New Regime for “Inbound Workers” - Final Approval of the Decree on International Taxation

On 19 December 2023, the Council of Ministers finally approved the text of the Legislative Decree on International Taxation.

The Decree includes most of the comments made by the competent parliamentary committees and makes some changes to the 'new' relief regime for inbound workers who move to Italy.

The main change is that from 2024 onwards, access to the scheme will also be granted to persons who work for the same company that employed them before they moved to Italy or for a company belonging to the same group.

Here is a brief overview of the scheme as finally adopted.

Scope

Article 5 of the Decree lists the following categories of income as eligible for the relief:

Income from employment;
Income assimilated with employment income and
Self-employed income, in particular income from the exercise of arts and professions.

Measure of relief

It has been confirmed that the tax relief will apply to 50% of income up to a limit of 600,000 euros, specifying that this is an annual limit and does not apply to the entire five-year period covered by the relief.

As mentioned above, the relief applies from the tax period in which the transfer of tax residence takes place and for the following four tax periods, but there is a 'recapture' mechanism whereby if the tax residence is not maintained for at least four years, the employee loses the benefits and those already received are clawed back with interest.

A higher tax relief of 60% is also provided for in the following cases:

the transfer of the employee to Italy with a minor child;
the birth of a child or adoption of a child during the period of making use of the scheme (in this case, the "increased" benefit is granted as from the tax period in progress at the time of the birth or adoption of the child and for the remaining period of use of the benefit).

The “extra relief” is granted on condition that the child is resident in Italy. In light of the above, it should also be noted that the measure is triggered by the fulfilment of certain conditions, relating to previous foreign residence and the maintenance of tax residence in Italy for a certain period of time; the exercise of the main professional activity in Italy; and meeting the requirement of being in possession of higher qualifications or specialization.

As expected, with respect to the Draft Decree, it is no longer required that the work be carried out on the basis of a new employment relationship established with a party other than the employer with which the employee was employed abroad or those belonging to the same group.

Thus, as is already the case under the current regime, it will be possible for work in Italy to be carried out as continuation of work carried out abroad. What will change, however, is the minimum period of residence abroad before moving to Italy, as described below.

Conditions

Those who may benefit from the regime are employees who transfer their tax residence to Italy and who

have not been tax resident in Italy for the three tax periods preceding the aforementioned transfer.

In the specific case where the employee works in Italy for the same company in which he or she was employed abroad before the transfer, or for a company belonging to the same group, there is the requirement to have lived abroad before the transfer:

for six tax periods, if the employee has not previously worked in Italy for the same company or for a company belonging to the same group;
for seven tax periods if the employee was employed in Italy for the same company or a company belonging to the same group before being transferred abroad.

The purpose of these stricter conditions seems to be to avoid "calculated" transfers abroad - even to companies belonging to the same group - for the sole purpose of benefiting from the favourable legislation.

Entry into force

The new regime will apply to persons transferring their tax residence from the 2024 tax period, without prejudice to the provision of a 'transitional' regime - to protect the taxpayer's legitimate expectations - whereby persons who have registered in the Register of Resident Population by 31 December 2023 may continue to benefit from the old regime.

Extension of the regime

Article 5(10) provides for the extension of the tax relief regime - limited to persons transferring their registered residence in 2024 - for a further three tax periods (i.e. from five to eight years), if the taxpayer has become the owner of a residential property used as a principal residence in Italy by 31 December 2023, and in any case in the twelve months preceding the transfer. In this case, the taxable income for the following three tax periods will be considered as 50% of the total income for each year.