Working for a Russian firm from Italy: taxes

In short

The classic 2022-2026 scenario: a person moved to Italy while the job stayed in Russia - an employment contract, a civil-law contract or self-employed status. For the first few months it feels like nothing has changed. But after roughly half a year of living here you become an Italian tax resident, and a second tax system appears in your life - with no working bridge between the two, because the double taxation treaty between Russia and Italy is suspended. Below is a map of the whole construction: what an Italian resident owes, what the Russian side withholds, how to file, what risks the self-employed regime carries and when Russian income does not save your permesso.

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This is an overview based on community experience and what consultants say, not tax or legal advice. All rates and thresholds are time-sensitive, and the "Russia + Italy" combination is currently among the least stable - always run your own case with a licensed accountant (commercialista) who knows how to work with foreign income. This article does not teach you how to hide income or evade sanctions - on the contrary, it is about how to set everything up transparently.

Step 1. Figure out whether you are a resident: 183 days and center of interests

Italian tax residency kicks in if you live in Italy for most of the year (the benchmark is 183 days, 184 in a leap year), or your center of vital interests is here (family, home, main activity), or you are entered in the population register (residenza). One criterion is enough, and the type of residence permit plays no role - residency is determined by how you actually live, not by the motivo of your permesso.

The key consequence: an Italian tax resident declares worldwide income (reddito mondiale) - what is earned in Italy and also the Russian salary, self-employed income, interest on deposits, rent from an apartment in Russia. The Italian system itself (the IRPEF scale of 23-43 percent, addizionali, deductions) is covered in detail in the article on the ordinary tax regime.

There is a separate, mirror-image trap: after spending 183 days outside Russia you lose Russian tax residency, and for some Russian income (for example, selling property) the non-resident rates are noticeably worse. You have to count days in both systems at once.

Step 2. The Russia-Italy tax treaty is suspended - there is no bridge

The double taxation convention between Russia and Italy formally exists, but it is suspended from both sides:

• Russia suspended the key articles in August 2023 (decree N 585 of 08.08.2023);
• Italy notified Russia on 13.03.2026 that it suspends articles 5-23 and 25 and paragraphs a-d and f of the protocol (an Italian Foreign Ministry notice in the Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 69 of 24.03.2026). On 15.09.2026 the Italian consulate in Moscow named employment income among the income whose tax this can change.

So Italy no longer applies the employment-income articles either: there is no treaty exemption or reduced rate, only the domestic Italian credit for foreign tax (art. 165 TUIR, from 01.01.2027 art. 185 D.Lgs. 117/2026) with its own conditions. Based on community experience, the practical effect is this:

• the mechanism for crediting tax paid in Russia against Italian tax has become unreliable: some consultants say outright that you will not be able to credit the Russian income tax on a salary;
• there is effectively no automatic exchange of tax information between the countries;
• even before the suspension, the Russian simplified regimes (self-employed status, sole proprietorship on the simplified system) were not covered by the treaty - for them double taxation was always a risk;
• social insurance contributions were never covered by the treaties in the first place.

The status of the treaty is a political matter and can change, so before any planning check the current state and the position of the Agenzia delle Entrate (checked against the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 30.09.2026).

My accountant and I came to an unpleasant conclusion: you cannot count on the credit right now. The employer in Russia withholds its share at source, while Italy expects a return on that same income here. There is no data exchange between the countries, but I would not build a strategy on that - I declare everything and budget for effectively paying twice until I move my income over to European clients.

Step 3. What the Russian side withholds: income tax of 13-15 percent

Since 2024 Russia has had a rule for remote employees under an employment contract with a Russian organization: income tax is withheld at source at the "resident" rate regardless of your tax status - a base of 13 percent, and 15 percent above a large annual threshold (the community benchmark). Before that, a non-resident employee faced 30 percent or disputes over the place of work in the contract. The Russian income tax scale has been reshuffled again since then, so the percentages and thresholds for your year are a question for your employer and advisor - do not take numbers from chats as fact.

When I notified the company that I had left the country, the accounting department did not panic: they said that under the new rules for remote workers they keep withholding the standard percentage at source even if I stopped being a resident. The surprise for me was not in Russia but in Italy - here that same income still goes into the tax return, and nobody automatically "subtracts" it.

Tax withheld in Russia does not release you from your Italian obligations. These are two parallel processes, and with the treaty suspended there may be no link between them at all.

Step 4. How to file in Italy

For a tax resident, the Russian salary is foreign employment income, which goes into the annual return (Modello 730 or Redditi PF) and is taxed on the progressive IRPEF scale. The deadlines and mechanics of the filing season are covered separately: dichiarazione dei redditi - deadlines and forms.

In parallel there is a second, reporting obligation - Quadro RW: the foreign asset monitoring section, where a resident reports foreign accounts, including Russian cards and deposits (and pays a small IVAFE levy on accounts above the thresholds). Even if there is no tax due, filling in RW may still be required. We covered the RW logic in detail using the example of crypto assets and foreign accounts - for ordinary bank accounts the principle is the same.

I went to a CAF like everyone else with certificates for my Russian salary - and hit a wall: the operator honestly said they do not work with income from Russia. In the end I found a Russian-speaking commercialista who does these returns regularly. With foreign income, go straight to a private accountant, not the free window.

A tip from the chats: gather income certificates with translations, account statements as of December 31 and a conversion of your payments into euros by date in advance - it will make the accountant's job much easier and lower the bill for the service.

Step 5. Russian self-employed status from Italy - why it is not a solution

The temptation is understandable: the self-employment tax is 4-6 percent, the rate does not depend on residency, the app works from anywhere. But based on community experience, the "I live in Italy and pay as a self-employed person in Russia" setup carries several risks at once:

• for Italy this regime is invisible: a resident must declare the same income here on the ordinary scale, and the 4-6 percent paid in Russia does not reduce it in any way (the simplified regimes were not covered by the treaty even before the suspension);
• the work is performed from Italy - in the Italian logic, regular activity on the country's territory requires its own framework: usually a partita IVA with INPS contributions (a comparison of the regimes is in the article on the forfettario);
• in Russia there have been interpretations that a self-employed person's activity is tied to the region of registration - another layer of uncertainty;
• regular inflows from Russia to accounts without a declared source are a typical trigger for questions from an Italian bank.

If a person lives here and works remotely on a steady basis, for the Italian system that is work performed in Italy and income received in Italy - with rare exceptions. The correct framework is to open a partita IVA and run the income through it, with contributions and a tax return. You will not be able to credit Russian tax on a salary against Italian tax, all the more so on the forfettario. And one separate detail: if you keep working for the same company where you were on staff, they will most likely not let you apply the preferential regime to that income.

Step 6. How to physically receive your salary

A direct transfer from a Russian bank to an Italian account now almost always runs into the SWIFT cutoff and compliance on both sides. The community solves this with chains through cards and accounts in third countries, fintech services and legal transfers with a transparent history. We do not duplicate the details here - there are separate breakdowns: how to transfer money between Russia and Italy and how to move savings out of Russia, plus which banks open accounts for Russian citizens.

Two principles from community experience: any chain must leave a documentary trail (sooner or later the bank will ask about the source of funds), and sanctions rules change in packages - verify what worked last month again before every large operation.

Step 7. When the permesso requires specifically Italian income

This is where the community gets confused most often, because the answer depends on the type of permesso:

• Lavoro autonomo: at renewal the questura expects income received in Italy - a tax return or a busta paga. A Russian salary, even landed on an Italian account, is usually not recognized; in practice you need a partita IVA with real declared revenue.
• Digital nomad: at entry the consulates accepted a contract with a foreign (including Russian) employer, but for renewal, based on community experience, they expect income shown in Italy and taxes paid here - many open a partita IVA by that point. Details are in the articles on nomad taxes and renewing the nomad permesso.
• Family permessos (coesione, ricongiungimento): income is confirmed by the sponsoring family member, so your remote work for Russia does not break the legalization itself - but the resident's tax obligations on it do not go anywhere. The difference between the family tracks is here.

At renewal of the work-type permessos, the questura cares about one thing: the ability to live on income received in Italy and shown to the Italian tax authority. A person with a lavoro autonomo motivo must open an activity here and declare revenue; with a subordinato motivo - show a busta paga. Certificates for a Russian salary do not work in this logic, no matter how clean it is.

Step 8. The Russian employer's position

From the company's side, your emigration is a legal question too:

• some employers (especially those with security policies) outright prohibit working from abroad and switch people to civil-law contracts or part ways;
• if the group has an office in your country of residence, under European labor rules an employee permanently living here is supposed to be hired locally - continuing to work "for the Moscow office" creates risks for the company itself;
• currency controls and the SWIFT cutoff make payments to a foreign account nearly impossible, so requests to "pay me in Italy" are usually doomed;
• there is also the risk of the company being deemed to have a permanent establishment where the employee sits.

We lived here for a year on my Russian remote job and realized: it is a transitional mode, not a strategy. A salary in rubles melts away on the exchange rate and fees, and being on the staff of a Russian company always requires a plan in case of dismissal. I am gradually moving clients to European contracts through a partita IVA - more expensive in contributions, but transparent, and it works toward renewing my documents.

Bottom line: a working sequence

1. Count your days and determine your status in both countries (183 days - in both directions).
2. Check the current status of the tax treaty and the Russian income tax rates - with a consultant, not via chats.
3. Find a commercialista with experience in Russian income before the filing deadlines.
4. Show the income in your return and the accounts in Quadro RW - transparency is cheaper than fines.
5. Assess moving into an Italian framework (partita IVA, local employment) - especially if your permesso requires Italian income.

Related articles

• Italy's ordinary tax system: IRPEF and addizionali
• Tax return deadlines and forms
• Quadro RW and taxes on foreign assets using crypto as the example
• Transferring money between Russia and Italy
• Moving savings out of Russia
• Regime forfettario for the self-employed
• Money, taxes and daily life in Italy - section overview

Official sources

• agenziaentrate.gov.it - the Italian tax agency: tax residency, returns, foreign asset monitoring, international treaties.
• gazzettaufficiale.it - Serie Generale n. 69 of 24.03.2026: the Foreign Ministry notice suspending articles 5-23 and 25 of the treaty with Russia.
• inps.it - social contributions for the self-employed and employees.
• portaleimmigrazione.it - permesso di soggiorno procedures.
• questure.poliziadistato.it - the questure: permesso renewal and income document requirements.

Frequently asked questions

I live in Italy and work remotely for a company in Russia. Where do I have to pay taxes?

Based on community experience, the basic logic is this: if you are an Italian tax resident (usually more than 183 days a year here plus your center of vital interests), Italy expects a tax return covering your entire worldwide income, including the Russian salary. At the same time, the Russian employer keeps withholding income tax at source under its own rules. Since the double taxation treaty between Russia and Italy is suspended, an automatic credit may not work out, and the outcome depends on the details of your case. This is not tax advice - run your scenario with a commercialista.

Is it true that the tax treaty between Russia and Italy no longer works?

Yes, now from both sides. Russia suspended the key articles in August 2023 (decree N 585 of 08.08.2023), and on 13.03.2026 Italy notified Russia that it suspends articles 5-23 and 25 of the 1996 convention, employment income rules included (Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 69 of 24.03.2026). There are no treaty benefits; crediting Russian tax against Italian tax works only under domestic rules and is not guaranteed. This is not tax advice.

How much income tax does a Russian employer withhold if I am no longer a Russian tax resident?

According to the community, since 2024 the personal income tax rate for remote employees under an employment contract with a Russian organization does not depend on tax residency: 13 percent is withheld at source, and 15 percent above a large annual threshold (previously non-residents faced 30). The Russian income tax scale has been changed since then, so verify the exact percentages for your year with your employer and a tax advisor - the figures are time-sensitive, this is not tax advice.

How do I report my Russian salary in the Italian tax return?

Based on community experience, a resident's foreign salary goes into the annual return (Modello 730 or Redditi PF) as income from employment abroad and is taxed on the progressive IRPEF scale. In parallel, Russian accounts and assets are reported in the Quadro RW section (monitoring of foreign assets). A practical detail from the chats: a regular CAF often refuses to handle income from Russia, so people file through a commercialista who knows how to deal with foreign income. This is not tax advice.

Can I live in Italy and pay only 4-6 percent as a self-employed person in Russia?

It does not work that way. According to the community, the Russian self-employment tax rate indeed does not change with residency, but that solves nothing for Italy: an Italian tax resident must declare that income here under the normal rules, and the simplified Russian regimes were not covered by the double taxation treaty even before the suspension. On top of that, work physically performed from Italy is, in the Italian logic, performed in Italy. Bottom line: Russian self-employed status from Italy is a risk of paying twice, not a saving. Review it with a commercialista.

Will the questura accept a Russian salary as income for renewing the permesso?

Based on community experience, for a lavoro autonomo or subordinato permesso - as a rule, no: at renewal the questura wants to see an Italian tax return or a busta paga from an Italian employer, and transferring a Russian salary to an Italian account does not count as income. With family permessos (coesione, ricongiungimento) the situation is different - there they look at the income of the sponsoring family member. Digital nomads have their own scenario: for renewal they usually expect taxes paid in Italy. Requirements vary by questura - check your own case.

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