In its Ruling No. 55, the Internal Revenue Agency provides clarification on the new preferential regime for impatriate workers introduced by Article 5 of Legislative Decree No. 209/2023. In particular, Ruling No. 55 addresses the issue of “high qualification or specialization” requirements needed to qualify for the facilitation regime.
Learn more about the new impatriate regime.
The provision stipulates that the new regime applies only to workers who meet the “high qualification or specialization requirements as defined by Legislative Decree No. 108 of June 28, 2012, and Legislative Decree No. 206 of November 9, 2007”, relating to holders of a higher professional qualification and regulated professions, respectively.
Legislative Decree No. 108 of 2012 had inserted Article 27-quater into Legislative Decree No. 286 of July 25, 1998 (“Consolidated Act of Provisions Concerning the Discipline of Immigration and Regulations on the Status of Foreigners” – T.U.I.), thus introducing the definition of highly skilled workers. More recently, this article was amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of October 18, 2023, which effectively broadened the number of cases in which high qualification is recognized.
The requirement of high qualification
According to the current provisions, “highly skilled” are (foreign) workers who: “are alternately in possession of:
(a) the tertiary level higher education qualification issued by the competent authority in the country where it was obtained, attesting to the completion of a higher education course of at least three years’ duration, or a post-secondary level vocational qualification of at least three years’ duration or corresponding to at least level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework referred to in the Decree of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of January 8, 2018, on “Establishment of the National Framework of Qualifications issued under the National System of Certification of Competencies referred to in Legislative Decree No. 16 January 2013, no. 13,” published in Official Gazette No. 20 of January 25, 2018;
(b) of the requirements of Legislative Decree No. 206 of November 6, 2007, limited to the practice of regulated professions;
(c) a higher professional qualification attested by at least five years of professional experience of a level comparable to tertiary level higher education qualifications, relevant to the profession or field specified in the employment contract or binding offer;
(d) of a higher professional qualification attested by at least three years of relevant professional experience acquired within the seven years preceding the submission of the application for the EU Blue Card, with regard to managers and specialists in the field of information and communication technology under ISCO-08 Classification No. 133 and No. 25.”
The Agency clarifies that the reference to the provisions contained in the above-mentioned regulations should be understood to refer only to the requirements relating to the possession of an educational qualification or, alternatively, of a professional qualification.
The issue at hand
The case at hand is that of a taxpayer holding a license for master on vessels of 3,000 GT or more, issued by a harbormaster’s office, as well as a regular specialized certification as required by the Isps Code to serve as a company security officer.
The petitioner’s doubt relates to the coexistence of the possession of a higher education qualification, attesting to the completion of an education course of at least three years’ duration, and the professional qualification that falls under levels 1, 2 and 3 of the 2011 ISTAT classification of occupations CP (references to Article 27-quater as originally introduced by Legislative Decree No. 108 of 2012).
The Agency’s Ruling
The Internal Revenue Agency rejects the taxpayer’s petition, reiterating, according to the aforementioned Article 11 of Law No. 212 of July 27, 2000, which governs general principles on interpellation, the inadmissibility of interpellation petitions that do not raise any interpretative doubts but only presuppose the ascertainment of factual issues, i.e., the evaluation of highly qualified or specialized qualifications.
However, the ruling provides an important clarification regarding the criteria for identifying the highly qualification or specialization requirements referred to in Article 5, paragraph 1(d) of Legislative Decree No. 209 of 2023. As a matter of fact, the literal tenor of the normative wording would lead one to think that these criteria should be verified on the basis of the provisions contained in Legislative Decree No. 108 of 2012, which first introduced the definition of highly qualified workers in Article 27-quater T.U.I., without taking into consideration the subsequent amendments made in the Consolidated Text. In its Ruling No. 55/2025, the Internal Revenue Service clarifies that the requirements of high qualification or specialization must be verified according to the criteria of Article 27-quater T.U.I. as subsequently amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of October 18, 2023.
However, this explanation is made in conjunction with the assertion that the assessment of these requirements involves the performance of technical work that is not the responsibility of the tax administration, since they are non-tax regulations. It therefore remains to be understood how will the Agency proceed in verifying whether these conditions are met.
In the present case, the Applicant will therefore be able to take advantage of the new regime provided that they meet one of the requirements set forth in Article 27 quater of the T.U.I., and in compliance with any other conditions required by the norm.
