The tax regime for “impatriate” workers has been reformulated by Legislative Decree 34/2019. The benefits will apply to workers residing abroad in the 2 periods prior to the transfer and who undertake to reside in Italy for at least 2 years working mainly in the Italian territory. For these subjects the personal income tax is reduced by 70% for 5 years. The regime also applies to those who start an individual business.
For those who move to the South of Italy, the tax reduction is 90 percent. Furthermore, to encourage the come back in our country, the benefits will extend for a further 5 years (with a 50% tax reduction in this additional period of time) in the case of workers with at least one minor child or who become owners of residential properties in Italy after transfer.
The start of these benefits was initially established from year 2020. With the subsequent Legislative Decree 124/2019 the provisions have also been made applicable to the workers who had transferred residence “from” 30 April 2019 with effect from the 2019 tax period.
An “ad hoc” regime for workers operating in the professional sport sector had been also introduced. The regime applies to athletes, coaches, technical-sports directors and athletic trainers who work in the CONI recognized disciplines such as football, basketball, cycling, golf, ecc… For these workers, the income resulting from job carried out in Italy is detaxed by 50%.
The facilitation was in fact used in recent months especially by Serie A clubs in football and basketball to attract in
Italy otherwise unapproachable champions (like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Christian Eriksen or former NBA Luigi Datome and Marco Belinelli in basketball) thanks to the 50% tax discount on their engagement.
But that measure is non yet operational because a future Presidential Decree should define criteria and implementation modalities of this provision. So that incentives for professional sportsmen cannot be effectively applied until the Decree adoption.