{"id":458,"date":"2013-01-02T05:12:13","date_gmt":"2013-01-02T04:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=458"},"modified":"2018-09-14T17:26:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T15:26:37","slug":"taxes-in-italy-codice-fiscale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/taxes-in-italy-codice-fiscale\/","title":{"rendered":"Paying Your Taxes in Italy and the Codice Fiscale"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as I enjoy the holidays, there\u2019s always a certain sense of relief when they are finally behind us.\u00a0 The New Year gives us a fresh start, which feels great\u2014at least for a couple of weeks.\u00a0 By the end of January, most of us will gradually begin to abandon all of our well-intended resolutions made in those delirious moments of na\u00efve optimism while we were sitting on our couch, sweating out the last hangover of 2012.\u00a0 Do I actually believe that I\u2019m going to stick with a hot yoga program?\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 And the gluten-free, vegetarian, pro-biotic, raw diet?\u00a0 Kill me now.\u00a0 Well, they seemed like a good idea\u2026<\/p>\n

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Death and Taxes<\/h2>\n

So it\u2019s January and back in the good ol\u2019 US of A, football season is almost over and tax season has begun in earnest. \u00a0Time to brace yourself for the incoming credit card bills and hours of collecting scattered receipts to present to your accountant\u2014normally on the afternoon of April 14th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Here in Italy, the taxing system functions a little differently.\u00a0 A person whose only income is from a salaried job is not obligated to file an annual return. His employer deducts the \"bigtaxes\"tax from his monthly paychecks and submits them directly to the tax authorities.\u00a0 On the other hand, someone who is self-employed operates within the moral confines of the honor system (i.e. pay as little tax as possible without getting caught).\u00a0 In any case, the date for filing an annual return for a self-employed individual is July 31st<\/sup>.\u00a0 Plenty of time to think up innovative bookkeeping methods to conceal your actual income.<\/p>\n

Italy has a progressive tax rate, just like the US.\u00a0 The 2012 rates in Italy are as follows:<\/p>\n

23%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u20ac 0 – 15,000<\/p>\n

27%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u20ac 15,001-28,000<\/p>\n

38%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u20ac 28,001-55,000<\/p>\n

41%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u20ac 55,001-75,000<\/p>\n

43%\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u20ac 75,001 and over<\/p>\n

*There is also an additional 3% tax levied on incomes over \u20ac 300,000.\u00a0 They call this a \u201csolidarity tax.\u201d\u00a0 I just love the branding of this\u2014a nice spin on the idea of \u201csticking it to the wealthy,\u201d don\u2019t you think? \u00a0It suggests the notion that “we’re all suffering through this crisis together.” \u00a0The US could use the services of the Italian government\u2019s marketing consultant right about now.<\/p>\n

Codice Fiscale<\/h2>\n

If you are planning to spend any length of time in Italy, then sooner or later you\u2019ll have to obtain your codice fiscale<\/i>.\u00a0 This is your fiscal code, similar to a social security number in the U.S. and it is used by the taxing authorities to track your finances.\u00a0 It is an alphanumeric code comprised of 16 characters used to identify anyone residing in Italy, regardless of residency status.\u00a0 Officially it must be assigned by the Italian government, but if you\u2019ve got nothing better to do right now (like reading my blog) then you can calculate it for yourself online (since it is based on your name, sex, birthday, and city\/country of origin).\u00a0 There are a number of websites that can do this and the result should be the same no matter which one you use.\u00a0 This one is as good as any:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.codicefiscale.us\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Below is a diagram showing how they calculate this.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>
How unravel your Codice Fiscale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n