Do I have to file at home while living in Italy?
For most people the answer turns on whether the ties that made them resident have actually ended. For a US citizen or green-card holder it does not: the return is due in Italy exactly as it would be at home. Everything else on the file follows from which of those you are.
Is there a treaty between my country and Italy?
Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.
I own property in Italy. Where is the rent taxed?
Rent from immovable property is almost always taxable where the property is situated, frequently by withholding on the gross amount, with your home country taxing the same income and giving credit. A net-basis election, where one exists, is usually the difference between tax on profit and tax on turnover.
Do I still file a Canadian return for the year I move to Italy?
Yes, for the departure year itself. Leaving Canada does not end that year's filing; it changes what the return covers. Residence is decided by ties rather than by the date on the boarding pass, so the return reports worldwide income up to the point residence ceased and Canadian-source income after it. The date residence ceased has to be supportable from the facts: where the home is, where the family lives, where the driving licence and health cover sit. We settle that date first, because the split return, the reporting of assets held abroad and any deemed disposition all hang off it.
When does Italy start taxing me if I move mid-year?
From the point Italy treats you as resident, which is a local test applied to the calendar year rather than to your arrival date. Registration with the commune, where your household actually is and where the bulk of your year is spent all feed into it. The practical consequence is that arrival and residence are not the same event. You can be physically in Italy for months and be taxed there for the whole year, or for none of it, depending on how that test falls. We work the Italian side and the home-country side against the same set of dates, so the two answers neither overlap nor leave a gap.
I inherited a house in Italy before I moved, what do I file?
Two separate files, and they do not start at the same time. Italian inheritance and property taxes run independently of income tax and are administered locally, so obligations attach to the property itself and begin before it produces any income at all. Your home country's treatment of the same inheritance is a different analysis again, usually turning on what the property was worth when you acquired it and on what you do with it afterwards. The mistake we see is treating an empty, unlet house as nothing to report because no income arose. The local obligations do not wait for income.
Does holding Italian citizenship mean Italy has been taxing me all along?
No. Italy taxes on residence, not on the passport, so citizenship alone does not open an Italian filing obligation. That surprises people who assume the opposite, usually because they are also American and used to citizenship-based filing at home. What citizenship does change is the practical side: registration, inherited property and dealings with local offices are simpler, and it removes any question about your right to be there. The tax question is still decided by where you actually live, which is why the year you move is the one that needs care.
What do I do about my Canadian house and bank accounts when I move?
Decide, before you go, which of them you intend to keep, because retained ties are the evidence the residence question is settled on. A house kept available for your own use pulls in one direction; one let on a proper lease to an unrelated tenant pulls in the other. Accounts, cards and memberships matter less individually and more in aggregate. None of this is a checklist you pass or fail. It is a picture, and the file should be assembled so the picture is unambiguous. We set that out in writing at the start, with the fee agreed before the work begins.
I am American, do I keep filing in the US after moving to Italy?
Yes. US filing follows citizenship, so the return continues for as long as the passport does, wherever you live. Moving changes what goes on it rather than whether it exists: foreign earnings, foreign accounts, and the relief claimed for Italian tax paid. The account reporting is the part most often missed, because it sits outside the return and is triggered by holding accounts abroad rather than by owing anything. FBAR becomes relevant as soon as an Italian account is opened. We map the US and Italian positions together, so relief is claimed in the right order rather than twice.
Do I get credit for all of the foreign tax I paid?
Only up to your own country's tax on that same income, and only for tax you were legally obliged to pay. Two consequences follow. Living somewhere that taxes you more heavily than your residence country does leaves an excess that becomes a carryover rather than a refund. And withholding suffered above the treaty rate is not creditable — the route back to that money is a refund claim in the country that took it. See claiming the credit.
How do you avoid double taxation?
You claim relief once, in the right country, in the right order. Usually the source country taxes first, the residence country then gives a credit for that tax against its own charge on the same income, and a treaty caps the source-country rate. Getting the order wrong is what produces a double charge you then have to unwind. The mechanism differs by income type, which is why we map the whole position before filing either return. See how to avoid double taxation.
