The matter
The case at hand regards an Italian citizen residing abroad since December 2020, who has recently signed an agreement with a new employer. In such agreement, he is expected to return to Italy so as to work on a permanent contract from April 2025.
Nonetheless, before the start of his new job, his current foreign employer would allow him to work during January, February and March 2025 either as a frontier worker or as a remote worker from Italy.
The petitioner, who holds two degree titles, asked the Agency to confirm whether he meets the “high qualification or specialization” requirements, and whether he could benefit from the facilitation regime for the income produced in Italy from April 2025.
Learn more about the new tax regime for inpatriate workers.
The Revenue Agency’s ruling
After summarizing the requirements established by art. 5 of Legislative Decree No. 209 of December 27th 2023, the Agency specifies that the petitioner will be able to apply the new regime on the income produced in Italy from April 2025, when he will start working for his new employer. This is despite the fact that, during the first quarter, he continued to work for the foreign employer, thus not meeting the six-year foreign residence requirement, normally imposed in this type of scenario.
The Agency provides two important clarifications:
Link between relocation and new working activity
In order to apply the new regime, it is not compulsory to verify the existence of a “relevant” link between the transfer of tax residence to Italy and the start of a working activity, from which taxable income produced in Italy is derived.
This represents a change from the former “speciale regime for inpatriate workers”. In particular, the Agency’s ruling includes a point that leaves room for interpretation:
“Hence, it is not necessary for the requirements of the rule to be met upon return to Italy, as they can also accrue thereafter.”
High qualification or specialization requirements
The Agency confirms that, in order to be eligible for the new regime, it is sufficient to meet the “high qualification or specialization” requirements imposed by the rule, without requiring that the corresponding professional activity be exercised, either before or after the transfer.
As regards the assessment of the “high qualification or specialization” requirements, the Agency confirms that the reference legislation be art. 27-quater of Legislative Decree No. 286 of July 25 1998, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 152 of October 18 2023.
Nonetheless, the Agency does not provide an answer regarding the assessment of such requirements, since, as stipulated in Circular No. 9/E of April 1 2016, the legislature excluded from the scope of interpellation those hypotheses involving a factual verification by the tax authorities, which is only possible during an investigation.
