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Setting up as a freelancer in Italy
Thread poster: George Young
Bruno Depascale
Bruno Depascale  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:03
Member (2009)
English to Italian
+ ...
I cannot believe this discussion Feb 25, 2015

I think it is completely meaningless to move your freelancing activity in this country.
You would be giving up 50% of your income to the Italian corrupted state. Why?
If you are that rich just work for pro-bono causes, it would spare you many problems.
I mean, there must be a reason why we are all emigrating!


 
George Young
George Young  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
Member (2012)
French to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Elena Feb 26, 2015

Elena Lezheva wrote:

Hello George,

I have not read all the answers above. They might have already answered your questions. However, I would like to share with you a response to similar questions given by a professional accountant.

I translated her response into English below.

You have to register as a VAT-payer and communicate a code of a TRANSLATOR as your activity. Then

- you will be charged VAT at 22% rate
- you will have to make a certain reserve that is called "ritenuta d'acconto" of 20% of your income
- you will have to maintain simplified accounting with an application of so-called "regime di tassazione a scaglioni irpef" that provied for paying a lieast 23% of the tax irpef
- you will need to pay VAT every quarther respecting the following deadlines 16/5 - 20/8 - 16/11/ - 16/5
- IRAP will apply also (In LOMBARDIA DEL 3,90% from net earnings subject to IRAP)
- you will be a subject to sector studies (statistics used by the Italian equivalent of the IRS to estimate the income of a business)

Hope it was at least somewhat helpful.

Elena


Thanks Elena - I appreciate that the devil will be in the detail but this is the sort of info I can stick in a spreadsheet to give me an inkling of what to expect.


 
Elena Lezheva
Elena Lezheva
Italy
Local time: 12:03
English to Russian
+ ...
P.S. Feb 26, 2015

George Young wrote:

Elena Lezheva wrote:

Hello George,

I have not read all the answers above. They might have already answered your questions. However, I would like to share with you a response to similar questions given by a professional accountant.

I translated her response into English below.

You have to register as a VAT-payer and communicate a code of a TRANSLATOR as your activity. Then

- you will be charged VAT at 22% rate
- you will have to make a certain reserve that is called "ritenuta d'acconto" of 20% of your income
- you will have to maintain simplified accounting with an application of so-called "regime di tassazione a scaglioni irpef" that provied for paying a lieast 23% of the tax irpef
- you will need to pay VAT every quarther respecting the following deadlines 16/5 - 20/8 - 16/11/ - 16/5
- IRAP will apply also (In LOMBARDIA DEL 3,90% from net earnings subject to IRAP)
- you will be a subject to sector studies (statistics used by the Italian equivalent of the IRS to estimate the income of a business)

Hope it was at least somewhat helpful.

Elena


Thanks Elena - I appreciate that the devil will be in the detail but this is the sort of info I can stick in a spreadsheet to give me an inkling of what to expect.


I am glad it Washington useful. Please keep in mind the payment to INPS and the possibility to use il regimè agevolato.


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
Member (2008)
Italian to English
1776 Feb 26, 2015

Elena Lezheva wrote:

I am glad it Washington useful


?


 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:03
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Smartphone Feb 26, 2015

Tom in London wrote:

Elena Lezheva wrote:

I am glad it Washington useful


?




 
dropinka (X)
dropinka (X)  Identity Verified
Italy
English to Italian
+ ...
INPS on *gross* income? Feb 26, 2015

Cecilia Civetta wrote:

Elena,
let me add 30% INPS (which applies to Gross total income!)



As far as I know, INPS is calculated on total income minus expenses, therefore not on the gross total income... And then taxes are calculated on total income minus expenses minus previous year's INPS. Or am I mistaken?

Claudia


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Just don't stop paying attention.... Feb 27, 2015

because something really important may change from one day to the next and you might miss it. For example:

http://www.proz.com/forum/italian/282473-bloccato_aumento_gestione_separata_inps.html


 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:03
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Now I understand your (POT, Kettle, black) Mar 2, 2015

missdutch wrote:

Oh really?

POT, Kettle, black: Angie, you don't think the sentence below (see: http://www.proz.com/forum/italian/281999-consigli_imposte_per_traduttore_in_italia-page2.html) is a grossly generalised statement, do you?


I did not understand immediately because I usually do not know English idioms, but it puzzled me so I searched and wow.. I found the meaning... uhhh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pot_calling_the_kettle_black

The phrase "The pot calling the kettle black" is an idiom used to claim that a person is guilty of the very thing of which they accuse another.


Wow so... haevy ad hominem remark to me. I do not know you in person, so... what???

Am I guilty for Italian burocracy, for Italian taxes? For what? Also who am I accusing?

I hope moderators will take action now.


 
George Young
George Young  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
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French to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Update Feb 19, 2016

Tom in London wrote:

George - come back to this thread in 6 months' time and let us know how you're getting on.....


Just thought I'd let you know I'm nicely settled into the Italian lifestyle in Trentino and so far things are fine. Yes taxes are a bit steep and sometimes dealings with the Comune are hard work but by-and-large this thread has served to manage my expectations to such an extent that everything is surprisingly straight-forward. I have found a helpful accountant which has made a big difference as well.

It's not all pizza & art galleries but there has been a *lot* of pizza....


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Thanks George Feb 19, 2016

Thanks George. What percentage of your time would you say you spend on just making sure your accountant is happy, that all of your bills are being paid on time, etc.?

Just before I left Italy I calculated that out of 5 working days per week I was spending, on average, 2 of those days on dealing with non-productive administrative matters.

[Edited at 2016-02-19 16:03 GMT]


 
Maria Teresa Pozzi
Maria Teresa Pozzi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 12:03
German to Italian
+ ...
I can't agree Feb 19, 2016

more with Tom as far as taxation is concerned, but Italy remains a wonderful country from many points of view.
Please Tom... it seems that as soon as you arrive in Italy there will be people trying to chaet you, come on!
Italians are like all other people around the world, only more friendly and warm. The world is not only black or white.

George if you need some professional advice from a "commercialista", contact me privately.

Tea


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Clarification Feb 19, 2016

Maria Teresa Pozzi wrote:

more with Tom as far as taxation is concerned, but Italy remains a wonderful country from many points of view.
Please Tom... it seems that as soon as you arrive in Italy there will be people trying to chaet you, come on!
Italians are like all other people around the world, only more friendly and warm. The world is not only black or white.

George if you need some professional advice from a "commercialista", contact me privately.

Tea



I feel that I'm called upon to offer some clarification:

I don't think I've ever said that Italy is not a wonderful country. In my case it goes deeper than just being a wonderful country; Italy has been my adopted homeland for half of my life, where I took my university degree, developed as a professional in my chosen field, and found inspiration. But it's only tourists can think of Italy as a "wonderful country"; as my knowledge of Italy and its culture deepened and widened, and I made more and more Italian friends, I also came to understand that Italy is a deeply problematic country and most thinking Italians take a critical attitude, not a celebratory one. That is my attitude too.

So far as the perceptions of non-Italians are concerned, one of the problems, as an Italian diplomat attached to the London Embassy explained to me one evening, is that even intelligent non-Italians insist on thinking that Italy is a country of spaghetti and mandolins. They don't know what they're missing.

My Italy is not an Italy for visitors. I take Italy seriously. In other words: critically.

[Edited at 2016-02-19 17:28 GMT]


 
George Young
George Young  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
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French to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Accountants Feb 19, 2016

Thanks Maria.

Tom - I'm either less diligent or more efficient than you but I would say it takes very little of my time at present. Invoicing takes a little longer than it used to because I feel the need to be more thorough than I used to in the UK but my accountant is fairly laid-back and just asks for a monthly extract from my accounting spreadsheet and copies of invoices to check everything is in order.

Most people we've met here have generally been very welcoming, a
... See more
Thanks Maria.

Tom - I'm either less diligent or more efficient than you but I would say it takes very little of my time at present. Invoicing takes a little longer than it used to because I feel the need to be more thorough than I used to in the UK but my accountant is fairly laid-back and just asks for a monthly extract from my accounting spreadsheet and copies of invoices to check everything is in order.

Most people we've met here have generally been very welcoming, after first expressing huge surprise that anyone wants to move to Italy.
Collapse


 
Christel Zipfel
Christel Zipfel  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:03
Member (2004)
Italian to German
+ ...
I think you are fortunate... Feb 19, 2016

George Young wrote:

Just thought I'd let you know I'm nicely settled into the Italian lifestyle in Trentino and so far things are fine. Yes taxes are a bit steep and sometimes dealings with the Comune are hard work but by-and-large this thread has served to manage my expectations to such an extent that everything is surprisingly straight-forward. I have found a helpful accountant which has made a big difference as well.

It's not all pizza & art galleries but there has been a *lot* of pizza....


Life in Trentino-South Tyrol may well be different from the rest of Italy. Of course, taxes are the same, but health service for example and so on, "quality of life" tout court must be rather satisfactory in one of the richest regions of Italy and Europe as well. I don't know Trentino but have always been under the strong impression from what I've read and have been told that at least in South Tyrol things (including bureaucracy possibly) work quite a bit differently (i. e. much better) than in the rest of Italy. So you are likely to enjoy the positive aspects of Italy without suffering too much the negative ones...

Best luck to you anyway!


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:03
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Quite right Feb 19, 2016

Tom in London wrote:
But it's only tourists can think of Italy as a "wonderful country"; as my knowledge of Italy and its culture deepened and widened, and I made more and more Italian friends, I also came to understand that Italy is a deeply problematic country and most thinking Italians take a critical attitude, not a celebratory one. That is my attitude too.

I think that is the hallmark of a certain type of person who has spent time really living in a different place.

For the expats drifting over the surface, the country is just a backdrop to a remarkably unchanging life. Whether they're in Rome, or Singapore, or LA, they follow the same routines.

For tourists passing through, it's all cooing and gushing over the things that they find exotic. This is as superficial a response as that of the expats, though at least the tourists are more appreciative.

Engaging deeply with a different country over a long period of time changes certain aspects of oneself deeply. This extends not only to the way one thinks about that country, but to the way one thinks about one's own culture. This observation from Donald Richie is apposite.
"If you ask a person in America or Japan about American or Japanese culture, it's like asking a fish about water. What can they say? They inhabit it, they don't know anything about it. When you come over here, or anyplace different, you get your eyes opened, and you can never get them shut again."
He's right. Your eyes will never see the same way again.

Dan


 
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