Ruling No. 190/2026 rules out extending the regime where the property is acquired by gift. From 2027 the reference will be Article 226(4) of the new Consolidated Income Tax Code.
How the incentive regime for professors and researchers works
Article 44 of Decree-Law No. 78/2010 grants, subject to specific requirements, a tax incentive to professors and researchers who transfer their tax residence to Italy to carry out research or teaching, after a documented period of activity abroad.
The regime excludes 90% of the remuneration from employment or self-employment from the tax base. The conditions include holding a university degree or equivalent, non-occasional residence abroad and having carried out research or teaching activity at research centres or universities abroad for at least two consecutive years.
As a rule, the benefit applies for the tax period in which Italian tax residence is acquired and for the following five tax periods, provided that Italian tax residence is maintained.
When can the incentive be extended?
For professors and researchers who transferred their tax residence from the 2020 tax period onwards, Article 44(3-ter) allows, in certain circumstances, the incentive period to be extended to a total of eight tax periods (the year of return and the following seven).
One of the conditions considered by the provision is the acquisition of ownership of at least one residential property in Italy after the transfer or in the twelve months before it. The rules also cover purchases by the spouse, cohabiting partner or children, including joint ownership. The extension may also depend on the presence of children, with additional durations if the statutory requirements are met.
The case: a gifted property later made habitable
In Ruling No. 190 of 23 October 2026, a researcher reports having transferred their tax residence to Italy in December 2020 and having benefited from the incentive since 2021. After returning, they had received as a gift an unfinished property, carried out finishing works on it and established their habitual residence there in June 2022.
The taxpayer argued that the ownership requirement was met even in the case of a gift, since the wording of the provision did not expressly require the acquisition to be for consideration. They therefore asked whether the incentive could be extended.
The Agency’s answer: an acquisition for consideration is required
The Italian Revenue Agency rejected the proposed interpretation. Referring to paragraph 3.2 of Circular No. 33/E of 28 December 2020, issued for the previous regime for impatriate workers, it stressed the substantial similarity of the provisions allowing the benefits to be extended where the property requirement is met.
It had been clarified there that the requirement is not met through bare ownership alone or usufruct alone and that, for this specific extension, an acquisition for consideration is required. According to the Agency, the aim of encouraging the taxpayer to put down roots in Italy justifies applying the same criterion to professors and researchers.
Consequently, a gift does not give access to the extension provided for by Article 44(3-ter), even if the property was subsequently completed and used as a habitual residence.
The ordinary incentive remains distinct from the extension
The ruling concerns only the extension of the incentive period linked to the property received as a gift and does not verify whether the taxpayer is entitled to the ordinary regime, which they report having enjoyed. Excluding the extension therefore does not, in itself, mean losing the ordinary benefit, which remains subject to verification of its own requirements.
From 1 January 2027: Article 226 of the new Consolidated Code
From 1 January 2027, the provisions will be set out in Legislative Decree No. 117 of 19 June 2026, the new Consolidated Income Tax Code.
- The ordinary incentive already governed by Article 44(1) of Decree-Law No. 78/2010 is moved to Article 226(1) of Legislative Decree No. 117/2026.
- The ordinary duration under Article 44(3) is reproduced in Article 226(3).
- The extension linked, among other things, to the purchase of a residential property (formerly Article 44(3-ter)) is set out in Article 226(4).
The reference to Circular No. 33/E/2020 concerns the previous impatriate regime, governed by Article 16 of Legislative Decree No. 147/2015. It should not be confused with the new regime for impatriate workers under Article 5 of Legislative Decree No. 209/2023, relocated from 2027 to Article 225 of Legislative Decree No. 117/2026, for which no extensions are currently provided.
Practical consequences for researchers
Anyone planning or confirming the extension of the benefit should check not only the date on which ownership was acquired relative to the move to Italy, but also the title of acquisition and the documents relating to the transaction. For properties received as a gift, Ruling No. 190/2026 rules out the extension based on the property requirement, without prejudice to the need to assess whether any other statutory conditions are met.
The clarification may also extend to impatriate workers who continue to benefit from the previous regime under Article 16 of Legislative Decree No. 147/2015, under the applicable transitional provisions. For these taxpayers, Circular No. 33/E of 28 December 2020 (paragraph 3.2) had already specified that, for the extension linked to the property requirement under Article 16(3-bis), the property must be acquired for consideration. Ruling No. 190/2026 relies on that very interpretation to apply the same principle to professors and researchers. Therefore, even for impatriates under the old regime, acquiring a property by gift does not allow the extension based on the property requirement. The new impatriate regime under Article 5 of Legislative Decree No. 209/2023 remains distinct and does not currently provide a similar extension linked to the purchase of a home. To learn more about the differences between the versions of the impatriate regime, the access requirements and the possibilities of extending the incentives, see our article Impatriate Tax Regime Italy: new rules.