Most of the tax stories about Italy are about saving a few percentage points. This one is about writing a single cheque. The regime for new residents is an option for people with large foreign incomes: you pay a fixed annual amount on everything you earn abroad, and Italy stops asking where it came from. If your foreign income is modest, ignore it; if it is large, it deserves a serious look.
What is the flat tax for new residents in Italy?
It is an elective substitute tax of €300,000 per tax year (for people who move their tax residence to Italy from 1 January 2026; €200,000 for transfers from 11 August 2024 to 31 December 2025, and €100,000 before that) on all foreign-source income, whatever the amount. It replaces the ordinary IRPEF on that income. Income produced in Italy is not covered and is taxed in the usual way; see taxes in Italy for new residents.
The Agenzia delle Entrate's English pages sometimes still show older figures (€100,000 in the oldest). The Italian pages are the ones kept up to date.
Who qualifies for the flat tax for new residents in Italy?
You must move your tax residence to Italy and have been a non-resident for at least nine of the ten tax periods before the option takes effect. There is no nationality requirement and no requirement to work. You are not forced to take the regime for all foreign income either: you may exclude income from certain countries, for instance to benefit from a tax treaty. That income then follows the normal rules.
Family members who meet the same nine-of-ten test can be included, each paying a smaller amount. The 2026 budget law (law 199/2025) set it at €50,000 per person per year for transfers from 2026, as the Agenzia's notice confirms. The main text of the same page, not yet updated, still cites €25,000, the figure for earlier transfers. A new consolidated tax code applying from 1 January 2027 (legislative decree 117/2026, article 246) also mentions €300,000 and €50,000 per family member. Its wording speaks of an option exercised after a favourable answer to a ruling request, while the Agenzia treats the ruling as optional today: check this point if you move from 2027.
How do you opt in and pay?
You make the election in your income tax return for the year of the transfer, or for the following year. You can also file an interpello, a request for a ruling, with the Agenzia in advance, which is the norm for large or complicated assets. The tax is paid in one payment, by the date of balance of the income tax, using the F24 form with the code NRPP. Each family member pays separately with the same code.
There is no room for slips: late payment ends the option, and the Agenzia says correcting a late payment under the voluntary regularisation mechanism (ravvedimento operoso) is not possible for this regime.
A regime with a price tag of six figures is no place to learn on the job. Before you ask an adviser to run the numbers, it helps to have your facts straight: the years you were resident in Italy, where your income comes from, which family members would join. Moovy, Hello Expat's AI assistant, can help you assemble that list and check it against the official conditions, so the consultation is faster and cheaper.
How long does the flat tax last?
The option renews automatically each year, but its effects end after 15 years counted from the first tax year in which it applies. It can stop sooner if you revoke it, if you no longer meet the requirements, if you fail to pay, or if you move your tax residence out of Italy.
What other benefits come with it?
According to Agenzia circulars of 2017 and 2020, while the option lasts:
- you are exempt from the foreign-asset reporting (quadro RW) and do not pay IVAFE or IVIE on assets in the countries covered by the option;
- inheritance and gift tax applies only to assets and rights located in Italy (article 1, paragraph 158 of law 232/2016).
For a country you excluded from the option, the ordinary rules (and the reporting) still apply.
Is the flat tax for new residents in Italy right for you?
Compare it with the alternatives:
- If you are an employee or professional taking a job in Italy, the impatriati regime halves the taxable amount of your Italian work income.
- If you are a pensioner with a foreign pension and are moving to a small southern town, the flat tax for retirees in Italy takes only 7%.
- If your income is high and mostly foreign, the new-resident regime is a fixed price: attractive when your ordinary Italian tax would be much larger, pointless when it would not.
Because the regime commits you for years, have a commercialista or a tax lawyer test it against your real portfolio, treaty positions and family situation before you move. Do not rely on a blog, ours included, for a six-figure decision.
At what income does the lump sum start to pay off?
The lump sum pays off only when the ordinary Italian tax on your foreign income would be higher than the fixed amount. With a top IRPEF rate of 43% in 2026, plus regional and municipal surcharges, that only happens with very large foreign incomes. Real cases move the line: a treaty credit for tax paid abroad can lower the ordinary bill, the regime's relief from foreign-asset reporting and wealth taxes can raise the value of the option, and excluding a country changes both sides of the sum. This is why the Italian rules provide for a ruling request before you move, and why an Italian tax adviser should run the comparison with your real figures before you decide.
Which documents do you need to opt in?
The essential file proves that you were not an Italian tax resident for at least nine of the ten previous tax years: foreign tax residence certificates, tax assessments, and records of days spent in Italy if you visited. Add a list of the countries whose income you want to include or exclude, and, for each family member you want to cover, the same proof. Because the Agenzia describes a ruling request (interpello) as an option before the move, many advisers prepare the file in that form even when they do not file it.
What is the lump sum tax in Italy compared with other options?
You may hear this regime described as the Italy lump sum tax, the "neo residenti" or "article 24-bis" option (its number in the 1986 code), or simply as high net worth relocation to Italy. It is the most expensive of Italy's newcomer regimes in absolute terms and the only one aimed at investors and heirs rather than workers or pensioners. The 2026 version of the figure, €300,000 for moves from 1 January 2026, is the one to quote; for transfers from 11 August 2024 to 31 December 2025 the figure remains €200,000.
The sister regimes serve different people: the impatriati regime for skilled employees and the flat tax for retirees in Italy for pensioners in small southern towns. Before you decide, set the three side by side and read taxes in Italy for new residents to understand the baseline you are leaving.
What are the limits of the Italy 300,000 euro flat tax?
Three limits are worth stating plainly. First, the sum is due every year, whatever your real foreign income, so it works as a price, not as a rate. Second, it does not cover income produced in Italy, which stays under the ordinary rules. Third, the payment must be made in one go and on time, because a late payment ends the option and the voluntary-correction mechanism is not available. Treat the payment date as seriously as you would a mortgage instalment.