Two Things You Must know Before Moving to Italy

Essential Info No One is Telling You

I don’t know why, but these two items, which are pretty darn important, don’t come up much in all the hype about moving to Italy.

1)    Taxes:

Most Americans who are caught up in the dream of moving to Italy are not aware of the tax ramifications. Do yourself a favor and gain that knowledge.

Once you’re a resident (this is the foundation piece of your move to Italy) you must spend 183 days every year in Italy, to maintain your residency. This means you must pay taxes.

Italy and the U.S. have a tax treaty to prevent double taxation, but you still need to report your worldwide income to both the IRS and to the Italian tax authorities. 

Yes, Italy will tax you on all income sources, including foreign income and foreign investments. 

The rate increases as the level of income increases. Last year, the rates were:

To live in Italy, you must be willing to pay higher taxes.

And you must pay accountants twice. In Italy and in the US. 

Yup, you still need to file in the US even if you live in Italy full time. I use a US accountant who has specific tax knowledge regarding US citizens abroad. He costs half the amount I pay my Italian accountant.

A good Italian tax accountant who understands immigrant taxes is essential. 

For the love of Mother Mary, don’t try to do Italian taxes on your own!

2)    Driving License: 

There is no agreement for reciprocal recognition of drivers’ licenses between the United States and Italy.

You can use your US license for exactly one year after obtaining residency. After that, get ready for the exam of a lifetime. You must pass it in Italian. And it’s a helluva test.

(It’s also offered in French and German in certain northern regions.)

The theoretical test consists of 30 questions. Many (sometimes all) are trick questions. You can’t make more than three errors. If you fail, you can take it two more times. After that, you need to submit a new application and pay the fees again.

Most Italians fail it the first time. It’s that hard. There was a story in the news about an Italian man who used an earpiece to feed him answers during the test. He ended up swallowing it in order to avoid detection.

Wording is used that is designed to confuse.

Credit for the below example: Go Thou To Rome Website.

Example: Chiunque non abbia potuto evitare la caduta o lo spargimento di materiale pericolose deve, tra l’altro, esguire segnali manuali atti a segnalare il pericolo, solo dalla parte dove è stato posto il segnale triangolare mobile di pericolo. (false).

Lots of the sentences are long and complex, with difficult grammar or linking words. Using allorché instead of quando, for instance. Or a long, messy sentence with an easy-to-miss solo or sempre hidden in there somewhere, making it false.

If you don’t speak Italian and don’t drive a stick shift, plan on six to twelve months of study.

If you do speak Italian and drive a stick shift, plan on three months of study.

If you pass the theory exam, then you start the next step: getting behind the wheel with a driver’s ed instructor. 

Even if you’re fifty-six years old and have been driving for forty years. 

The authorities start you from zero. As if you’re a fifteen-year-old, taking driver’s ed again.

It is not mandatory to attend a driving school, but I advise it. Yes, it’s expensive, (it’s a racket actually), but they help you prepare for the tests, and crucially, they handle the bureaucratic convolutions.

Yes, you can ask to take the test on automatic transmission instead of stick-shift but as my American friend, Marlo (who lives in Rome) said:

 “Part of what you are paying the school to do is teach you how to drive a stick shift. And anytime you try to alter the status quo in a bureaucratic environment in Italy, you’re asking for an extra headache. Why not learn this extra skill that’s a valuable skill to have while living in Italy, or anywhere in Europe?”

Marlo says she bought a 250-page book and memorized the entire thing as part of her prep for the theory exam.

The 30 questions on the test are pulled from a pool of about 7,400 questions.*

One way to prep, then, is to memorize 7,400 questions and their correct answers.

A most pleasant way to spend six months.

American immigrants in Italy constantly post on Facebook groups asking for work-arounds for the driving license “problem”. 

Give this idea a farewell bacio.

The only work-arounds are:

a) live in a city where a car isn’t needed

b) have an Italian person in your life who drives you everywhere

c) check if donkey cart-driver is on your list of life goals (but, knowing Italian bureaucracy, a license is needed for that too 😂)

Some Americans continue to drive on their license and risk it. Don’t do this. If caught, you face significant fines and possible impoundment of your vehicle. If you're in an accident, insurance will view you as an "illegal" driver and won’t cover anything, and the other driver could sue you.

Wait, there’s more!

Now you’re a neopatentata. (I’m using the feminine form, just because.)

This term for newly licensed driver reminds me of neonatal. I always laugh when I hear it, as I picture an infant at the wheel.

OK, cute term but it doesn’t restrict me in anyway, right?

Wrong.

For the first three years while you’re an infant driver, you must drive more slowly on highways. So, 100 km/h on highways instead of the 130 limit that applies to everyone else.

And you can only drive a car whose engine power is under 55 Kw/t (kilowatt per tonne) unless an experienced driver accompanies you.

Yeah, you may be 56 years old and have been driving for 40 years, but you’re no longer an experienced driver. You’re an infant driver.

One last thing: I have spoken with many Americans interested in the one-euro home schemes that have cropped up in Italy over the past decade. What they need to realize (and what is never mentioned): These homes are in remote areas. Remote means you need a car. A car means passing the driving license test. Passing the test means everything I mentioned above.

*Thanks to Bob Muens for the updated info on this number