Italy Requires Expats To Declare All Offshore Assets

 

Expats in Italy are to face new rules on declaring offshore assets to tax authorities in the country, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

 

While previously expats were required to declare assets over €10,000 (£8,400), this threshold has been scrapped and they will now have to declare their overseas assets even if they have a very small amount of money in a UK bank account or the equivalent in shares or property.

 

According to the Telegraph, expats will not have to pay extra taxes on smaller assets but they will face fines if they fail to report them to the Italian authorities and complying with the new rules might complicate their tax returns.

 

The change concerns not just expats but also Italians who have assets outside of their home country. These assets have to be reported on a foreign asset monitoring return form along with the the annual tax return.

 

In another change in the tax rules, Italy's municipal real estate tax (IMU) which homeowners had to pay is being dropped and will be replaced by a service tax. Second homes and holiday homes will continue to be liable for IMU this year, the newspaper said.

 

According to Italy's deputy economy minister Pier Paolo Baretta, the IMU will be superseded by the new service tax by the end of 2013. This means that expats who rent accommodation or occupy a property provided by their employer will have to pay under the service tax, as opposed to IMU, which required owners to pay.

 

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