The Italian tax system, administered by the Agenzia delle Entrate, draws a clear distinction between employment income and financial investment income.
The two ways of being taxed:
- IRPEF (Imposta sul Reddito delle Persone Fisiche): This is the progressive tax that applies to your salary, pension, or self-employment income (Partita IVA). It operates in brackets (scaglioni) ranging from 23% to 43%.
- Imposta Sostitutiva (Flat Tax): Gains from your financial investments (shares, funds) would NOT be added to your salary. They would be taxed separately at a fixed rate of 26%. Cryptocurrencies have a special regime: they would be taxed at 33% from 1 January 2026 (except for euro-denominated stablecoins complying with the MiCAR regulation, which would retain the 26% rate).
⚠️ Important
The separation principle: In Italy, your investments would not push you into a higher IRPEF bracket. It would not matter whether you earn 10.000 € or 100.000 € in salary — a capital gain from selling a share would be taxed at its fixed 26%.