The clarifications provided by Agenzia delle Entrate in the question 956-61 / 2020 are interesting because they concern work activities in the digital sector that are typically “mobile” and can be exercised remotely.
The case concerns a natural person with dual citizenship, French and Italian, who has never resided in Italy and is registered with Aire.
In 2019 the person ceased professional activity in France and, in March 2020, moved to Sardinia to start a self-employment activity as a marketing and social consultant
Furthermore, the former professional intends to undertake an entrepreneurial activity for the online sale of video products. In particular, the request was made for clarification regarding the possibility of benefiting from the special regime:
(a) in the case of joint self-employment and business activities, even if the latter was started after the transfer of residence and the beginning of the consultancy activity;
(b) in the event that the entrepreneurial activity was exercised through a company with an option for the tax transparency regime reserved for companies with a limited corporate base (Article 116 of the TUIR).
With the new law introduced by Legislative Decree 34/2019, from 2020 workers who were resident abroad in the two tax periods before the transfer to Italy are entitled to benefits and undertake to reside in Italy for at least two years by carrying out the work mainly in the Italian territory.
They are entitled to the tax exemption for personal income tax purposes, for five years, of 70% of the salaried or self-employed income produced in our country. The regime also applies to those who start a new business. For those who move to a municipality in the South (including the islands), the tax deduction rises to 90 percent.
Furthermore, the benefits extend for a further five years, with a 50% tax reduction in this additional time frame, in the case of workers with at least one child or who purchase residential properties in Italy (within the first five years).
With the subsequent Legislative Decree 124/2019, the concessions were extended to subjects who transferred their residence from 30 April 2019 with effect from the 2019 tax period.
As for the first question, Agenzia delle Entrate believes that, in the presence of a “functional” connection between the transfer of residence in Italy and the start of a work activity, income deriving from other activities undertaken in tax periods following the transfer (but within the eligible five-year period) may also be included in the concession.
On the second question, the answer starts from the observation that the legislation in question refers to the income “produced” by the workers: therefore, the income generated by limited liability companies and by commercial partnerships would be excluded even if charged in transparency regime (articles 116 and 5 of the TUIR) to “impatriate” natural persons members. Basically, subsidized business income would only be those produced by the individual entrepreneur.