Impatriates regime confirmed for athletes despite subsequent club changes

Revenue Agency confirms that the impatriates regime may continue to apply to professional athletes despite subsequent club changes

The Italian Revenue Agency has recently issued an important ruling on the application of the Italian impatriates regime to professional athletes under the transitional rules introduced by Legislative Decree No. 209/2023.

The case addressed a practical but highly relevant question for the sports industry: where a professional athlete had entered into a qualifying sports employment contract by 31 December 2023, can the benefit of the former impatriates regime continue to apply even if, after that date, the athlete changes club, is transferred on loan, returns from loan, or signs a contractual renewal?

In the case examined by the Revenue Agency, the taxpayer had entered into a sports employment contract with an Italian club before the relevant deadline. The factual background was not straightforward. The player had first been temporarily transferred abroad, later returned to the original Italian club, subsequently moved on a temporary basis to another Italian club for the 2024/25 season, and then returned again to the original club. Against this background, uncertainty arose as to whether these subsequent events could interrupt access to the transitional protection and trigger the loss of the favorable regime.

This issue was particularly sensitive because the transitional provision refers, for sports employment relationships, to the execution of a sports employment contract by 31 December 2023. A restrictive reading could have led to the conclusion that the favorable regime was tied to the specific contract or employer existing at that date, with the consequence that any later change in the employment relationship might have jeopardized the tax benefit.

In the ruling request, we supported a different interpretation. In our view, the transitional regime should be read as attaching relevance to the individual who had entered into the qualifying sports employment contract within the statutory deadline, rather than to the strict continuity of the very same contract or club relationship. On that basis, subsequent changes in the sporting relationship, including temporary transfers, returns from loan, renewals, or a move to another Italian professional club, should not in themselves cause forfeiture of the regime.

The Revenue Agency accepted this approach. In particular, it clarified that, for professional athletes who had entered into a sports employment contract by 31 December 2023, subsequent changes to the sports employment relationship do not, as such, preclude continued access to the former impatriates regime under the transitional rules. The ruling expressly states that a change of club, contractual renewals, transfers and even a return following the end of a loan do not in themselves trigger an exit from the regime.

The decision is significant for athletes, clubs and advisers alike. It provides welcome certainty in an area where the contractual and regulatory structure of professional sport often gives rise to changes in the identity of the club for which the athlete performs services, without altering the underlying rationale of the inbound tax regime.

More broadly, the ruling confirms an interpretative approach focused on the substance and purpose of the transitional protection. For eligible professional athletes, the benefit is not lost merely because the sporting career evolves, provided that the relevant legal requirements remain satisfied under the applicable rules.

This clarification is likely to be of practical importance not only for football, but more generally for the professional sports sector, where temporary transfers, club changes and contractual developments are part of the ordinary life cycle of an athlete’s career.