In response to a petition we presented on behalf of the taxpayer, the Italian Revenue Agency issued an advance tax ruling in a case concerning the determination of the tax character and the source (place of production) of taxpayer’s income arising from a contract of services as president and chief executive officer and board member of a foreign-based multinational, for the purpose of the Italian special tax regime referred to in article 24-bis of the Italian Income Tax Code (so-called forfait tax for high-net-worth individual taxpayers). The special tax regime applies a forfait tax of 100,000 euro, in lieu of the regular income tax, on all foreign-source income of electing taxpayers who have become Italian tax residents for the first time in the preceding ten years.
In this case, the taxpayer – a foreign citizen residing abroad – has set forth the possibility of moving and establishing his tax residence in Italy, in relation to the transfer of his employment relationship from an U.S. subsidiary to the EU holding company of an international group based in Luxembourg, with which the taxpayer would assume the position of president and chief executive officer. The employment relationship would include top level, discretionary management functions, as well as functions relating to the position of member of the board of directors of some foreign companies of the group. In the context of this relationship, the taxpayer would perform a large part of his services outside the Italian national territory. On the question of the tax classification of the income, the Italian tax administration, agreeing at least in part with the position proposed by the taxpayer, established that the relationship would include both an organic (high-level management functions) relationship and an employment relationship, with the consequence that – moving on to the question of the source of income – the part of the remuneration attributable to functions relating to the organic (management) relationship should be determined with reference to the employer’s foreign country of organization (as provided for in Article 23, paragraph 2 of the Italian Income Tax Code), thus giving rise to income which is automatically foreign-source and falls entirely within the special tax regime (forfait).
With regard to the source of the part of the remuneration attributable to the employment relationship, the Italian tax administration has considered (confirming the position of the taxpayer) that this should be determined (in the absence of a contractual constraint to a fixed working time) with reference to the place of actual performance of work (as provided for in Article 23, paragraph 1, letter c) of the Italian Income Tax Code) and, therefore, in proportion to the work performed abroad with respect to the overall work performed during the year (rather than the number of days spent by the taxpayer in Italy, compared to the total days of the calendar year).
The Tax Agency did not rule on the criteria for apportioning income between management and employment, which depend on the value and extent of actual functions performed and is a matter of fact falling outside the scope of the ruling.

In risposta ad una nostra istanza presentata per conto del contribuente, l’Agenzia delle Entrate ha emesso una risoluzione su una fattispecie concernente la determinazione della natura fiscale e la fonte (luogo di produzione) del reddito ai fini dell’applicazione del regime speciale di cui all’articolo 24-bis del T.U.I.R. (cd. forfait per contribuenti ad alto reddito).
Nella fattispecie, il contribuente – cittadino straniero residente all’estero – ha prospettato la possibilità di trasferirsi e stabilire la propria residenza fiscale in Italia, in relazione al trasferimento del suo rapporto di lavoro da una filiale americana alla holding di un gruppo internazionale avente sede in Lussemburgo, dove il contribuente assumerebbe la posizione di presidente e amministratore delegato (president and chief executive officer). Il rapporto avrebbe ad oggetto funzioni di alta amministrazione, in aggiunta alla carica di componente del consiglio di amministrazione di alcune società estere del gruppo. Nel contesto di tale rapporto, il contribuente svolgerebbe gran parte delle proprie prestazioni al di fuori del territorio nazionale. Sulla questione della natura fiscale del reddito, l’amministrazione finanziaria, concordando almeno in parte con la posizione prospettata dal contribuente, ha stabilito che il rapporto comprende sia un rapporto organico sia un rapporto di lavoro dipendente, con la conseguenza che – passando alla questione della fonte del reddito – la parte di compenso imputabile a funzioni riconducibili al rapporto organico deve essere determinata con riferimento allo stato estero in cui ha sede il datore di lavoro (come previsto all’articolo 23, comma 2 del T.U.I.R.), dando così luogo a reddito di fonte estera automaticamente rientrante, come tale, nel regime speciale (forfait). Circa la fonte della parte di compenso riconducibile al rapporto di lavoro dipendente, l’amministrazione finanziaria ha ritenuto (confermando la posizione del contribuente) che essa debba determinarsi (in mancanza di vincolo contrattuale ad un orario fisso di lavoro) con riferimento al luogo di effettiva prestazione del lavoro (come previsto all’articolo 23, comma 1, lettera c) del T.U.I.R.) e, quindi, in proporzione al lavoro svolto all’estero rispetto al lavoro complessivo (invece che al tempo trascorso dal contribuente in Italia, rispetto al totale dei giorni dell’anno).