Before you start

Codice fiscale
A determination of whether you are tax resident for the year
Employment or business records, and details of foreign income and assets
SPID or CIE for the Agenzia delle Entrate portal

Step-by-step

1
Establish when tax residence begins
Registration in the anagrafe for over half the year, or having your habitual abode or main centre of interests in Italy for more than 183 days, makes you resident for the whole calendar year. An autumn arrival usually leaves you non-resident for that year.
OnlineWho: You
2
Test the impatriate regime against the post-2024 rules
For transfers from 2024, 50% of qualifying employment or professional income is exempt up to €600,000 a year for five tax periods, conditional on high qualification or specialisation, three prior years of non-residence — six or seven if returning to the same employer or group — mainly working in Italy, and a four-year residence commitment.
Via employerWho: YouBefore the first payroll run
3
Consider the forfettario if you are self-employed
The forfettario regime applies a 15% substitute tax — 5% for the first five years of a genuinely new activity — on revenue up to €85,000, with a profitability coefficient applied by sector so the taxable base is lower than the turnover. It replaces IRPEF, the surcharges and IRAP, and it is why a large share of freelancers in Florence operate this way.
OnlineWho: You
4
File the right return
The 730 is the simplified return for employees and pensioners, due in September. Redditi PF covers the self-employed and anyone with foreign income and runs to a later autumn deadline. Foreign income and assets almost always push you into Redditi PF.
OnlineWho: YouMay–October
5
Declare foreign assets on the RW section
Residents must report foreign financial assets and property and pay IVAFE on foreign financial assets and IVIE on foreign property. The obligation is independent of whether the assets produced income.
OnlineWho: You
6
Get the short-let position right if you let a property
Short tourist lets are subject to national rules including withholding by platforms and a national identification code for the unit, plus Florence's own authorisation regime and the tourist tax you must collect and remit. The comune's rules changed in 2025 and again in 2026, so check the current position rather than a friend's experience from two years ago.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Codice fiscale and SPID or CIE
Certificazione Unica from the employer
Records of foreign income, accounts and property
Deduction receipts — medical, mortgage interest, renovations, university fees
Registered lease and, for landlords, the short-let authorisation and identification code

Things most newcomers don’t know

The impatriate regime you will find online is the pre-2024 one, and it exempted 70% rather than 50%.

Until transfers of residence in 2023 the regime exempted 70% of qualifying income, and 90% in the southern regions — a rate Tuscany never had. From 2024 it is 50%, capped at €600,000 of income, with a high-qualification test, three years of prior non-residence and a four-year commitment to remain resident. Guidance aimed at people moving to Florence has been particularly slow to update, and packages have been negotiated on the wrong numbers.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate; D.Lgs. 209/2023

Leaving Italy inside four years claws the impatriate relief back, with interest.

The new regime is conditional on remaining tax resident for at least four tax years after the transfer. Leaving early does not simply end the benefit — what has already been taken is recovered with interest. For someone who moves to Florence for a fixed-term academic post or a two-year corporate assignment, this is a contingent liability that belongs in the decision, not a footnote.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

Cedolare secca on short lets is not a flat 21% once you have more than one property.

The flat-rate option on short tourist lets applies at 21% to one property, and a higher rate applies from the second property let short-term in the same tax year, with a ceiling on how many units can be let this way before the activity is treated as a business. Florence has a very large population of small foreign landlords who assume the 21% figure applies to their whole portfolio. Check the current rate and unit limits before modelling returns.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

Florence's own short-let authorisation regime is now enforced and has survived court challenge.

Since 2025 new short tourist lets in the UNESCO core have been blocked, with grandfathering only for properties regularly let in 2024. In May 2026 the Tuscan administrative court rejected the nineteen challenges brought against the regulation, and in June 2026 the council extended the block to nine further zones outside the centre. Authorisations run five years and are tied to both owner and property, units must be at least 28 square metres, and façade keyboxes are banned. Anyone buying in Florence with letting income in mind is buying into a live and tightening regime.

Source: Comune di Firenze; TAR Toscana

Common mistakes to avoid

Modelling a package on the pre-2024 70% impatriate exemption.
Taking impatriate relief and leaving Italy inside four years.
Assuming 21% cedolare secca applies to every short-let property you own.
Buying a central Florence flat for short-let income without checking the comune's authorisation regime.
Skipping the RW foreign-asset declaration because the assets produced no income.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.