These are the topics that come up most in our consultations, from tax residency and the 7% regime to FBAR and dual filing. Short answers here; the deeper articles are linked throughout.
Cross-border tax has a lot of moving parts, and the same handful of questions come up in almost every first call. Here are honest, plain-English answers. When your situation needs specifics, book a free consultation and we'll walk through your case.
Yes. The introductory consultation is a free 15-minute call. We review the situation you describe beforehand, tell you what you actually need (and what you don't), and give you a clear next step.
If it's a fit, we book a deeper session for a detailed plan and written guidance.
Book a free consultation →Generally you're an Italian tax resident for a year if, for most of that year, you are registered in the anagrafe, or your home or center of vital interests is in Italy. Timing matters: registering residency in the first half of the year can make you a full-year Italian tax resident.
Because residency drives everything else, it should be planned before you move, not after.
Read: U.S.–Italy tax residency, the definitive guide →Italy's 7% regime (art. 24-ter TUIR) lets foreign pensioners who move their residency to a qualifying town in southern Italy pay a flat 7% on all foreign-source income for up to ten years. It's aimed at retirees with foreign pension or retirement income.
Eligibility depends on your income sources, the town you move to, and prior residency. Our interactive map shows which towns qualify.
Explore the 7% Tax Map →The impatriati (impatriate workers) regime reduces Italian tax on Italian-source earned income for people who transfer their tax residency to Italy and work there, for five years. The 7% regime is for foreign pension and passive income; the impatriati regime is for active work income earned in Italy.
They target different profiles, and which one fits depends on how you earn your money.
Read: impatriate vs flat-rate regime →Italy's Digital Nomad Visa lets qualifying remote workers live in Italy, but the visa is an immigration status, not a tax answer. Once you're in Italy long enough to be a tax resident, your worldwide income comes into the Italian system.
Plan the tax side, including any regime you might qualify for, alongside the visa.
Read: Italy Digital Nomad Visa and tax →Possibly, but recent reform tightened who qualifies through an Italian ancestor. Citizenship also has tax consequences worth understanding before you pursue it.
Read: Italian citizenship by descent, 2026 reform →Usually not on the same dollar, but it takes planning. The U.S. taxes citizens on worldwide income no matter where they live. The U.S.–Italy tax treaty, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, and the Foreign Tax Credit are the tools that prevent double taxation.
They interact in complex ways (including the treaty's savings clause), and the wrong sequence can leave real money on the table.
Read: the Foreign Tax Credit for Americans in Italy →Yes. U.S. citizens and green-card holders file a U.S. return every year on worldwide income regardless of where they live, and once you're an Italian resident you generally file in Italy too.
The two returns have to agree with each other, which is why a cross-border return is rarely as simple as either side alone.
Read: U.S.–Italy dual filing, what to expect each year →FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) reports your foreign bank and financial accounts to the U.S. Treasury. You must file it if the combined value of your non-U.S. accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year, even for a single day.
It's separate from your tax return, and Italian accounts, including many you may not think of, count toward the threshold.
Read: reporting Italian bank accounts to the IRS →Often there's a clean way back. For non-willful filers who fell behind, the IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedure typically lets you get compliant with three years of tax returns and six years of FBARs, usually without penalties.
The right approach depends on why you fell behind, so this is a situation to review before filing anything.
See: FBAR, FATCA & streamlined filing →Under the U.S.–Italy treaty, U.S. Social Security benefits paid to an Italian resident are generally taxable only in Italy. How they're taxed there depends on your regime: under the 7% flat-tax regime they fall under the 7% rate, while otherwise they're taxed under ordinary Italian rules.
Read: is U.S. Social Security taxable in Italy? →U.S. retirement accounts are one of the trickiest cross-border areas. Distributions can be covered by the treaty, and under the 7% regime foreign retirement income falls under the flat 7% rate; Roth treatment in Italy is nuanced and not automatically tax-free.
Getting the drawdown sequence and regime timing right can change your lifetime tax meaningfully.
Read: Roth IRA taxation in Italy →Once you're an Italian resident, rental income is generally taxable on both returns, and Italy taxes foreign rental income on a different base than the U.S. — often a net or partially reduced amount rather than gross.
A U.S. property you kept and any Italian property both need reporting, with treaty relief and the foreign tax credit coordinated so the same income isn't taxed twice.
Read: foreign rental income in Italy, net not gross →Italian residents pay small annual wealth taxes on assets held abroad: IVIE on foreign real estate (for example, a U.S. home you kept) and IVAFE on foreign financial assets and accounts.
They're reported on the Italian return alongside your foreign holdings, and the 7% regime can change how they apply.
Read: understanding IVIE, the Italian wealth tax →It can be. Italy doesn't recognize U.S. pass-through treatment the way the U.S. does, so an S-corp or single-member LLC that works well for a U.S. resident can create double taxation or messy reporting once you're an Italian resident.
Restructuring, sometimes redomiciling or converting the entity, is often the fix, and it's best done before you trigger Italian residency.
Read: why Americans in Italy should not own an S-corp →The codice fiscale is Italy's tax identification code, and you need it for almost everything: a bank account, a lease, utilities, a car, and of course filing. You can obtain one through an Italian consulate or the Agenzia delle Entrate, and in many cases without hiring anyone.
Read: getting your codice fiscale as an American →Every cross-border case is a little different. A 15-minute consultation is free, and we read your situation before the call.
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