Impatriates, flat tax also via refund

The reduced taxation, from which immigrant workers can benefit, can also be availed of by means of a reimbursement request by the taxpayer, as an alternative to its application by the employer or the option in the 730. With its order 23256/2025, the Cassazione rejected the appeal by the Revenue Agency and confirmed the right of the employee already recognised in first and second instance.

The judges based their reasoning on what had already been developed in Order 34655/2024 (see Il Sole 24 Ore of 9 January 2025). In the most recent case, the taxpayer requested a refund for the higher taxes paid in 2018, as he had not asked his employer to apply the facilities provided for by Article 16 of Legislative Decree 147/2015 and had not exercised the option for such tax regime at the time of the income declarationi.

The Agency reiterated that the request to the employer and the option are 'fulfilments not otherwise surrogate'. However, the judges, recalling Order 34655, affirmed that the failure to make a request to the employer does not prevent one from benefiting from the relief in this case, as it refers to 2018. In fact, the prohibition on reimbursement was introduced by Decree-Law 34/2019 and does not operate retroactively. Moreover, Circular 17/2017, in which the Agency states that, if not enjoyed through the employer, the facilitation can be activated at the time of the income tax return, "does not sanction (nor could it do so, because it lacks the force of law) any banning of reimbursement, since the latter operates only following Decree-Law 34/2019.