Italian TAX Law

This week we discovered that the Italian government has recently passed a law requiring foreigners (that would be us) to pay a 10% tax on property purchases. With a little investigation, including consultation with what equates to a tax attorney, we learned that we are indeed subject to this tax, but the property is expected to be valued at less than the purchase price.

Strange thing is that if we had bought a place right in the city, we would be exempt from the tax -- we are a mere 8 miles outside of the city center, probably even less from the city limits. And, oh, the fact that we entered into a contract months ago matters not -- the new law still applies to us.

We are awaiting word on an estimate of this tax amount. We had anticipated paying a 3% tax on the purchase price of the house, as would an Italian -- it looks as though it will be a significant amount more. We should know more this weekend.

Not fun.