Italia: a magnet for wealth and talent
International tax competition to attract new residents is now an established reality. From schemes reserved for pensioners to incentives for the return of skilled workers, right through to measures aimed at high-net-worth individuals, an increasing number of countries are using tax policy as a lever to attract human and financial capital. Alongside jurisdictions traditionally known for their favourable tax regimes — such as the United Arab Emirates and the Principality of Monaco — many countries with standard tax systems have also introduced dedicated schemes. Greece offers new residents a flat tax of 100,000 euros per annum on foreign income for fifteen years, subject to a minimum investment of 500,000 euros. Switzerland, on the other hand, taxes wealthy foreigners on the basis of expenditure, commensurate with their standard of living and in any case not less than 400,000 francs, whilst not allowing them to work. Turkey has recently entered the global race to attract talent, capitalising on the turmoil in the Middle East and offering 20 years’ tax exemption on foreign income to those who move to the country, provided they have not been tax residents there for at least the previous three years. And then there is Italia, which over the last decade has built up a diversified system of incentives aimed at returning workers, foreign pensioners, academics and researchers. But it is the scheme for new residents, aimed at high net worth individuals, that represents Italia’s most competitive measure in the international market for tax mobility.
Reserved for those who transfer their tax residence to Italia after having spent at least nine of the last ten years abroad, the scheme subjects all income generated outside Italia to a substitute tax of (just) €300,000 per year — a figure that has tripled over the last two years from the initial €100,000 — and exempts foreign assets from IVIE, IVAFE and inheritance and gift tax. It can be extended to family members by paying a tax of 50,000 euros for each person, is valid for a maximum of fifteen years and, unlike the Swiss model, allows beneficiaries to work, invest and run a business in Italia, thereby also generating income that is ordinarily taxable in the country.
The figures confirm the success of the measure. According to ‘Towards Italy. Italia and the attraction of HNWIs, managers and talent’ — the very recent Assonime study which, for the first time, compares the Italian model with leading international examples and assesses its impact on public finances and the economy — the number of beneficiaries has risen from 94 in 2017 to 2,468 in 2025, with 553 new arrivals in the last year. Almost four in ten come from the United Kingdom as their last tax residence, a proportion that has risen following the abolition, in 2025, of the long-standing regime for non-domiciled residents. Next come France, Brazil, the United States and Switzerland; in terms of nationality, French nationals (15 per cent) and returning Italians (14 per cent) predominate. Milan accounts for over half of the beneficiaries (52%), ahead of Rome (17 per cent); Florence, Venice and Lake Como follow. More than a third belong to the category of private investors, alongside entrepreneurs, professionals and venture capital and private equity practitioners. It is therefore not surprising that many of the non-EU new residents have chosen to move to Italia on an investor visa, introduced in 2017 to attract international capital to strategic sectors of the economy. The visa, which requires an investment of between €250,000 and €2 million, complements the rationale behind the new-resident scheme: to attract not only taxpayers but also productive capital.
But what does all this mean for the public finances? According to the recent study cited above, between 2017 and 2025 the scheme generated over 1.3 billion euros in substitute tax, personal income tax (IRPEF) on income generated in Italia and revenue from property purchases. Looking ahead, the number of taxpayers could reach around 7,000 by 2040, with an estimated total impact of over €20 billion in new tax revenue over the next fifteen years.
One point worth noting: almost one in two beneficiaries has purchased a property in the country, with an average value of 3.8 million euros. These transactions are clearly concentrated in the highest and narrowest segment of the market: figures that are unlikely to be linked to the rise in value of 80- or 120-square-metre flats, which is fuelling rumours of a supposed Milanese property ‘bubble’ linked to the city’s new wealthy residents. If anything, these price rises are driven by the city’s renewed overall appeal and, in the past, the different tax regime for repatriates, which, until it was scaled back by the Meloni government two years ago, tied the extension of the benefit — from five to ten years — to the purchase of a home.
