Tax residency
The question that decides what you must declare.
OpenEnglish desk · Personal income tax
Your Italian tax return, filed in Turin
Italy has two personal income tax returns and you do not get to pick freely between them: which one you file depends on the kind of income you earned. This page explains the difference, what to bring, and what most foreign residents in Turin end up claiming back.
01 · The two forms
Modello 730 or Redditi PF: which one is yours
The Modello 730 is for employees and pensioners. Its advantage is practical rather than fiscal: any refund is paid through your payslip or pension, usually within a couple of months, instead of arriving from the Revenue Agency the following year.
The Redditi PF is the general return. You file it if you hold a VAT number, if you earned business income, if you were not resident in Italy for the year in question, or if your situation falls outside what the 730 can handle. Refunds here are paid directly by the Revenue Agency and take longer.
| Modello 730 | Redditi PF | |
|---|---|---|
| Who files it | Employees and pensioners | Anyone, including VAT numbers and non-residents |
| Refund route | Through the payslip or pension | Directly from the Revenue Agency |
| Refund timing | Weeks | Months, sometimes into the following year |
| Compliance visa | Yes, issued by the CAF | Not in this form |
| Foreign assets | Cannot be reported here | The proper place for them |
| Deadline | Earlier, mid-year | Later, in the autumn |
Two situations catch people out. If you had an Italian employer but no sostituto d'imposta at the time of filing (because the contract ended, or the employer was abroad), you can still use a 730, but the refund route changes. And if you arrived partway through the year, your tax residence has to be settled first, because it decides whether Italy taxes your worldwide income or only what you earned here.
02 · The first question
Tax residence is the first question, not a detail
Italy considers you tax resident for a year if, for the greater part of that year, you were registered with the resident population, or had your habitual abode or the centre of your interests here. It is not the same as holding a residence permit, and it is not the same as the date you signed a lease.
If you are resident, Italy taxes your worldwide income (salary, rent and investments abroad included) and gives you a credit for tax already paid in the other country under the relevant treaty. If you are not, only Italian-source income is taxed.
Getting this wrong in the first year is the single most expensive mistake I see, because it usually surfaces two or three years later with penalties attached. The dedicated page works through the three tests and what each one triggers.
03 · Deductions
What people actually claim back
These are the deductions that come up again and again for foreign residents in Turin. Almost all of them now require the payment to be traceable.
- Medical expenses. Doctors, specialists, prescriptions, dental work and glasses, for you and for dependants. Anything above a small excess counts, and pharmacy receipts carry your tax code so they are easy to prove.
- Rent. Tenants under a registered lease can claim a deduction, with a larger one if you moved for work and meet the distance and timing conditions. The lease must be registered.
- Mortgage interest on the purchase of your main home in Italy.
- Children. Nursery and school fees, university tuition within the applicable ceilings, sport within age limits.
- Renovation and energy efficiency work, spread over several years, if paid by the special traceable bank transfer.
- Supplementary pension contributions and, in the right conditions, contributions paid for a domestic worker.
The traceability rule
It is the condition that quietly cancels most lost deductions.
- Cash still works for pharmacies and treatment in public facilities
- For everything else, paying cash generally loses the deduction outright
- No amount of paperwork afterwards repairs it
- Keep the card receipt or the statement, not only the invoice
04 · Documents
What to bring for your Italian tax return in Turin
If you have SPID or CIE, several of these can be downloaded from public portals in a few minutes rather than requested at a counter.
- Identity document and codice fiscale for you and for anyone you claim as a dependant.
- Certificazione Unica from every employer or pension provider for the year, including short contracts, which are the ones most often forgotten.
- Last year's return, if you filed one in Italy.
- Medical receipts and prescriptions, grouped by person.
- Registered lease and rent receipts, if you rent.
- Mortgage statement showing interest paid, if you own.
- Cadastral details of any property you own, in Italy or abroad.
- Documents for income earned abroad and any foreign tax already paid.
- Your IBAN, for a refund to reach you.
05 · Timing
Deadlines, and what happens if you are late
The 730 has an earlier deadline than the Redditi PF, and both fall in the middle of the year. Missing them is not fatal, but the cost of waiting grows.
On time
Nothing to add. The refund follows the ordinary route for the form you filed.
Shortly late
A late return can still be filed within a set period with a reduced penalty. The sooner it goes in, the smaller that penalty.
A skipped year
Bring what you have. Late filing or a corrective return is usually still available, and it is a common situation for people who moved country mid-year.
After a notice
Once the Revenue Agency writes to you the reduced-penalty routes close. It already holds most of your data and eventually reconciles it.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
I only worked in Italy for four months. Do I still file?
Possibly not, and that is worth checking before you pay anyone. If you were not tax resident and had a single employer who withheld correctly, there may be nothing to file.
But if you had two employers, or a period without one, the withholding is often wrong, in your favour or against you, and a return is how it gets corrected.
My employer is abroad but I work from Turin. What then?
Then you almost certainly have to file, because no Italian employer has withheld tax for you. This is the most common situation among remote workers who moved here.
It usually also raises a social security question, which is separate from the tax one and needs answering in its own right.
Can we do it entirely by video call?
Yes for the preparation and the review. Documents and signatures travel online.
A small number of CAF procedures still require you in person, because the compliance visa rests on inspecting the originals. You will be told in advance if yours is one of them.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the type of return and the volume of documents.
You will be told the figure when you book, before any work starts.
Let's talk
You will get the document list before the appointment
Filtered on your situation, so nothing needs a second visit. Write a couple of lines about your year and I will tell you which return applies.