choose Italy to pay less taxes – Corriere.it

Italy entered the crosshairs of the super rich thanks to the 100 thousand euro flat-rate tax introduced in 2017, commonly called the Flat tax (but which differs from the one under discussion in the government). In 2021 the foreign scrooges who have decided to move and move their residence in our country are almost a thousand, who have brought with them about 300 family members. A number doubled compared to the previous year. In the first year of application, 2017, there were 99 new taxpaying residents. In 2021, they paid the State 108 million euros just by adhering to this subsidized regime, therefore without taking into account other taxes and the induced activities generated by purchases and consume.

How does it work

This option, convenient above all for incomes exceeding 300 thousand euros, was introduced in the 2016 budget law by the Renzi government precisely with the aim of attracting individuals with large assets to Italy so that, by buying properties and spending large sums of money, help boost the national economy. The law provides that the new resident (who can also be an Italian who has lived outside the borders for at least 9 of the previous 10 years) can choose to pay an annual flat-rate tax of 100,000 euros, replacing Irpef on income produced in other countries and without constraints regarding work and earnings; while each member of the family – without obligation – will pay 25 thousand euros and including the exemption from gift and inheritance tax for assets located abroad and from tax monitoring. The scheme has a maximum duration of 15 years, which can be revoked at any time at no additional cost.

Rich foreigners in Italy

It is not, as he explains The messenger, of a truly fair taxation compared to citizens who, with the same income, have always had a resident state in Italy who will pay much more. For new residents, on the other hand, the higher the income, the more convenient the scheme will be. It is important to specify that what is described concerns earnings made abroad, while ordinary taxation with a marginal rate of 43% will remain in force on those made in Italy. According to recent surveys, in the first few years the foreigners who chose our country were rentiers, i.e. those who, having large estates, lived on an income. While, in more recent times, the subjects still active in the working sense have increased. It is mostly about models, actors, influencers, footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and bankers who come from other European countries, such as Great Britain, but also from South America, the United States and – before the conflict in Ukraine – also from Russia. After the hundred in the first year of the Flat tax for the super rich foreigners, in 2018 the new residences amounted to 263, to 429 the following year. The figure recorded a slight drop in 2020, due to the Covid 19 pandemic, reaching 549, and then doubled in 2021 to 1,339 beneficiaries.