Doing any activity in Italy needs several legal requirements. The Codice Fiscale is an important element, let’s discover what is it.
What is a Codice Fiscale?
The Italian Codice Fiscale (CF) is an Italian tax code, fiscal code or tax number assigned by birth to Italians and upon request to foreigners.
It is issued by the “Agenzia delle Entrate” (the Italian Revenue Agency) and is an alphanumeric code of 16 characters, that represents the individual’s name, gender, date, and place of birth. Codice Fiscale is similar to the National Insurance Number issued in the United Kingdom or the Social Security Number (SSN) in the United States Of America.
The utility of a Codice Fiscale. Why should you need it?
Codice Fiscale is a government identification number which is required for a wide range of crucial activities in Italy, such as:
- Opening a bank or a postal account;
- Signing and registering a Preliminary Contract for a property purchase;
- Buying or inheriting a real estate property;
- Buying or registering a vehicle;
- Obtaining an Italian mortgage;
- Signing a contract of leasing/rent for an apartment for a stay longer than 30 days;
- working or getting a job;
- signing contracts with utility companies (for example gas, water, internet, phone company, etc.).
For these aforementioned reasons, it is a very crucial element of a foreigner with some interests in Italy, and an indispensable part of Italian life.
The fact of requesting and obtaining it doesn’t mean alone that the foreigner will owe any tax to the Italian Revenue Agency.
It will become necessary to pay taxes when the individual will own qualifying assets in Italy or after becoming an Italian resident with a taxable income.
Application requirements for the Italian Codice Fiscale:
- E.U. members and Italian dual citizens must present a valid passport copy;
- Non-E.U. members and those who require a VISA to travel to Italy must present a valid passport and visa;
Besides the application process, dealing with the Italian government can be challenging and bureaucratic. Starting from the long lines at the Revenue Agency to the language misunderstanding for non-Italian speakers (also considering that very often the Agency employee doesn’t speak English isn’t eager to use any time for explanations or clarifications).
Double-check the paperwork.
It is always a good practice to double-check the elements of the Codice Fiscale paperwork, be sure to verify their accuracy. Sometimes mistakes can and do happen, so be sure that your code matches the information on your passport before using it for any operations.
Obtain it with a Representative Lawyer.
For these reasons, is always suggested to ask a professional Lawyer to request it on the foreigner’s behalf, to make the process smooth and without the physical presence in Italy. Avoiding spending time, money for flights and accommodations, besides the big efforts and stress especially for those people new to Italian bureaucracy.
Hiring a representative can make the process much faster, easy, without the hassles and issues of doing it personally.
We are highly experienced in dealings with the Italian bureaucracy and providing assistance to foreigners in their legal interests in Italy, mainly in Sardinia, offering a professional and friendly way to assist you in beginning your life in Italy.