With a residence permit based on passive income, what does the tax situation look like in general? You still have to pay something, but I can’t make sense of the rules. Are there any specific differences compared to ordinary residency?
I’m also not clear on this — I still can’t figure it out: during those six months before changing tax residency, do you have to pay tax on the same passive income both in Russia and in Italy? Or is it somehow divided — what comes from Russia you pay there, and what comes from Italy you pay here? And residenza elettiva is a whole different story — you show a decent income from Russia to get the residence permit (ВНЖ), and then once you become a tax resident your obligations suddenly increase on that very income which you previously only used to prove.
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Yeah, the residenza elettiva (elective residence) thing is the most confusing — you have to show income to get a residence permit, and then that same income gets you hit with taxes. Has anyone actually gone through this with a consultant, or is everyone just reading about it on forums?
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I consulted a tax specialist specifically about this — didn’t get a clear answer as to when you become a tax resident: whether it’s from the moment you receive a residence permit (ВНЖ) plus 183 days of actual residence, or simply from 183 days in the country. As soon as you become a tax resident, you’re required to declare your income regardless of where it comes from, and if you have a sole proprietorship/individual entrepreneur (ИП) in another country, the hassle with double taxation starts.
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Tax residency is determined by the calendar year — if you became a resident this year, you’ll have to file taxes for the entire year. There’s no such thing as “from the moment of entry.” It’s another matter that you can prove tax residency in another country and thereby show that you pay taxes there — that’s a separate conversation with a tax advisor, but the option exists.
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By the way, they changed the rules there recently — now all three criteria must be met simultaneously: physical presence for more than 183 days, domicile, and registration in the anagrafe (анаграфе). I myself didn’t know about this at first. So simply living there for half a year without registering doesn’t automatically make you a tax resident.
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By registering residency and signing up with the anagrafe, you automatically become a tax resident of Italy, even if you spend fewer than 183 days in the country. Not everyone understands that. One more point that wasn’t mentioned here — the double taxation agreement with Russia, because it directly determines how to declare bank deposits and real estate in Russia. It’s either been suspended or its terms have changed — you need to check with a commercialista (Italian tax advisor) about your specific situation.
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When you move mid-year this hits unexpectedly — residency is fixed for the whole year from January, not from the moment you register. If you moved in June, you’ll still have to report for the first half of the year when you were in another country. And one more point for those with income from Russia — on additional tax assessments in Italy there’s a tax presumption, meaning you have to prove that everything is correct, not them.
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About the agreement — as I understand it now, in light of its suspension, it makes more sense to register starting in the year when you’ve already lost Russian tax residency. That is, if you spent most of the year in Russia, it’s better not to register this year; otherwise you’ll have to report for the whole year under Italian rules. I stumbled on this idea and now I think the timing/order of registration matters at least as much as the number of days.
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I have a similar situation — I want to spend 4–5 months a year in Italy and not become a tax resident. Formally, by the day count I don’t exceed the threshold. But the question that wasn’t addressed here — doesn’t residenza elettiva require registration in the anagrafe as part of the procedure? Isn’t that mandatory? Because if so, the days-based strategy doesn’t work — you’d already be listed in the anagrafe.
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