The boom of the Scrooges who choose Italy

There is a boom in “Paperoni” who choose Italy to pay less taxes: around a thousand rich people have transferred their tax residence to our country to take advantage of the fixed tax of 100 thousand euros introduced with the 2017 maneuver, according to data released by the Ministry of the Economy on tax returns for 2021. This is a number that is more than double that of 2019 (at the time the Scrooge McDuck who had chosen this measure were 421). To this thousand beneficiaries are added about 350 of their immediate family members.

“The exponential progression of adhesions to the special regime not only indicates a strong interest in the quality of life offered by our country but also a growing trust in the country system – explain Antonio Martino and Alberto Sandalo of the tax department of the law firm DLA Piper -. In fact, at the time of its introduction, international experts advised their clients against moving to Italy and joining the newly introduced regime, justifying this position with a generic and unfounded unreliability of the country’s system, moreover erroneously providing for a abolition of the facilitation measure at the first change of government”. According to Mef data, about half of the new residents produce income from employment taxed in Italy (this type of income represents about 70% of the taxable income produced by the new residents and taxed in Italy in 2021). “The data suggests that many of the “Scrooge McDuck” are managers who have moved to work in Italy who, in order to benefit from the relief on foreign income, agree to pay taxes (in full) in our country on their work income” explain the experts.

With the 2017 Budget Law, a favorable tax discipline was also introduced into our legal system reserved for natural persons who, having not been resident in Italy for at least nine of the last ten years prior to the transfer, decide to transfer their tax residence to the territory of the State.

These people, in fact, can choose to pay, with exclusive reference to income generated abroad, a flat-rate tax set at 100,000 euros in lieu of Irpef. The optional tax regime lasts 15 years and can also be extended to close family members who move to Italy; in this case, the amount of the substitute tax is set at 25 thousand euros.

The other benefits
There are no official data on the origin of those who have chosen to move to Italy adhering to the special tax regime and the names of those who have chosen this facility are secret. “The entity of the substitute tax implies that the regime is really convenient for those people who have foreign incomes who would be subjected to an exclusive or concurrent national tax significantly higher than 100 thousand euros – says the expert -. However, the attractiveness of the Italian regime is not limited to direct taxes but also extends to the undoubted advantages that the regime offers in terms of gift and inheritance taxes as well as the good degree of confidentiality regarding the size and location of foreign assets”.

The benefits for our country
Certainly Italy, thanks to its incomparable territorial richness, is able to offer an undoubtedly and considerably higher quality of life than many competing jurisdictions. Therefore, it is increasingly seen as an ideal place not only to spend the holidays, but also to move to live in a stable way “say the two experts who then conclude:” clearly the aim of attracting people with high contributory capacity is not limited to the direct tax revenue that follows, which in 2021 has been attests to around 108 million euros, but also extends to the indirect revenue deriving from the investments and consumption of goods Italian “.