Skip to content With the publication in the Official Gazette of Law No. 217 of 29 December 2025, Italy has completed the process of ratification and implementation of the Protocol amending the Agreement between the Italian Republic and the Swiss Confederation of 23 December 2020 concerning the taxation of frontier workers, thereby introducing a stable framework for cross-border telework.
The ratification marks the culmination of negotiations launched in 2023, aimed at aligning the tax regime applicable to frontier workers with evolving working arrangements, as previously examined in an earlier article published on our website.
Timeline of the Protocol’s ratification
The current framework governing telework for frontier workers is the result of a progressive process spanning more than two years, designed to provide a structural response to the needs arising from the growing use of remote work and to ensure greater interpretative certainty from a tax perspective for both employees and employers.
The first step occurred on 13 June 2023, when Italy ratified the Agreement between the Italian Republic and the Swiss Confederation on the taxation of frontier workers, together with the Protocol amending the Double Taxation Convention, through Law No. 83, published in Official Gazette No. 151 of 30 June 2023.
Subsequently, on 10 November 2023, Italy and Switzerland signed a Joint Declaration of Intent expressing their shared commitment to establish a permanent framework governing the use of telework by frontier workers. This document marked a departure from the emergency approach adopted during the pandemic and laid the groundwork for coordinated legislative action.
On the basis of this Declaration, on 28 November 2023 the two States proceeded to sign, at the technical level, a Protocol amending the Agreement of 23 December 2020, essentially codifying the amendments already outlined in the Declaration. In particular, the possibility for frontier workers to perform up to 25% of their working time remotely was formally introduced, effective as of 1 January 2024.
Finally, the Parties signed the Protocol on telework for frontier workers on 30 May 2024 in Rome and on 6 June 2024 in Bern. The Protocol was subsequently ratified in Italy by statute in 2025/2026.
The new provisions, including those establishing the 25% threshold for work performed from the employee’s home in the State of residence, therefore apply as from 1 January 2024.
The process ultimately concluded with the domestic implementation phase. In Italy, Law No. 217 of 29 December 2025, published in the Official Gazette on 19 January 2026, gave effect to the amending Protocol, allowing the new framework to be definitively incorporated into the national legal system.
Content of the amending Protocol: telework and frontier worker status
The amending Protocol introduces targeted changes to the framework established by the Agreement of 23 December 2020 between Italy and Switzerland, with the objective of adapting tax rules to evolving working arrangements without altering the fundamental requirements for frontier worker status.
First, Article I, paragraph 2.1 of the Protocol confirms that a frontier worker may, in principle, refrain from returning daily to his or her domicile in the State of residence for up to 45 days per year for professional reasons without losing the preferential status.
The Protocol also confirms and renders fully effective a particularly significant provision concerning telework: a frontier worker may perform work duties from his or her domicile in the State of residence for up to 25% of total working time without affecting frontier worker status.
This possibility applies to all frontier workers as defined in the 2020 Agreement, including those falling within the transitional regime set forth in Article 9 thereof.
Another key aspect concerns the tax treatment of employment income. Article I, paragraph 2.2 of the Protocol clarifies that, notwithstanding Article 3 of the Agreement, wages, salaries, and other similar remuneration derived from telework performed at the employee’s domicile in the State of residence (within the 25% threshold) are nevertheless deemed to relate to work carried out in the other Contracting State, namely where the employer is located.
In this way, the Protocol prevents telework from triggering a shift in taxing rights, thereby ensuring continuity and certainty in the allocation of taxing powers between the two States.
Entry into force and temporal effect
From a temporal perspective, the amending Protocol provides for entry into force upon completion of the internal procedures of both States.
Specifically, Article II of the Protocol establishes that it enters into force on the date of receipt of the last notification by which Italy and Switzerland mutually confirm that their respective domestic legal requirements have been fulfilled.
It remains understood that the provisions introduced apply retroactively from 1 January 2024, as expressly provided by the Italian ratification law and as already anticipated during earlier stages of the bilateral negotiations.
A&P Firm assists companies and employees in managing international telework arrangements, providing support in verifying eligibility requirements, correctly qualifying frontier worker status, analyzing tax and social security implications, and aligning corporate policies with treaty provisions and administrative practice.