The Italian Revenue Agency has published a second response on the impatriate workers’ regime, as governed by Legislative Decree 209/2023 (Reply no. 22/2025), after the first one concerning the cumulability with other benefits for the return to Italy of individuals (Reply no. 16/2025).
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The new ruling clarifies that a minimum foreign residence period of 6 or 7 years also applies in cases where the impatriate is self-employed in Italy for a former foreign employer.
What the ruling clarifies
The key point of the ruling concerns Article 5(1)(b) of Legislative Decree 209/2023, which provides that if the employee works in Italy for the same entity with which he/she was employed abroad before the transfer, or for an entity of the same group, the minimum period of previous foreign residence (generally 3 tax periods) is extended.
This period becomes of:
- 6 tax periods if the employee has not been employed in Italy for the same employer or for an entity of the same group, and
- 7 tax periods if the employee had already worked in Italy for the same entity or group before moving abroad.
The case in object
The case examined involved a person of French nationality who had worked in Italy until March 2018, and then moved to Switzerland and worked in Zurich under an employment contract until August 2024. Subsequently, this person transferred his residence to Italy and entered into a consultancy contract with the same company in Zurich (which remained the sole principal).
The main question concerned the possibility of accessing tax benefits, considering that the employment relationship continued with the same counterpart, albeit with a change of contract from subordinate to consultancy.
The Revenue Agency responded favourably, acknowledging the possibility of taking advantage of the benefits, but specifying that the minimum period of foreign residence is 6 years and not the ordinary 3 years. In particular, Article 5(1)(b) of Legislative Decree no. 209/2023 states that:
- If the employee has never worked in Italy for the former employer or for a company of the same group, the minimum period of foreign residence is 6 years;
- If, on the other hand, the employee had already worked in Italy for the same entity or for a group company before the transfer abroad, the residence period increases to 7 years.
According to Reply no. 22/2025, the legislation does not specify the type of contract to be concluded between the parties in order to determine the extension of the period of foreign residence. Therefore, each time the worker works (including self-employment) for the same former foreign employer, the minimum period of previous residence becomes 6 or 7 years.
It could therefore be inferred from the ruling that the period of six or seven years of foreign residence applies not only in the case of a single client, but also when the former employer is only one of the impatriate’s clients.
