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I have Italian citizenship. I have been living in the UK for about 1.5 years and I did not subscribe to AIRE (the Registry of Italians Resident Abroad).

At first, it was because I wasn't sure how long I would stay abroad (6 months probation at work), then because I received the wrong info that it was not necessary. Also, I didn't want to lose the option of going to my doctor in Italy during holidays.

In order to enroll in AIRE I would have had to take a couple of days off to travel to London and complete the request at the consular office (the online process wasn't available yet). Furthermore I also had to change apartment and so the confirmation letter would have been sent to the wrong address. Another reason for not applying before was that I was supposed to transfer to another office (in the States, so another address change). Eventually, I enrolled online, and it takes 6-8 months for this new online request to be processed.

I recently made my taxes declaration 2015 (late as usual paying a small fee - 25€) and found out that I have to pay the difference between the British taxes and the Italian ones. I started working abroad in 2015 and continued through 2016, so I'm not covered for 6 months + 1 day under AIRE. Therefore, for 2015 and 2016, I will end up paying thousands of euro (PS. a total of 7.000 €) just because I didn't enroll in AIRE.

Is it possible to DEMONSTRATE THAT I HAVE BEEN LIVING ABROAD according to everyday debit card payments, work contract, rent contract, bills, etc and therefore ask for a refund?

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  • late as usual and your post is full of I did not do this then, because... Maybe there is something to learn? That won't help you now, but you can prevent issues in the future.
    – user6860
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 9:13
  • yeh late as usual because I know that the fee is very small so I gave priority to other more important things. Definetively something to learn (and teach), that's also why it's here in public. The question though is why I can't demonstrate I didn't live in Italy and therefore not pay for their public services and very expenisve taxes ..
    – Gabe
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 1:24
  • @mkennedy the supposed duplicate does not even mention AIRE, much less address the question of whether registration is necessary to establish nonresident status for income tax purposes.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 2:33
  • The duplicate mentions the registry, from which you ate removed if you are in AIRE. The registry determines whether you are considered a resident or not.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 2:35

2 Answers 2

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The Consulate in San Francisco has a page of FAQs about AIRE.

One of them includes this statement:

Please note that the AIRE registration date cannot be retroactive.

Another one states that you must register within 90 days of arrival.

EDIT: I voted to close the question because there's another similar question: Do Italian Citizens living abroad have to pay taxes to Italy?

The accepted answer to that question doesn't really answer this one as @phoog pointed out, but the other answer and its comment do apply. Two Italians state that unless you register in AIRE, you are liable for paying Italian taxes.

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    This doesn't answer the question, though: could OP claim nonresident status for tax purposes, despite not having registered with AIRE, by using other evidence to show absence from Italy?
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 1:59
  • Considering that OP still had access to health care, and only by declaring nonresidency die5s that stop, I doubt it, but, the FAQ isn't clear.
    – mkennedy
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 2:23
  • There's a duplicate, so I voted to close. I should have looked first!
    – mkennedy
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 2:30
  • That's because the FAQ concern AIRE more than income tax. I doubt that healthcare access is the controlling factor in determining tax liability.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 1, 2016 at 2:30
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    AIRE registration process and information about whether or not some taxes applies to Italian citizens who resides abroad are totally different things (although for someone the main incentive to register to AIRE might be for fiscal purpose rather than receiving consulate services).
    – Daniele D.
    Commented Dec 6, 2016 at 11:16
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Late to the party (and done payments) but it seems like there's a convention between UK and Italy for which AIRE is not strictly necessary for tax purposes. If I only have income in the UK and live there for more than 6 months per year I don't have to pay taxes in Italy.

Conventions:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/498371/italy-dtc_-_in_force.pdf (English)

http://www.fiscooggi.it/files/immagini_articoli/fnmold/regnounito-it.pdf (Italian)

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