Tips for living in Italy

Sometimes it happens that people, who just moved to Italy, don’t know some important rules and after a few years (or even a few months) they find themselves in trouble. For this reason, I thought I’d summarise some rules to abide by.

RESIDENCY
1. Register as resident in your town (sometimes people spend years in Italy without registering). Not only is it a legal requirement, it’s also very useful to prove your presence in Italy if, for example, one day you want to apply for citizenship.

TAXES
2. Once you are a resident in Italy, you have to pay taxes in Italy, even if you work remotely for a foreign company. Remember that you also have to declare ALL your worldwide income and assets, even the remote property that you own on Moonland. If you don’t, fines can be really heavy. If you need guidance, a good commercialista can help and also shed some light on bilateral treaties conceived to avoid the double taxation, and on some special tax schemes which may make your income and assets tax free.

3. The tax year runs from the 1st January to the 31st December. Basically, you pay taxes in Italy if you spend more than 183 days in a year here, so if you move to Italy and register as resident in May, you will need to pay taxes in Italy for that fiscal year. If you move and register your residency in August, you won’t be fiscally resident in Italy for that fiscal year.

DRIVING
4. If you import your car, remember that you can’t drive it beyond 90 days of you becoming resident in Italy. If you are caught beyond those 90 days your car can be seized and you will be heavily fined.

5. Also, you can drive with your non-EU (international) driving licence for one year from the registration of your residency; within that year you need to convert it into an Italian one (if there are some agreements between Italy and the country that has issued your driving licence), or you need to sit a driving test in Italy, usually in Italian. If you have an EU driving licence, you can use it until its expiration date, then you need to convert it into an Italian driving licence.

This article is not exhaustive and is a guidance only.

If you need assistance, please contact us.

 

Barbara De Benedittis Relocation and Legal in Italy