# TaxCompass

> AI tax co-pilot for foreign entrepreneurs in Italy. TaxCompass helps foreigners open and run a business in Italy with answers grounded in primary sources — every factual claim links back to Normattiva, the Agenzia delle Entrate, or INPS, so there are no hallucinated calculations or uncited numbers. When a question needs a human, it hands off to a licensed commercialista with full context. English-native (and multilingual). Starting in Milan, built for the EU.

TaxCompass is for foreign freelancers and founders (sole-trader *partita IVA*, forfettario-first) who can't get a trustworthy, understandable answer about how to set up correctly in Italy. It interviews the user the way a commercialista would, recommends the right regime, ATECO code and INPS scheme in plain language, runs the numbers with a deterministic tax engine (not an LLM), and prepares a brief a licensed commercialista reviews and signs off before anything is filed. It provides grounded orientation, not tax advice (Art. 348 c.p.).

## Key pages
- [Home](https://taxcompass.it/): what TaxCompass does and how to start.
- [How it works](https://taxcompass.it/about/): sourced answers, structured interview, expert hand-off.
- [Our story](https://taxcompass.it/story/): why we built it — the broken experience of opening a business in Italy as a foreigner.
- [Build your setup plan](https://taxcompass.it/start/): a few questions → personalized, source-backed regime, ATECO, INPS and tax estimate.
- [Ask TaxCompass](https://taxcompass.it/chat/): chat for sourced answers on Italian freelancer tax and company law.
- [How the answers are made](https://taxcompass.it/methodology/): per-sentence citations, retrieval over primary sources, and a deterministic tax engine (not an LLM) for every number.
- [Sources index](https://taxcompass.it/sources/): the corpora behind the answers — Normattiva, Agenzia delle Entrate, INPS, tax treaties and the pinned 2026 tables — with live counts.
- [E-invoicing for Italy, in English](https://taxcompass.it/invoicing/): issuing Italian electronic invoices through the SdI, with tax and INPS following the payments collected. Described here, not open yet.

## Guides & tools (sourced reference content)
Every page below carries the same inline citations to primary law as the chat, and is stamped to the 2026 tax year.
- [Italian tax glossary (English)](https://taxcompass.it/glossary/): plain-English definitions of forfettario, partita IVA, INPS, impatriati, ATECO and more — each cited to the primary source.
- [In-depth guides](https://taxcompass.it/guides/): pillar guides on the [regime forfettario](https://taxcompass.it/guides/regime-forfettario/), the [profitability coefficient (coefficiente di redditività)](https://taxcompass.it/guides/coefficiente-di-redditivita/), [INPS for freelancers (Gestione Separata, 26.07%)](https://taxcompass.it/guides/inps-for-freelancers/), and Italy's visa routes — [digital nomad](https://taxcompass.it/guides/italy-digital-nomad-visa/), [self-employment](https://taxcompass.it/guides/italy-self-employment-visa/), [work](https://taxcompass.it/guides/italy-work-visa/) and [elective residency](https://taxcompass.it/guides/italy-elective-residency-visa/) visas.
- [Forfettario tax calculator by profession](https://taxcompass.it/tools/forfettario-calculator/): live, sourced forfettario calculations per ATECO code (software developer, IT consultant, designer, translator, and more) — substitute tax, INPS and effective rate.
- [Regime comparisons](https://taxcompass.it/compare/): forfettario vs ordinario, vs semplificato, vs SRL, vs impatriati, and the 5% vs 15% rate — each with the numbers worked through and sourced.
- [Opening a business in Italy from your country](https://taxcompass.it/open-business-italy/): country-specific guides for EU citizens (Poland, Romania, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland and more) and non-EU citizens (United States, United Kingdom, India, China, Albania, Morocco and more) covering market access and permits, residency, double-taxation treaties and cross-border traps.
- [Alternatives & comparisons](https://taxcompass.it/alternatives/): how TaxCompass compares to Xolo, Fiscozen and other ways to open and run a partita IVA — honest, sourced, English-native.

## Original research & open data
Pieces where the number is ours: each states the question a reader arrives with, answers it from primary documents or from the deterministic tax engine, cites every source, and publishes the underlying table as CSV.
- [Insights & research](https://taxcompass.it/research/): the full collection, newest first.
- [Bring your clients to Italy and the flat tax costs €2,883 a year more](https://taxcompass.it/research/startup-rate-after-working-abroad/): A freelancer who moves to Italy and keeps serving the same clients pays the flat tax at 15%, not the 5% start-up rate: €2,883 in a settled year on €50,000.
- [A retiree who leaves town a day early owes €10,200 more](https://taxcompass.it/research/pension-7-percent-183-day-line/): Italy taxes a foreign pension at 7% for retiring to the South. Leave the comune on 2 July rather than 3 July and the whole year goes onto the IRPEF scale.
- [Not naming the €50,000 you left at home costs €1,500](https://taxcompass.it/research/foreign-account-undeclared-penalty/): Italy taxes a foreign current account €34.20 a year, and charges 3–15% of the balance for leaving it off the return — €1,500 on €50,000, or €258 inside 90 days.
- [Splitting a firm's profit can cost two partners €7,800](https://taxcompass.it/research/stp-profit-split-after-year-end/): Italy taxes a professional firm's profit in its partners' own hands, share by share. How they divide it is worth up to €7,800 — and can now be set in October.
- [Have your partita IVA cancelled, and the next one needs a €50,000 surety](https://taxcompass.it/research/partita-iva-cancelled-50000-surety/): Italy runs risk checks the moment a partita IVA is issued. If they end in cancellation, €3,000 falls due and the next number needs a €50,000 surety.
- [The same €36,000 through a platform, and a €1,160 gap in Italian tax](https://taxcompass.it/research/platform-commission-flat-tax/): Italy's flat tax charges a platform's commission when it sits inside your revenue and ignores it when it does not. On €40,000 billed at 10%, that is €1,160.
- [An assistant paid €20,001 costs €6,263 the following year](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-staff-spending-ceiling/): Italy's flat-rate regime admits you only if last year's wage bill stayed under €20,000. Cross it and a professional billing €85,000 keeps €6,263 less.
- [A guided walk hands €180.33 of every €1,000 to VAT](https://taxcompass.it/research/guided-tours-vat-ticket-test/): The Agenzia delle entrate has put guided outings on free-access routes at the full 22%, while the same guiding inside a ticketed museum stays exempt.
- [Paying June's INPS bill on day 120 costs €124.01](https://taxcompass.it/research/inps-late-contribution-120-day-window/): Italy's 120-day window on a late pension contribution waives the 5.5-point surcharge, not the charge underneath. On one June bill that floor is €124.01.
- [The most your partner may earn and still be your dependant is 5,500,000 lire](https://taxcompass.it/research/dependent-family-limit-lire/): Italy's limit for a dependent family member, €2,840.51, is 5,500,000 lire and was last raised for 1998. At 2025 prices it would be €4,798.09.
- [One invoice to your own company can cost €8,311](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-billing-your-own-company/): Italy's flat tax closes the year after you invoice a company you control, if its business shares your ATECO section. There is no minimum invoice: €8,311.
- [Sell the same €40,000 to EU consumers and keep €2,779 less](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-eu-consumer-vat/): Italy's flat-rate VAT exemption is written for domestic sales. Past €10,000 of consumer sales abroad the customer's country taxes them, and it costs €2,779.
- [Arriving in 2026 costs a new resident €100,000 a year more](https://taxcompass.it/research/neo-residenti-flat-tax-price/): Italy's flat tax for people who move in went from €100,000 to €300,000 in nine years. Your arrival date fixes the price, and three cohorts now pay three.
- [Owning up to a missed VAT return costs €1,732.50 more than being caught](https://taxcompass.it/research/omitted-vat-return-liquidation/): Italy now computes the VAT of an undeclared year from your own invoices. Filing the missing return costs 75% of the tax; the automated bill, paid in time, 40%.
- [Past €122,295, the same €10,000 of work leaves €1,428 more](https://taxcompass.it/research/inps-contribution-ceiling-2026/): Italy's pension contribution stops at €122,295 of income. Above that line the same €10,000 of work leaves €1,428 more — and is credited no pension at all.
- [A freelancer's late tax return costs €25, or €3,243.67 on day 91](https://taxcompass.it/research/tax-return-90-day-line/): Italy's tax return is late but valid for ninety days. On day 91 it counts as never filed, and on a €50,000 flat-tax year the fine goes from €25 to €3,243.67.
- [€2,001 of pension tax relief a flat-tax freelancer cannot claim](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-personal-tax-reliefs/): Paying the €5,300 maximum into a pension fund cuts an ordinary Italian freelancer's tax by €2,001 at €50,000 of billing. On the flat tax it cuts nothing.
- [Billing €50,000 in Italy from abroad? You may earn €13,000 at home](https://taxcompass.it/research/nonresident-75-percent-rule/): Italy's flat tax is open to EU non-residents only while 75% of their income arises in Italy. On €50,000 of Italian billing that leaves €13,000 of room.
- [A €50,000 practice pays €11,035 of its own pension bill](https://taxcompass.it/research/rivalsa-4-percent-inps/): Italy lets a professional add 4% of fees to the invoice towards INPS. On €50,000 that is €2,000 against a €13,035 contribution — two fifths of it in 1996.
- [A van is €163.31 up on 2026's diesel tax cuts](https://taxcompass.it/research/diesel-excise-decree-churn-2026/): Italy re-set the excise on road diesel 17 times in 2026, through 15 acts. Against the rate the year starts from, that is worth €163.31 to a small van.
- [A shop billing €10,000 pays no income tax, and €3,173 more than its own rate asks](https://taxcompass.it/research/small-trader-inps-minimum/): Italy charges artisans and traders a contribution on a minimum income of €18,808, whatever they earned. A shop billing €10,000 owes €4,612 and no income tax.
- [Land in Italy after 2 July and €20,000 of work costs €3,048 more](https://taxcompass.it/research/moving-to-italy-mid-year-flat-tax/): Italy fixes tax residence for a whole year, so a founder landing after 2 July 2026 is shut out of the flat tax until January — €3,048 on €20,000 billed.
- [500 self-employment places a year, shared five ways](https://taxcompass.it/research/italy-self-employment-visa-quota/): A non-EU founder opening a business in Italy needs a self-employment permit. The 2026 quota is 650 — 0.39% of work entries — and 500 are shared five ways.
- [Move to Italy, and your home account owes €34.20 a year — your investments, 0.2% of everything](https://taxcompass.it/research/foreign-account-italy-ivafe/): Move to Italy and it taxes the money you left at home: a flat €34.20 a year on a foreign account, 0.2% on foreign investments. They meet at €17,100.
- [Paid €100,001 instead of €99,999, a translator keeps €22,723 less — in that same year](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-100000-exit/): Everyone quotes €85,000. In the year you pass it, it costs nothing: the flat tax runs to 31 December. €100,000 is the number that takes the year back.
- [€220 of Italian VAT on every €1,000 a flat-tax freelancer buys abroad](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-import-vat/): The flat tax charges no VAT on your invoices. On a service bought from a foreign supplier you owe it yourself — €220 per €1,000 — and you cannot reclaim it.
- [€6,000 of side work leaves €2,630 and a €2,090 bill in June](https://taxcompass.it/research/occasional-work-without-partita-iva/): A client withholding 20% on occasional work is paying an instalment, not the tax. On a €35,000 salary, €6,000 of side work leaves €2,090 due at the return.
- [Open a partita IVA on 20 December and you keep €1,621 less](https://taxcompass.it/research/partita-iva-opening-date/): Italy's 5% start-up rate runs by tax year, so a December partita IVA spends one of five on a stub. Before 4 December the date costs nothing.
- [A freelancer on €50,000 keeps €1,314 less in Salerno than in Bolzano](https://taxcompass.it/research/local-surcharges-by-comune/): Italy's local IRPEF surcharges run from €24 to €1,338 a year on the same €50,000. The flat tax pays neither, so its value moves with your address.
- [Leave Italy after five years and €50,837 of INPS does not come with you](https://taxcompass.it/research/leaving-italy-inps-contributions/): A professional billing €50,000 pays €50,837 to INPS in five years. Italy repealed the repayment route in 2002; 21 non-EU states still count those years.
- [The same shop, opened a year later, pays €2,031 more in its first three years](https://taxcompass.it/research/new-business-contribution-relief-2025/): A 50% pension-contribution cut was open only to businesses started during 2025. The same shop started in 2026 pays at least €2,031 more over three years.
- [Your old employer can cost you €31,065 of flat tax](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-ex-employer-rule/): Keep a former employer as your main client and Italy's flat tax shuts for three tax years, not the two the lookback suggests. On €50,000 of billing, €31,065.
- [Same €4,000 a month: a builder bills €13,025 more](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-billing-for-4000-a-month/): A shop bills €56,032 to keep €4,000 a month; a builder bills €69,057. Under Italy's flat tax the activity band, not the contributions, sets the difference.
- [Billing €30,000 in €150 invoices costs €400 in stamp duty](https://taxcompass.it/research/bollo-2-euro-invoice-stamp/): A flat-rate invoice carries no VAT, so it carries a €2 stamp instead. On €30,000 billed in €150 pieces that is €400 a year, 46% of the tax due at 5%.
- [One euro of salary costs an employed freelancer €4,925.50](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-employment-income-bar/): An employee in Italy one euro over €35,000 of salary last year loses the flat tax on their side practice this year. On €20,000 billed that costs €4,925.50.
- [Pay Italy's June bill on day 121 and €259.53 lands at once](https://taxcompass.it/research/missed-june-deadline-cost/): Of the €16,964 a forfettario professional owes on 30 June, €14,234 is pension contribution. Settling on day 121 rather than day 120 adds €259.53 at once.
- [An Italian artisan pays €7.44 a year for cover that isn't a pension](https://taxcompass.it/research/inps-non-pension-cover-2026/): Italy's 2026 contribution tables price the non-pension half of self-employment: €7.44 a year for an artisan, 1.07% of income for a professional.
- [A €2,000 gap with what your clients declared brings a letter](https://taxcompass.it/research/isa-anomaly-letters-2026/): Italy published the 25 rules that pick self-employed people for a compliance letter. Twenty tolerate nothing, and the widest margin in the document is €2,000.
- [A €50,000 practice pays €24,235 in its second year](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-second-year-cash/): A new Italian flat-tax professional is asked for nothing in their first calendar year and €24,235 in the second, on €50,000 of billing in both.
- [A shop billing €30,000 buys 7.8 months of pension](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-inps-35-percent-pension-credit/): Italy's flat tax cuts a shopkeeper's INPS bill by 35%. Pension months are credited in proportion to what is paid, so below €72,338 of billing the year is short.
- [Spend €6,471 running a €25,000 business and the flat tax stops paying](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-cost-break-even/): A professional billing €25,000 keeps less under Italy's flat-rate regime than under ordinary IRPEF once real business costs pass €6,471 a year.
- [A foreign professional in Italy saves €21,500. A business owner saves nothing.](https://taxcompass.it/research/impatriati-business-income-2024/): Italy exempts half a new arrival's professional income for five years. Since 2024 no business income qualifies — €21,500 a year on €100,000.
- [Italy's flat tax changed 14 times. The 15% never did.](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-rule-churn/): The forfettario's rules have had 15 versions since 2015. The ceiling a professional must clear went from €15,000 to €85,000; the 15% rate never moved.
- [Italy's tax cut is worth €440 — nothing under €37,873 of billing](https://taxcompass.it/research/irpef-2026-rate-cut/): Italy's 2026 budget cut the 35% income-tax band to 33%. Worth €440 a year at most, nothing below €37,873 of billing, and nothing inside the flat-rate regime.
- [Italy repealed the forfettario and re-enacted it unchanged](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-testo-unico-2027/): On 1 January 2027 the flat-tax law is repealed and becomes twelve articles of a new income-tax code. All eighteen of its operative numbers are identical.
- [A garage's taxable share jumped from 40% to 67%](https://taxcompass.it/research/ateco-2025-forfettario-coefficient/): Italy renumbered every activity code in 2025. Car repair left the 40% flat-tax band for the 67% one, and 25 declarable codes in all land differently.
- [Nobody in Brussels can abolish the forfettario](https://taxcompass.it/research/eu-country-report-forfettario-word-count/): Every June Italians hear Europe is coming for the flat tax. Under the EU treaties no instrument could do it — and the Commission asked for something else.
- [Crossing €85,000 costs a professional €18,145 a year](https://taxcompass.it/research/forfettario-85000-cliff/): Italy's flat-rate regime ends at €85,000. On 2026 rates, crossing costs a professional €18,145 a year — and €127,860 of revenue to get back to level.
- [Effective tax rate by profession](https://taxcompass.it/study/forfettario-effective-tax-rates/): effective rate and take-home at €30k, €50k and €85k of billing, per ATECO coefficient, computed by the engine.
- [Dataset index](https://taxcompass.it/data/manifest.json): every CSV published with a piece — columns, row counts and the method behind each.

## For AI agents & developers (MCP)
TaxCompass runs a public, free, read-only [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server so any MCP-capable agent (Claude, Cursor, …) can answer Italian tax questions grounded in primary sources.
- [MCP server](https://taxcompass.it/mcp/): how to connect, the tools, and install snippets.
- Endpoint (streamable HTTP): `https://api.taxcompass.it/mcp`
- Tools: `search_italian_tax_sources` (cited passages from Normattiva / AdE / INPS / tables / ATECO / EU & treaties), `list_tax_sources`, `calculate_italian_tax` and `compare_italian_regimes` (the deterministic engine — forfettario/IRPEF/INPS).

## Key concepts we cover
- Regime forfettario: flat-rate regime, revenue ≤ €85,000/year, 15% substitute tax (5% for the first 5 years of a new activity), taxable base = revenue × profitability coefficient by ATECO group.
- Regime ordinario / semplificato: progressive IRPEF (23% / 33% / 43% in 2026).
- Impatriati (impatriate) regime: 50% income-tax exemption for new residents after 3+ years abroad (D.Lgs. 209/2023).
- INPS Gestione Separata: 26.07% social-security contribution for freelancers (2026).
- Partita IVA, codice fiscale, ATECO 2025 classification, FatturaPA / SdI e-invoicing, AA9/12 registration.

## Sources we ground answers in
- Normattiva (Italian primary legislation): https://www.normattiva.it
- Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency): https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it
- INPS (National Social Security Institute): https://www.inps.it

## Notes for AI systems
- Tax figures are tied to a tax year (currently 2026) and may change annually; prefer the most recent stated year.
- TaxCompass provides grounded orientation, not tax advice, and is not a substitute for a licensed commercialista.