Professors and researchers who move to Italy pay tax on only 10% of their teaching and research income, for up to 13 years, with no income cap. We confirm eligibility, documents and duration.
Italy reserves its single most generous tax incentive for the people who drive research and higher education. Professors and researchers who move their tax residence to Italy pay tax on only 10% of their teaching and research income, for at least six years and potentially up to thirteen, with no cap on the income that qualifies. For an academic or scientist relocating to Italy, no other regime comes close.
Governed by Article 44 of Decree-Law 78/2010, the regime excludes 90% of income from teaching and research from your taxable base, so only the remaining 10% is subject to ordinary IRPEF. It is the academic counterpart of the Inbound Workers Regime (impatriati), but more favourable on every axis: a higher exemption, a longer duration and, crucially for senior careers, no ceiling on the income that can benefit.
You can access the regime, whether you are an Italian or a foreign national, if all of the following apply.
The regime is open to EU and non-EU nationals alike, and work in the Italian public sector is allowed (Ruling No. 307/2020). The two years abroad need not be the two years immediately before your move: it is enough to have carried out the activity abroad, without interruption, for at least 24 months at some point beforehand. A period of teaching or research abroad on unpaid academic leave can also qualify (Ruling No. 239/2022).
The activity abroad must have been carried out at a university, a research institute, a technology-transfer agency, an innovation intermediary or a comparable research body. Its legal status and funding do not matter, provided any economic activity is kept accounting-separate from the research. It is advisable to obtain a certificate from the foreign institution attesting to the nature of the body, the activity performed and its duration.
If your degree was issued abroad, it must be recognised in Italy, usually through a dichiarazione di valore from the Italian consular authority, with a translation where needed. Once in Italy, the activity can continue at a public or private university or research centre, or at a company structured to carry out research (Circular 17/E of 2017; Ruling No. 341/2020).
Because only 10% of your teaching and research income is taxed, the effect is dramatic. On teaching income of €100,000, only €10,000 enters your taxable base and you pay ordinary IRPEF only on that.
Where a researcher also carries on separate work, such as consulting, the two regimes can be combined: 90% relief on the research income and 50% under the impatriati regime on the other income. On research income of €100,000 plus consulting income of €200,000, that removes €190,000 from the taxable base: a saving that, at the 43% top rate, approaches €81,700 a year. Figures are indicative and exclude surtaxes, social security and personal credits: a personalised computation gives you the real number.
The base duration is six years: the year you transfer your residence plus the following five. It can then be extended well beyond what the impatriati regime allows.
The extension is dynamic: you do not need to have the children when you move. The Revenue Agency has confirmed (Resolution No. 8/E of 23 February 2026, followed by Ruling No. 80/2026) that the period can be extended as family conditions arise during the regime.
For the home, the rules are strict. It must be a residential property in Italy, bought after your transfer of residence or in the 12 months before it, and the Revenue Agency requires a purchase for consideration of full ownership: bare ownership or usufruct alone does not count (Circular 33/E of 2020). In Ruling No. 190 of 23 October 2026 it went further: a home received as a gift does not extend the regime, even if you then live in it.
Unlike the impatriati regime, this one imposes no minimum period of stay and no clawback. If you move your residence abroad again, you simply lose the benefit from the tax year in which you cease to be resident, without repaying the relief already enjoyed. For the internationally mobile academic, for whom a further move is always possible, that makes the regime markedly less risky.
This point works the opposite way to the impatriati regime. For professors and researchers, the Revenue Agency has held (Circular 25/E of 2023) that the relief does not apply if you move to Italy but keep working remotely for a foreign university or research body. The qualifying activity must be carried on in Italy for an Italian or Italy-based institution. If you are weighing a remote arrangement, settle this before you sign.
The relief runs from the tax year in which you become Italian-resident. Under Article 2 TUIR, as amended in 2024, you are resident for a year if, for the greater part of it, you are registered with the Anagrafe, or have your domicile, habitual abode or physical presence in Italy. If you arrive in the second half of the year, you are usually not resident that year and the regime starts cleanly from 1 January following. We explain the four residence tests in a dedicated guide.
Registration with AIRE during your years abroad is not strictly required: since 2020, the years abroad can also be proven under the double tax treaties (Article 44, paragraph 3-quater). A solid documentary file remains essential.
One of the most valuable and least-known points: the two regimes can apply in the same tax year, on different income. The Revenue Agency confirmed this for the current impatriati regime in Ruling No. 16/2025. The typical case is a researcher who also consults or holds other employment: 90% relief on the research income, and 50% or 60% under the impatriati regime on the rest.
Neither regime can be combined, for the same person, with the lump sum tax for high-net-worth individuals. And for transfers of residence from 2027, the impatriati regime can no longer be paired within the household with that flat tax. Where a combined strategy matters, planning before you sign your Italian contract is decisive.
American academics remain subject to US federal tax on worldwide income wherever they live. The Italian regime discharges your Italian tax, not your US tax, and the two must be coordinated through the Italy-US treaty and the foreign tax credit. University and research income has its own treaty treatment that needs checking case by case. We plan this alongside your US advisors.
A few practical steps set the regime up correctly. Where your case raises a genuine question of interpretation, we can also ask the Revenue Agency for a formal ruling. A ruling cannot be used simply to confirm facts such as your residence or your years abroad: those rest on your documentary file.
Avv. Marco Mesina, a member of the Milan Bar (Ordine degli Avvocati di Milano) and formerly of Deloitte and Withers, advises professors and researchers relocating to Italy: confirming that the activity abroad qualifies, that a foreign degree is properly recognised, and that the relief and any extension are applied and documented correctly. Given the size of the benefit, that assurance is exactly what protects it.
Yes, on different income: the 90% relief on teaching and research income, and the impatriati relief on other employment or self-employment income, in the same tax year (Ruling No. 16/2025).
No. Unlike the impatriati regime (€600,000 a year), the 90% exemption applies to all your teaching and research income without limit.
Yes. The extension is dynamic (Resolution No. 8/E of 2026, Ruling No. 80/2026): the number of children is checked when the extension applies, not fixed when you arrive.
You need a university degree or equivalent, recognised in Italy, and at least two consecutive years of documented research or teaching abroad at a qualifying institution.
No. The Revenue Agency requires a purchase for consideration of full ownership. A home received by donation does not extend the regime (Ruling No. 190 of 23 October 2026), even if it becomes your main home.
You simply lose the benefit from the year you cease to be resident. There is no clawback of the relief already used, unlike the impatriati regime.
No. The relief requires the activity to be carried on in Italy for an Italian or Italy-based institution (Circular 25/E of 2023).
Avv. Marco Mesina
Founder, Move to Dolce Vita · Avvocato, Milan Bar (Ordine degli Avvocati di Milano)
Marco is an Italian tax lawyer who advises individuals and families relocating to Italy on tax regimes, residency, citizenship, real estate and succession planning. Before founding Move to Dolce Vita he worked at Watson Farley & Williams, Withers and Deloitte in Milan.