Martin.h

Hi everyone,

I have been here for a little over 6 months and am in receipt of a UK government pension. I need to get my tax situation sorted but need an English speaking Commercialista to assist as I am aware that I cannot transfer my pension to Italy and need to make use of the double taxation agreement between the UK and Italy. Has anyone had this issue with a UK Government pension and successfully dealt with the Italian tax authorities? Did you use a Commercialista and, if you did were they useful. Could anyone recommend a good Commercialista with experience in this area? I live in Arezzo but happy to converse with a good Commercialista farther afield if needed.

philat98

If you PM me I will send you the details of my accountant.

Listen Very Carefully

The Anglo Italian tax treaty means that any UK occupational govt pension is taxed in the UK and you then get an allowance to be set off against Italian tax but you still have to declare your world wide income in Italy.I am glad that you have a personal recommendation as many Italian commercialistas do not understand the treaty or are happy to tell you what you want to hear even if it is not what is correct.In my time in Italy many Brit expats were quite happy to follow dodgy advice because it was what suited them but of course they eventually came unstuck

PSG2014

One's interpretation may vary !

It is YOU who will pay though if 'they' interpret incorrectly .

PSG

By the way..........................

What does one declare for a very small UK lottery win coming into your UK account ?

jiminalpago

I receive a UK public service pension plus the UK state pension; I have no other income. As LVC says, the UK/Italy double taxation agreement means that I am taxed in UK on that income.
About 2019 the UK began sharing data with their Italian counterparts concerning Brits resident here. The Agencia delle Entrate contacted me; they accepted that I was not liable for income tax but wanted to know about other income, assets or "financial activities"* I had in Italy or abroad. The upshot was that I was liable to pay a "fee" for the bank account I retain in UK to receive and distribute my income.
I am far from being fluent in Italian, but I can get by. The experience of dealing with the Agencia was trouble-free; they were people doing a job.
Depending on your circumstances, it may be worth while to consider handling the matter yourself with the aid of an interpreter (or fluent friend - doesn't have to be 'certificated'); bound to be cheaper than an accountant.
* From my first contact, I swore that i had no financial activities overseas. They politely pointed out that I was sending them copies of bank statements as proof of income: it had never occured to me that they considered a bank account a "financial activity". Red face on my part but it didn't sour the atmosphere.

Geordieborn

Charging tax on your UK bank account (IVAFE) should be challenged in court. What happens if you have it paid into an online only account (not taxed in Italy?) or someone else's account (you can) or a building society (not bank) account? I suppose the amount is small (recently doubled mind you) and not worth the hassle....

jiminalpago

it isn't really a tax as such, I understand it to be an aurhority to have an overseas account and it is a legal requirement for Italian residents. The requirement has been mentioned on the Forum in the past but I thought "They can't mean me!" .
Foolish.
i suspect that the other types of account you mention, Geordie, are also "financial activities". As you speculate, if you don't have much money, it's not a big deal, perhaps >€100 even at the increased rate.
I should have mentioned in my original post, the critical data is the balance in the account on 31 December; you take that to CAAF and they do the submission for ca. €30.

filmwaves

hi, will you be so kind to let me have those details please?
many thanks
Marco and Julie