Sicily's 50% tax refund, explained (2026–2028)
Sicily pays back 50–60% of your Italian income tax for three years if you move from abroad and buy a home. Here's exactly how the scheme works, from the decree itself.
Sicily has opened one of the more unusual tax incentives in Europe. If you move your residence to the island from abroad, buy a home, and earn the right kind of income, the Region will pay you back half of your Italian income tax — every year, for three years. In small towns, it’s 60%.
This guide is written from the primary sources: article 25 of Regional Law 1 of 5 January 2026, the implementing Assessorial Decree 30 of 19 May 2026, and the operational decree that finally made it real, D.D.G. n. 1017 of 5 August 2026.
It is not a tax cut. You pay your Italian income tax in full, then apply for a refund. The money comes back as a bank transfer or as a tax credit you can offset against future payments.
What you actually get
The refund is calculated on your IRPEF — Italy’s personal income tax — as declared and fully paid for the year.
| Standard refund | 50% of the IRPEF you paid |
| Small-town refund | 60%, if you buy in a comune of fewer than 5,000 residents |
| Duration | 3 annual instalments |
| Annual cap | €100,000 per year |
| Form | Bank transfer, or a non-transferable tax credit usable in F24 |
The €100,000 cap only bites once your IRPEF exceeds €200,000 — roughly €480,000 of income. For almost everyone, the scheme is effectively uncapped.
Because Sicily is an autonomous region that retains the income tax collected on its territory, the maths works out for the Region too: of every €100,000 in tax paid by a new resident, about €50,000 goes back to the taxpayer, €29,000 goes to the Italian state, and €21,000 stays with the Region as new revenue.
The three conditions you must meet
The conditions are cumulative — miss one and you get nothing.
1. Move from abroad, in the window. You must transfer your residence from abroad to Italy and establish your fiscal domicile in a Sicilian comune between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2028. Fiscal residence follows the ordinary Italian test in article 2 of the income tax code.
2. Buy or renovate, within twelve months. Within twelve months of establishing your fiscal domicile you must either buy a property somewhere in Sicily, or carry out building works on a property you already own there. The works must be genuine renovation — recovery, restoration, conservative rehabilitation or restructuring. Ordinary maintenance does not count. Renting a home makes you ineligible, full stop.
3. Earn the right kind of income. The refund is parametrised only on employment income, income assimilated to employment, and pensions. This is the condition that catches people out, and it has its own guide.
There’s also a staying requirement: you must keep your residence, your fiscal domicile and ownership of the property until 31 December of the second year following your move. Leave early and the Region revokes the benefit and claws back what it paid, with interest.
The timeline that actually matters
The application windows are fixed and unforgiving. You apply once per year, in the year after each tax year, between 1 September and 31 December. Each annual application is separate, and missing a window forfeits that year — the decree says a pena di decadenza, which means exactly what it sounds like.
If you move in 2026:
- 1 Sept – 31 Dec 2027 → refund on your 2026 income
- 1 Sept – 31 Dec 2028 → refund on your 2027 income
- 1 Sept – 31 Dec 2029 → refund on your 2028 income
Move in 2027 or 2028 and everything shifts accordingly; the last possible window closes at the end of 2031.
What the application involves
The paperwork is thoroughly Italian. Each annual application uses the ICNRS form and requires:
- a qualified electronic signature (the Italian firma elettronica qualificata) and a PEC certified email address;
- a €16 duty stamp;
- a copy of the notarial purchase deed plus the notary’s attestation of registration — or the building permits and completion certificates, if you renovated;
- your Italian tax return and the Revenue Agency’s filing receipt;
- proof of full payment of the tax (F24 receipts, or payslips/pension slips where tax was withheld);
- a sworn statement from a licensed accountant (commercialista, ragioniere or auditor) certifying the IRPEF due and paid.
The Region answers within sixty working days, by PEC. If something is missing you get ten days to fix it.
The catch nobody advertises
The refund cannot be combined with any other national or regional tax incentive for attracting new residents. You have to declare that you haven’t applied for one. In practice you’re choosing between three regimes:
- This one — 50–60% back, three years, property purchase required;
- The 7% flat tax for foreign pensioners — nine years, southern towns up to 30,000 residents;
- The impatriati regime — 50% of income exempt, five years, requires high qualification.
For a pensioner moving to a small town, the 7% regime usually wins on the numbers. For a remote employee who wouldn’t qualify as “highly specialised”, this scheme is often the only one available. Run your own numbers in the calculator before committing to anything.
Controls
The Region checks at least 10% of beneficiaries, working with the comuni, and the Revenue Agency reports incorrect claims. The decree calls out one abuse in particular: moving abroad and back again in a short space of time purely to manufacture the “from abroad” requirement. That gets you revoked, with interest.
This guide is information, not advice. Verify your own position with a licensed commercialista before making any decision.