With response to inquiry no. 16 of 2025, the Italian Revenue Agency addressed the issue of the compatibility between the new regime for impatriate workers (Article 5 of Legislative Decree 209/2023) and the incentives for the return of researchers residing abroad (Article 44 of Law Decree 78/2010).
In this regard, the Agency provided an interesting interpretative approach, stating that the two tax incentive regimes can be applied simultaneously for income derived from different activities, provided that the requirements set forth by each regulation are met.
Find more on the special regime for impatriate workers.
The case
The inquiry submitted to the Agency concerns an individual who, after having lived and worked in Spain, returns to Italy and transfers their tax residency to our country. The inquiry is therefore focused on the situation of a taxpayer who, in the 2025 tax period, will carry out two distinct activities in Italy:
- Self-employed worker in the medical-dental field.
- Associate professor at an Italian university.
The Agency confirmed that, in compliance with the regulatory requirements, the taxpayer will have the opportunity to:
- Benefit from the new regime for returning workers with regard to the income derived from the activity of a dentist, and therefore, in this case, enjoy a 50% tax exemption on the taxable income.
- Apply the incentives for professors and researchers to the income derived from academic activity, which provides a 90% exemption on the taxable income.
What did the legislation provide in the past?
This perspective represents an important evolution compared to what was observed in the past, as it expands the opportunities for taxpayers who re-establish themselves in Italy and engage in multiple activities.
In the past, the possibility of combining different tax incentive regimes was explicitly excluded by the following regulatory provisions:
- Article 2 of the Ministerial Decree of May 26, 2016, related to the old regime for returning workers (Article 16 of Legislative Decree 147/2015), expressly provided for the incompatibility with the incentives for professors and researchers;
- Article 1, paragraph 154, of Law 232/2016 established that the regime for new residents (Article 24-bis of the TUIR) could not be combined with the returning workers regime or the regime for professors and researchers.
These provisions reflected a restrictive approach, reiterated by the practice of the Revenue Agency, such as in Circular No. 17/2017, which clarified the impossibility of benefiting from multiple incentives for the same tax period. However, it was allowed to benefit from one incentive for certain years and from another for the remaining years, provided the required conditions were met.
The absence of any reference to incompatibility conditions between multiple tax incentive regimes in the new regime for returning workers (Article 5 of Legislative Decree 209/2023) led the Agency to revise its approach, adopting a position more favorable to taxpayers.
Practical implications
The interpretation provided by the Agency can have wide-ranging implications, both for taxpayers who are about to return to Italy and for those who have already transferred their tax residency. In particular:
- Taxpayers who have already returned in 2024, engage in multiple activities, and have requested only one tax incentive, may now consider applying for the second benefit by integrating it into the 2025 income tax return (REDDITI model).
- The extensive approach could also apply to the relationship between the returning workers regime and the regime for new residents (Article 24-bis of the TUIR), provided that the eligible income comes from different sources (Italian for returning workers and foreign for new residents).
