Before you start

Codice fiscale
A determination of whether you are tax resident for the year
Employment or business records, and details of foreign income and assets
SPID or CIE for the Agenzia delle Entrate portal

Step-by-step

1
Work out when residence begins, because it is not the day you land
Registration in the anagrafe for more than half the year, or having your habitual abode or main centre of interests in Italy for more than 183 days, makes you resident for the whole calendar year. Arriving in September usually leaves you non-resident for that year and resident from 1 January.
OnlineWho: You
2
Check the impatriate regime against the post-2024 rules
For transfers of residence from 2024, D.Lgs. 209/2023 exempts 50% of qualifying employment and professional income up to €600,000 a year, for five tax periods, conditional on high qualification or specialisation, three prior years of non-residence, working mainly in Italy, and a commitment to remain tax resident for four years. The taxable share drops to 40% with a minor child.
Via employerWho: YouBefore the first payroll run
3
Let the employer run the withholding and the CU
Employees are taxed at source and receive a Certificazione Unica each March. Many Milanese employees with only employment income file nothing at all, or file a pre-filled 730 that the Agenzia delle Entrate has already populated.
Via employerWho: YouMarch
4
File the 730 or the Redditi return if you have anything else
The 730 is the simplified return for employees and pensioners, filed by the end of September; the Redditi PF return covers the self-employed and anyone with foreign income and runs to a later autumn deadline. Foreign income and foreign assets almost always push you into Redditi PF.
OnlineWho: YouMay–October
5
Declare foreign assets on the RW section
Italian residents must report foreign financial assets and property in the RW section, and pay IVAFE on foreign financial assets and IVIE on foreign property. It is a reporting obligation independent of whether the assets generated income, and the penalties for omission are heavy.
OnlineWho: You
6
Budget for TARI, IMU and the surcharges
TARI, the waste charge, is billed by the comune to whoever occupies the flat, including tenants. IMU is a property tax paid by owners and does not apply to a main home unless it is in a luxury cadastral category. Regional and municipal IRPEF surcharges are added to the national rates and are set locally.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Codice fiscale and SPID or CIE
Certificazione Unica from the employer
Records of foreign income, accounts and property
Deduction receipts — medical, mortgage interest, renovation works, university fees
Registered lease, for the tenant's deductions and the TARI declaration

Things most newcomers don’t know

The impatriate regime you have read about is probably the old one, and it is 20 percentage points more generous than the current rules.

Until transfers of residence in 2023 the regime exempted 70% of qualifying income, rising to 90% in the southern regions, with a five-year extension available. For anyone moving from 2024 the exemption is 50%, capped at €600,000 of income, with no southern uplift, a high-qualification test, three years of prior non-residence — six or seven if you are returning to the same employer or group — and a four-year commitment to stay. Pre-2024 figures still dominate search results and relocation packages have been negotiated on them by mistake.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate; D.Lgs. 209/2023

Breaking the four-year residence commitment claws the relief back with interest.

The new regime is conditional on remaining tax resident in Italy for at least four tax years after the transfer. Leaving early does not simply stop the benefit — the relief already taken is recovered, with interest. For a senior hire in Milan on a large salary that is a substantial contingent liability, and it should be weighed against the possibility of an internal transfer or a job change that moves you abroad.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

The new-resident flat tax has doubled and then risen again — the €100,000 figure is two increases out of date.

The article 24-bis regime lets someone moving their tax residence to Italy pay a fixed annual substitute tax on all foreign income regardless of amount. It was €100,000 until Decree-Law 113/2024 raised it to €200,000 for transfers after 10 August 2024, and the 2026 budget law raised it again to €300,000, with the family-member charge going from €25,000 to €50,000. Whichever figure applied when you moved is the one locked in for you, which is why the date of transfer matters more than the headline number.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate; DL 113/2024; 2026 budget law

TARI follows the occupier, so a tenant inherits the waste bill and sometimes the previous tenant's arrears.

Unlike IMU, which the owner pays, TARI is charged to whoever occupies the property. You are required to file a TARI declaration with the comune when you move in and again when you leave, and failing to close it means being billed for a flat you no longer live in. Ask the landlord for evidence that the previous occupier's TARI position was closed before you sign — this is a routine question and an unclosed one becomes your argument to have.

Source: Comune di Milano

Common mistakes to avoid

Negotiating a package on the pre-2024 70% impatriate exemption.
Taking the impatriate relief and then leaving Italy inside four years.
Quoting the €100,000 new-resident flat tax, which has risen twice since.
Forgetting the RW foreign-asset declaration because the assets produced no income.
Not filing the TARI declaration on move-in and move-out.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.