employer or group you worked for before.
• You become tax resident in Italy and stay for at least 4 years. Leave earlier and the benefit is clawed back, with interest.
• You are highly qualified or highly specialised, through a degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Your work is carried out mainly in Italy.

Where impatriati returns go wrong

• The arrival year. Italy doesn’t split a tax year. You are either resident for the whole year or not at all, and that decides whether your first year counts.
• Payroll vs. return. Some employers apply the exemption through payroll and some don’t. The return has to reconcile what was applied with what you are entitled to.
• Quadro RW. New arrivals almost always still hold accounts and investments abroad. Those must be declared in Quadro RW, and the penalties for missing it are separate.
• Self-employed impatriati. The exemption also applies to self-employment income, but it interacts with the regime forfettario and with social security contributions. It needs checking case by case.

What our €1,200 covers

Preparation of your Italian return with the impatriati exemption applied, the calculation of what you owe, the F24 payment forms with the correct codes, a plain-English explanation of every figure, and one round of questions. If you also hold foreign assets, we include Quadro RW. Representation in an audit and past-year filings are quoted separately.