We asked one of our readers to tell us about their new life in Italy, and if she has any advice for others…
Our reader and her husband love Tuscany, both the rolling hills of its centre and the sun-dappled beauty of its coast. So much so that they bought properties in both areas. “The scenery is ridiculous. You just pinch yourself”, she says.
But if she was doing it all again there are certainly things she would do differently.
The couple arrived in Italy from the UK two years ago with their dog Bella, their boat and a lot of love for the country.
“We moved because of Brexit,” she explains. “We’d retired and suddenly because of the 90-day rule we couldn’t stay as long in Europe as we wanted. My husband was furious. So, we up and left.”
They wanted to live in central Tuscany and bought a property in the Val d’Orcia, near Siena. “Siena is so beautiful and really on the doorstep. We can see its towers from the house.”
“Siena is so beautiful. We can see its towers from the house.”
But because of their love of sailing they also bought a home one on the southern Tuscan coast “It was a complete surprise to me, she says, there are pine forests all along the coast, so it’s all very lovely and it has quite a nice sandy beach.”
Navigating tax traps and inheritance laws
But as idyllic as it all is, our reader admits that they didn’t think important elements through or get the best advice.
The couple recently sold their property near the sea, but: “We hadn’t realised the consequences of selling a ‘non-primary’ home within five years,” she says. “We’re having to pay capital gains, even though we didn’t make any.”
The reason? Renovation expenses only count if the invoices are in your name. “We bought jointly, but my husband was still earning some UK income and paid for the work, all in his name. So he can deduct it and I can’t. If we’d been able to share the expenses, there would have been no gain overall. With deductions, the first check that the tax authority make is whose name the invoices are in.”
The result was an additional tax bill of around €60,000. “With better advice, we could have avoided it.”
The result was an additional tax bill of around €60,000. “With better advice, we could have avoided it.”
It is incredibly important to find the right local tax adviser who can help you anticipate tax issues and who is versed in the UK regime to help you understand the differences. Overall you will pay more tax in Italy, including a worldwide wealth tax
Another issue is inheritance and Italy’s forced heirship laws. As they are a second-marriage couple, if something happened to her husband the property would have to be divided between any children, and the wife is left with a share in her home. They eventually found a legal workaround using EU law, allowing them to apply English inheritance rules, but only after, as our reader puts it, “a lot of notaries, a lot of lawyers and a lot of stress.”
This was an example of a very different culture between the UK and many European countries: “Our agent didn’t think to explain the issue and we didn’t even think of asking. No one was ‘at fault’ it was just another pitfall of moving.”
Checking before buying
The couple have had an interesting problem: a swimming pool that’s too big. “It should only have been a certain size according to the planning consent, as it would be in the UK,” says our reader. “When we asked the previous owners why it was built so big they said, ‘Well, it cost the same to build it big, so why not?’”.
“You fall in love with a property, but you need to check everything. What’s legal and what isn’t. You tend to think, ‘Oh well, we’ll keep it forever so it won’t matter.’ So, it’s probably something that needs to be a bit further up the list that people think about.” Our reader realises that although they found out about the issue as the purchase process was underway they should have asked about any defects before visiting any of the properties
Boats, wine and removal vans
When moving possessions to Italy you have to get the timing right, says our reader: “We didn’t know that if you bring in your belongings before you get residency, you have to pay duty on them”. If you have valuable art, a wine collection and other wealth, that can prove expensive.
Tuscany’s coast, Porto Ercole
“We had artwork, so we had to pay duty on that. And wine – don’t get me started,” she laughs. My husband spent two months cataloguing every bottle in his extensive collection – much of it bought in Italy in the first place. “We paid about €8 per bottle in duty. And no, you don’t get that back.”
Even their dog, needed paperwork. “You need residency before you can get a pet passport.” But then she is now free to travel wherever she wants unlike the days of Hard Brexit!
Finding a removal company who could carry out the move was also surprisingly hard and incredibly expensive. Its worth anyone contemplating a move to Europe to check these costs before getting too far down the track
More or less the same rules on the payment of duty when moving apply for returnees. Of course there is no residency test but it seems hoops have to be gone through with HMRC to return goods without paying duty
But some big savings too…
One well-timed decision saved them a substantial sum. “As soon as we agreed the price of the house, we took out a forward contract to protect the exchange rate,”. That was just before the UK’s Liz Truss ‘mini-budget’ when the pound to euro rate sank overnight. “The house price was €3 million. We fixed the rate at at about €1.20 and it went down to about €1.12. So had we not protected it, it would have been quite potentially more expensive. We were lucky – that contract paid off.”
Things got easier when our reader’s Italian citizenship came through. “Suddenly, healthcare was free – for both of us. And with an ID card, everything runs much smoother. Your tax code links to your health card, pharmacy purchases, even vet bills. The Tuscan authorities are incredibly helpful. They even gave us a refund when we overpaid.”
She has only praise for the Italian health service too: “It’s all very efficient. We keep getting screening appointments to do this, that and the other just as we would in the UK.”
Less good is the car insurance: “Our Fiat Panda costs €900 a year and my husband’s German car is €3,000. And there are very few comparison websites, so you can’t shop around.” So maybe we shouldn’t be too envious when a Lamborghini overtakes us on the autostrada – they’re paying a fortune for the privilege.
It looks nice, but what is the insurance costing? (Brandon Woyshnis / Shutterstock.com)
Bureaucracy vs beauty
Despite the paperwork our reader says life in Italy has its rewards. “The scenery is ridiculous. You just pinch yourself. I drive through vineyards to get to the coast.” “The third best supermarket” as it is listed puts Waitrose to shame, they only sell in-season produce and it all, with the exception of bananas, comes from somewhere in Italy, or where possible Tuscany”
Their boat opens up a whole other side of the country. “We’ve sailed around Elba, Corsica, Sardinia, the Amalfi Coast, Ischia, Capri. The Tuscan Archipelago is stunning.”
One of her favourite memories involves the dog. “She’s an English beach loving dog, used to stormy seas. The first time she jumped off the tender into the crystal-clear water, she froze mid-air, paddling like mad — she had no idea how deep it was because it was so clear.”
Final reflections
Would she do it again? Probably. But with more comprehensive advice, more items being added to the checklist!.
Still, the sea is clear, the hills are beautiful, the food quality very high and everywhere is very dog friendly she says. The dog loves being spoken to in Italian!
