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
Establish when tax residence begins
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 entire calendar year.
OnlineWho: You
2
Test the impatriate regime against the post-2024 rules
For transfers from 2024, 50% of qualifying employment and professional income is exempt up to €600,000 a year for five tax periods, conditional on high qualification or specialisation, three prior years of non-residence — six or seven if returning to the same employer or group — mainly working in Italy, and a four-year residence commitment.
Via employerWho: YouBefore the first payroll run
3
File the right return
The 730 is the simplified return for employees and pensioners, due in September. Redditi PF covers the self-employed and anyone with foreign income or rental property, and runs to a later autumn deadline.
OnlineWho: YouMay–October
4
Declare foreign assets on the RW section
Residents must report foreign financial assets and property and pay IVAFE on foreign financial assets and IVIE on foreign property. The obligation applies whether or not the assets produced income.
OnlineWho: You
5
Understand the property taxes if you buy
IMU does not apply to a genuine main home outside luxury cadastral categories, but it does apply to a second home — which is what a great many Venetian properties are. TARI is billed to whoever occupies. Maintenance on a lagoon building is a category of cost with no mainland equivalent.
OnlineWho: You
6
Get the short-let and tourist-tax obligations right if you let
Short tourist lets are subject to national rules including platform withholding and a national identification code for the unit, and the comune requires the tourist tax to be collected from guests and remitted. Venice also operates the day-visitor access charge separately, which is not the same thing as the tourist tax on overnight stays.
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 and, for landlords, the short-let identification code and tourist-tax returns

Things most newcomers don’t know

The impatriate regime most guidance describes exempted 70%, and it does not apply to anyone moving now.

Until transfers of residence in 2023 the regime exempted 70% of qualifying income, and 90% in the southern regions — a rate the Veneto never had. From 2024 it is 50%, capped at €600,000 of income, with a high-qualification test, three prior years of non-residence and a four-year commitment to remain resident. The old figures still dominate search results and packages have been negotiated on them by mistake.

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

The tourist tax on overnight stays and the day-visitor access charge are two different things.

The imposta di soggiorno is collected by hosts from guests staying overnight and remitted to the comune; the contributo di accesso is a separate charge on day visitors entering the historic centre on designated days, paid through the comune's own portal. Owners letting property in Venice have obligations under the first and not the second, and conflating them is a common source of both under-collection and confused guests. Check each separately.

Source: Comune di Venezia

Cedolare secca on short lets is not a flat 21% once you have more than one property.

The flat-rate option applies at 21% to one property let short-term, with a higher rate from the second unit in the same tax year and a ceiling on how many units can be let this way before the activity is treated as a business. Venice has a very large population of small landlords with more than one unit, and many of them model on the 21% figure across the whole holding. Check the current rate and unit limits before relying on a yield calculation.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

IMU on a Venetian second home is a real annual cost and the cadastral values are not low.

IMU is not charged on a genuine main home outside luxury categories, but the historic centre is full of properties that are second homes, holiday flats or investment units, all of which pay it. Venetian cadastral values reflect location rather than condition, so a damp, lift-less flat in a protected building can carry a meaningful annual charge. Anyone buying here for part-time use should price IMU, TARI and lagoon-specific maintenance before the purchase, not after.

Source: Comune di Venezia; Agenzia delle Entrate

Common mistakes to avoid

Modelling a package on the pre-2024 70% impatriate exemption.
Confusing the overnight tourist tax with the day-visitor access charge.
Assuming 21% cedolare secca applies across every short-let unit you own.
Buying a second home in the centre without pricing IMU and lagoon maintenance.
Skipping the RW foreign-asset declaration because the assets produced no income.

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