Taxes and tax residency in Italy for remote workers

Most remote workers in Sicily start out paying tax somewhere else and never think about Italy's tax rules. That holds until the days add up. Since 2024 Italy counts physical presence, and more than 183 days in a calendar year, even split across several stays, is enough to make you Italian tax resident and taxable on your worldwide income.

This chapter explains when that happens, which special regimes exist and what freelancers face with a partita IVA. It is general information, not tax advice: before you move, speak to a commercialista (an Italian chartered accountant), and if you have income in two countries, to an adviser who knows both systems.

When you become an Italian tax resident

The international tax reform (D.Lgs. 209/2023) rewrote art. 2(2) of the TUIR, Italy's income tax code, from 1 January 2024. You are Italian tax resident if, for most of the tax year (183 days, or 184 in a leap year), any one of these applies:

Test	What it means since 2024
Residence	Your civil-law residence (art. 43 of the Civil Code) is in Italy
Domicile	Italy is where your personal and family relationships mainly develop. Before 2024 it was the "centre of business and interests"
Physical presence	You are physically in Italy. This test is new. Fractions of a day count as whole days, and separate periods add up
Anagrafe registration	You are registered in the resident population register. Since 2024 this is only a presumption, and you can prove otherwise

The Agenzia delle Entrate's Circular 20/E of 4 November 2024 filled in the details: arriving at 23:00 counts as a full day, the days of arrival and departure both count, and double tax treaties and their tie-breaker rules still prevail over domestic law. Tax years up to 2023 follow the old rules.

What this means on the ground:

Count your days, including travel days. A winter in Palermo from October to April is already over 183 days.
Registering at the anagrafe (required for EU citizens staying more than three months, see the visa chapter) is a strong signal of Italian residence, even though it can now be rebutted.
Holders of the digital nomad visa who spend more than 183 days in Italy are generally Italian tax residents, as the Ministry's integration portal notes.

Double tax treaties

Italy has double tax treaties with many countries. They matter in two ways. First, if both Italy and your home country consider you resident, the treaty's tie-breaker rules decide which one wins, and Circular 20/E confirms they override the domestic 183-day tests. Second, treaties allocate which country may tax each kind of income. The practical step is to find the treaty between Italy and your home country and go through it with an adviser before you pass the 183-day mark, not after.

The regime impatriati

The regime impatriati is Italy's tax break for qualified people who move their tax residence to Italy. The version in force for moves from 2024 is in art. 5 of D.Lgs. 209/2023.

	New regime (moves from 2024)
Benefit	50% of employment, assimilated and self-employed professional income produced in Italy is exempt: you are taxed on half
With children	60% exempt (taxed on 40%) if you move with a minor child, or a child is born or adopted during the regime
Cap	Eligible income up to €600,000 a year; above that, normal IRPEF
Duration	Year of the move plus the following 4 (5 tax years)
Previous non-residence	Not Italian tax resident in the 3 previous tax years (6 if you keep working for the same employer or group you worked for abroad; 7 if you had already worked in Italy for it)
Commitment	Stay tax resident for 4 years, or the benefit is clawed back with interest
Work	Performed mainly in Italy
Qualification	High qualification or specialisation (D.Lgs. 108/2012 and D.Lgs. 206/2007)

No extra bonus for the South. The old regime (art. 16 D.Lgs. 147/2015) exempted 90% of income for moves to southern regions, Sicily included. The new one has no southern top-up: if you read about a "+10% for Sicily", it applies to the old rules, not to moves from 2024. The extension for buying a home also belonged to the old regime and only covered 2024 movers who had bought by 31 December 2023.

2025 and 2026 rulings

Several Agenzia delle Entrate rulings (interpelli) have clarified who can use it. We know them through specialist sites, not from the primary texts, so check the ruling numbers with your adviser:

Interpello n. 2/2026 (12 January 2026), as reported by Fiscomania: someone working from Italy for a foreign employer can qualify. What counts is where the work is physically done; the person spends more than 183 days in Italy, and the employer has no permanent establishment in Italy. This is the ruling that matters most to remote employees.
Interpello 12/E of 20 January 2026: former cross-border commuters can qualify.
2025 rulings, also as summarised by Fiscomania: the qualification can be shown through professional experience without a degree (71/E and 74/E of 2025), and people who were never Italian residents before can use the regime (70/E of 2025).

If you are moving to Sicily from abroad, also read about the regional IRPEF refund in the incentives chapter. It is a separate measure, and its implementing decree (DDG n. 1017 of 5 August 2026) rules it out for anyone who has received or applied for other state or regional tax incentives for new residents. The decree does not name the impatriati regime or the flat tax, but they very likely count, so in practice you choose one or the other.

The flat tax for new residents: €300,000

The regime in art. 24-bis TUIR replaces Italian tax on all foreign-source income with a fixed annual amount. It is for people who were not Italian residents for at least 9 of the previous 10 tax years, lasts up to 15 years, is chosen in the tax return for the year of the move (or the following one), and can be preceded by an optional ruling request. It is paid in one go with form F24, code NRPP.

The amount has gone up twice:

Moved residence	Annual flat tax	Each family member included
Original rule	€100,000	€25,000
From 11 August 2024 (D.L. 113/2024)	€200,000	€25,000
From 1 January 2026 (Budget Law 2026, L. 199/2025)	€300,000	€50,000

The Agenzia delle Entrate page, updated on 16 January 2026, shows the €300,000 notice, while its body text still mentions €200,000. It is a tool for very high earners with mostly foreign income, not a typical choice for remote workers. One more change for later movers: under art. 2 of D.L. 38/2026 (27 March 2026), anyone who moves tax residence to Italy from 2027 can no longer combine the flat tax with the regime impatriati; moves up to the end of 2026 keep that option.

Freelancing: partita IVA and the regime forfettario

Self-employed people on the digital nomad visa, and anyone freelancing as an Italian tax resident, must open a partita IVA (VAT number) with the Agenzia delle Entrate, using form AA9/12 for individuals. Most people do it through a commercialista or an online accounting service, who will also pick the right ATECO activity code.

How the regime forfettario works

The regime forfettario (L. 190/2014, paragraphs 54–89) is the simplified flat-rate regime that most small freelancers use.

Ceiling: you can enter it if the previous year's revenue was €85,000 or less. Between €85,000 and €100,000 you stay in for that year and leave the next; above €100,000 you leave immediately, and VAT applies from the invoice that crosses the limit (Agenzia Entrate circular 32/E of 2023). The 2026 budget did not raise the €85,000 ceiling. The 2027 budget bill, approved by the Council of Ministers on 28 October 2026 and now before Parliament, would raise the entry ceiling to €100,000 for income tax, with the VAT exemption staying at €85,000 pending EU authorisation: it is not law yet, so check the final text.
Taxable base: not your actual profit but a deemed profit, revenue × a profitability coefficient set by your ATECO code. For most professional and consulting activities the coefficient is 78%.
Rate: a substitute tax of 15%, or 5% for the first 5 years for genuinely new activities: no business or professional activity in the previous 3 years, and not a mere continuation of a previous job.
No VAT is charged on your invoices.
Exclusion: you cannot use it if you earned more than €35,000 of employment or pension income the previous year. This limit was €30,000, raised to €35,000 for 2025 and extended to 2026 only; unless it is extended again it returns to €30,000 from 2027. Spending on staff is capped at €20,000.

Taxes are only half the bill. Freelancers also pay social security to INPS.

Professionals without their own professional fund (most consultants, developers, designers, marketers) pay into the Gestione Separata: 26.07% of taxable income in 2026, or 24% if already insured elsewhere or retired, up to an income ceiling of €122,295 (INPS circular n. 8 of 3 February 2026).
A worked example from the sources: €10,000 of revenue × 78% = €7,800 × 26.07% ≈ €2,033 of contributions.
Artisans and traders pay fixed minimum contributions to the INPS Gestione Artigiani e Commercianti. Forfettari can apply for a 35% reduction, a rule we have not re-verified for 2026.

For people on the nomad visa, the Ministry's portal says that Italian social security contributions generally apply unless a bilateral agreement provides otherwise. EU workers can stay in their home system in some cases through the coordination forms (A1, S1): ask your adviser if that applies to you.

Scenarios: where to start

This table is not personalised advice. It tells you which questions to bring to your commercialista, depending on your situation.

Your situation	Italian tax resident?	Regimes to look at	First thing to sort out
EU freelancer, 2–3 months in Sicily, home and family elsewhere	Usually not, if you stay well under 183 days and have no residence or domicile in Italy	Your home country's rules	Count your days; keep proof of your stays
EU freelancer moving to Sicily for good	Yes, once the tests are met	Partita IVA with forfettario (5% if new activity), Gestione Separata; impatriati if you qualify	Choose ATECO code and regime with a commercialista before invoicing
Non-EU employee of a foreign company, remote worker visa	Generally yes, beyond 183 days	Impatriati (interpello 2/2026 on foreign employers); treaty with the employer's country	Social security position and payroll: who withholds what
Non-EU freelancer, digital nomad visa	Generally yes, beyond 183 days	Mandatory partita IVA; forfettario; Gestione Separata	Open the partita IVA soon after the permesso
Italian returning after 3+ years abroad	Yes	Impatriati, or (not both) the regional IRPEF refund if you have employment or pension income and buy or renovate a home; South Working if your employer is outside Sicily	Check the years of non-residence and the 4-year commitment
Employee of a company in northern Italy, moving to Sicily	Already resident in Italy	No impatriati, no regional IRPEF refund (it requires a move from abroad); your employer may get the South Working grant	Talk to your employer about the grant before you sign
Very high income, mostly from abroad	Yes	Flat tax €300,000	A ruling request and cross-border planning

Before you meet a commercialista

A list of your days in Italy for the current and previous year.
Where you were tax resident in each of the last 10 years, with certificates if you have them.
Your income by type and country (salary, invoices, rents, investments).
Your employment contract or main client contracts.
Your qualification documents (degree, CIMEA statement, CV with dates).
The treaty between Italy and your home country.
Any plan to buy or renovate a home in Sicily.

Next: the incentives chapter for regional money, and the codice fiscale, bank and healthcare chapter for the paperwork you will need in your first weeks.