I want to open a business and work as a freelancer, what do I have to do?

In order to start a business here in Italy, you have to open the partita Iva, the VAT number, so you are officially recognized as a freelancer and you can start paying taxes here

What is the Partita Iva?

The partita Iva is a number, the official number of your business

How can I open the Partita Iva?

You can open the partita Iva in the Agenzia delle Entrate office, but since you might not have the knowledge on how to do it, it is better to do it with an accountant

Why I might not have the knowledge?

There are a lot of things about the partita iva that are complicated, for example you need to choose a code that is called Ateco code, that will describe the type of business you will do, the list of Ateco codes is very long and for each code there is a specific requirement, an accountant will surely know which code is suitable for your idea of business

What do I have to do after opening the partita Iva?

You have to do 2 types of invoices for each payment you receive based on the services you offer, the first invoice will be send to the client and the second one, the digital invoice, will be send to your client and also to the Agenzia delle Entrate

How it works with the taxes?

Your Ateco code will have a percentage that is called coefficiente di redditività, this percentage states the amount that will be taxed of the payment you receive, for example if you receive 100€ and your percentage is 78%, of 100€, 78€ will be taxed

So do I have to pay 78€?

No, then you have to do 2 calculations, if you choose the regime forfettario you will have to pay 5% to the government for the first five years (after the first 5 years it will be 15%) and also you have to pay the INPS contributions, to do that you must be registered to one of the INPS cassa, the most used one is INPS gestione separata, with INPS gestione separata you have to pay 26% of INPS contributions, so taxing the example of before, you have to do the 5% of 78€+ 26% of 78€, the result will be the amount of taxes you will pay if you receive 100€

Am I automatically registered to the INPS?

No, based on the Ateco code, you also have to choose your INPS cassa, so the percentage can also be different, and this is another reason to be followed by an accountant

I heard that the INPS contributions are for the pension, but I don’t want to live in Italy forever, can I avoid to pay the INPS?

No, even if you think that you will leave Italy one day, it is mandatory for you to pay the INPS contributions

I also want to sell things the taxes are still the same?

In this case you also have to register to the Camera di Commercio and in this case you have to pay more

I heard that if I don’t overcome 5000€ per year I don’t have to open the partita Iva

It is not like that, the partita iva must be opened in any case if you do your business regularly, for example if you do your business 1/2 times per week you need to open the partita iva, if you do your business 1 time per month you don’t need to open the partita iva. Of course if you earn a lot of money even doing your business only one time per month, you need to open the partita iva in any case.

My clients are abroad, in this case do I still have to open the partita iva?

If you are doing your business while you are in Italy, you have to pay taxes here, so yes

The taxes are the same if I want to open a company?

No, in this case it changes from the type of company you want to open and they are higher.

When do I have to pay taxes?

You pay the taxes in June and November of the following year, In June you pay the taxes for the previous fiscal year, and also the first part of an advance payment related to a prevision of what you will earn during the current year (this prevision Is based on what you earned in the previous fiscal year) and in November the second part of the advanced payment