Foreign accounts, investments and property: what to declare in Italy

By Andrea Matera, Dottore Commercialista and Chartered Accountant (ICAEW, ACCA) · Updated 22 October 2026

Quadro RW: who must file it and what to report

The tax monitoring obligation applies to individuals, non-commercial entities and simple partnerships (società semplici) resident in Italy that hold investments or financial assets abroad, including as beneficial owners (art. 4 Decree-Law 167/1990). Items to report include:

• current accounts, deposit accounts and savings books with foreign banks;
• securities, funds, ETFs and shareholdings in foreign companies;
• life and capitalisation insurance policies taken out with foreign insurers;
• crypto-assets held in foreign wallets or on foreign exchanges;
• property located abroad, even if not let out.

The obligation applies even if the assets produce no income, and even if the income is already taxed in the other country. It starts from the first tax year in which you are tax resident in Italy.

Quadro RW thresholds and exemptions under the law

• Foreign current and deposit accounts: they need not be reported if their combined maximum value during the tax year does not exceed €15,000 (art. 4, para. 3, Decree-Law 167/1990). The quadro RW must nevertheless be completed if IVAFE is due, that is, if the average annual balance exceeds €5,000.
• Assets entrusted to Italian intermediaries (for example fiduciary companies or resident banks that apply the taxes): they are exempt from monitoring.
• Crypto-assets: they must be reported when held abroad or in private wallets; those held through resident intermediaries that apply the tax remain exempt (Revenue Agency Circular 30/E/2023).
• Special tax regimes: if you opt for the new residents' flat tax (art. 24-bis TUIR) or the 7% regime (art. 24-ter TUIR), you do not complete the quadro RW or pay IVIE and IVAFE, but only for the years in which the option is valid and, under art. 24-bis, for the countries covered by the option.

For securities, shareholdings, insurance policies, crypto-assets and property there is no exemption threshold at all.

IVIE and IVAFE: how much you pay

• IVIE (art. 19, para. 13, Decree-Law 201/2011): 1.06% of the value of the foreign property from 2024 (Law 213/2023). It is not due if the amount does not exceed €200. Any wealth tax paid abroad on the same property is deductible.
• IVAFE (art. 19, para. 18, Decree-Law 201/2011): 0.2% a year on the value of financial products, rising to 0.4% from 2024 for those held in low-tax jurisdictions (Law 213/2023). For current accounts and savings books IVAFE is a flat €34.20 a year, and it is not due if the average annual balance does not exceed €5,000.
• Crypto-assets: they are subject to a 0.2% wealth tax on their value.

Worked example: foreign accounts and property in the quadro RW

A German manager moves to Genoa and becomes tax resident in Italy. Abroad she has a current account in Munich with an average balance of €20,000, a securities account in Germany worth €300,000 and a flat in Berlin bought for €250,000.

• Current account: it must be reported in the quadro RW; IVAFE of €34.20.
• Securities account: IVAFE at 0.2%, i.e. €600 a year.
• Flat: IVIE at 1.06% of the value, about €2,650 a year.

Had she been a pensioner moving to a municipality eligible for the 7% regime, she would have had neither to complete the quadro RW nor to pay IVIE and IVAFE.

Risks of a missing quadro RW

• Penalties: failing to file the quadro RW, or filing an inaccurate one, is punished with a penalty calculated as a percentage of the undeclared amounts, doubled for assets held in low-tax jurisdictions (art. 5, para. 2, Decree-Law 167/1990).
• Presumption of evasion: for undeclared assets in low-tax jurisdictions, the law presumes they were built up with untaxed income, and the time limits for assessment are doubled (art. 12 Decree-Law 78/2009).
• Automatic exchange of information (the OECD Common Reporting Standard, with over a hundred jurisdictions including Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and FATCA with the United States) delivers data on residents' foreign accounts to the Italian Revenue Agency every year.

How we handle your quadro RW

• We reconstruct your foreign assets and their values and complete the quadro RW correctly from your first year of residence.
• We calculate IVIE and IVAFE and the credits for wealth taxes paid abroad.
• If anything was omitted in past years, we regularise it through ravvedimento operoso (voluntary correction) before an audit arrives.
• Before you move, we check whether a regime that exempts you from monitoring (art. 24-bis or 24-ter TUIR) is worthwhile for you.

Frequently asked questions

General information, current as of 22 October 2026: it is not a substitute for advice on your own case.