Moving to a 0% tax country? Leave Italy properly first
Registering in AIRE is necessary and no longer enough. Since 2024 Italy looks at where you are and where your life is, and for some destinations it asks you to prove the move.
Last checked October 27, 2026 · 3 min read
The test since 2024
You are tax resident in Italy if, for most of the tax year, you have your residence or your domicile in Italy, or are physically present there. Most of the year means 183 days, or 184 in a leap year, and the days do not need to be consecutive.
Domicile is now the place where your personal and family relationships are mainly centered. Presence counts any part of a day as a day: an hour in Italy is a day in Italy.
Being registered in the resident population register (anagrafe) for most of the year still makes you presumed resident. Since 2024 that presumption can be rebutted with evidence; until 2023 it could not.
Residence is decided for the tax year as a whole. If you leave after spending most of the year in Italy, you are resident for that year, which is why most people plan the move for the first half of the year.
From January 1, 2027 the 1986 income tax code is replaced by a new consolidated code. Check how the residence rule reads there before relying on this guide for 2027 and later.
AIRE registration
Anyone moving abroad for more than 12 months must register in AIRE, the register of Italians resident abroad, within 90 days. You apply to the consulate for your new address, online through the Fast It portal, and it is free.
Since the 2024 budget law, failing to register costs €200 to €1,000 for each year it continues. Public bodies now pass signs that you live abroad to your municipality, and municipalities send AIRE data to the Agenzia delle Entrate.
Registration removes the presumption that comes with the resident register. It does not settle where you live: domicile and presence are still tested.
What keeps you resident
- Family in Italy
- A spouse or children who stay behind usually keep your domicile in Italy, because domicile follows personal and family relationships.
- A home kept running
- A house kept ready with live utilities, and regular returns to it, are signs the Agenzia reads as a close link that was never cut.
- Days and part-days
- 183 days or more in Italy, counting every part of a day, including days you work remotely from Italy.
- The register
- Staying in the resident register because AIRE was never filed.
Moving to a listed country
Italian citizens who move to a country on Italy’s list of privileged tax regimes are presumed to remain resident in Italy unless they prove otherwise. The list dates from 1999, was last changed in 2023 and still includes the United Arab Emirates, Monaco, Panama and Costa Rica. Paraguay and Georgia are not on it.
To rebut the presumption you must show both a real and lasting move to the new country and the loss of every significant link with Italy. Leases, residence permits, a tax residence certificate, school enrolment and a record of where you spent your days are the evidence to build from the start.
What stops, and what does not
- Foreign assets
- The RW monitoring section, the tax on property abroad (IVIE) and the tax on financial assets abroad (IVAFE) apply to residents. Once you are no longer resident, they stop.
- Italian income
- Income from Italian sources, such as rent from property in Italy, is still taxed in Italy.
- Exit tax
- Italy’s exit tax applies to people and companies carrying on a business. It does not tax unrealized gains on shares you hold privately.
Sources
- Ministero degli Affari Esteri: AIRE registration
- Agenzia delle Entrate: Circolare 20/E of November 4, 2024, on the tax residence of individuals
- Normattiva: article 2 of the TUIR (DPR 917/1986), in force to December 31, 2026
- Agenzia delle Entrate: DM of May 4, 1999, list of states with privileged tax regimes
- Normattiva: article 166 of the TUIR (exit tax)
- Agenzia delle Entrate: the RW section of the return
- Agenzia delle Entrate: IVIE
- Agenzia delle Entrate: IVAFE
Checked against these sources on October 27, 2026. Rules change: check them again before you act.
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Questions, answered.
01I registered in AIRE. Am I done?
Not necessarily. AIRE removes the register presumption, but your domicile and your days in Italy are still tested, and for listed countries you must also prove the move.
02Can I keep my house in Italy?
Yes, but a house kept ready for you, with family in it or regular stays, is evidence of domicile. Renting it out is cleaner than keeping it empty and waiting.
03I am moving to the UAE. Is that a problem?
It is on the list, so you start presumed resident in Italy and the burden of proof is yours. Plan the evidence of a real move, and of cutting your links with Italy, before you go.
The rule is the start. Your facts decide the rest.
Tell us where you live, where you earn and what you are setting up. We will go through how the rules apply to you on a call.