Remote’s guide to employing in

Italy
italy flag

Make employment in Italy easy. Let us handle payroll, benefits, taxes, compliance, and even stock options for your team in Italy, all in one easy-to-use platform.

  • Capital City

    Rome

  • Currency

    Euro (€, EUR)

  • Languages

    Italian

  • Population size

    60,317,116

Services available in this country:
Employer of Record ProductContractor ManagementPayroll

Facts & Stats

Italy Map Illustration
  • Capital City

    Rome

  • Currency

    Euro (€, EUR)

  • Languages

    Italian

  • Population size

    60,317,116

  • Ease of doing business

    Very easy

  • Cost of living index

    $$$$ (29 of 139 nations)

  • Payroll frequency

    Monthly

  • VAT - standard rate

    22%

  • GDP - real growth rate

    0.8583% (2018 est.)

Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country consisting of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands. Italy is located in south-central Europe, and it is also considered a part of western Europe. Italy is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries, with the world's eighth-largest economy by nominal GDP (third in the European Union), sixth-largest national wealth and third-largest central bank gold reserve. It ranks very highly in life expectancy, quality of life, healthcare,and education.

Grow your team in Italy with Remote

Looking to employ workers in Italy? Companies hiring in Italy must either own a legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solutions provider, usually one that provides employer of record services.

Remote can employ your team in Italy on your behalf through our local legal entity in the country and handle payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance for your Italy team. You can also pay contractors now in Italy with Remote.

Risks of misclassification

Italy, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time employees differently. Misclassification of contractors in Italy may lead to fines and penalties for the offending company.

Employing in Italy

Italy does not have a nationally unified labor code. Labor legislation is wide-ranging, with laws, regulations and statutes that bear on labor relations. The Constitution of Italy (articles 35-47) contains declarations of principle relating to fair payment, maximum working hours, vacation, protection of women and minors, social insurance, illness, disability, industrial diseases and accidents, Freedom of Association and the right to strike. The Workers' Statute of 1970 was modified, and plays an important role.

Italian employment law provides strong labor conditions and protections for employees, so employing people will generally be an important investment and commitment.

Temporary agencies are popular options for more flexible workforce arrangements. For these and many other reasons, the following are only guidelines in the broadest sense, and professional legal services are recommended when employing in Italy.

Minimum Wage

There is no statutory minimum wage in Italy, but national collective bargaining agreements set minimum wages on a sector-by-sector basis.

Payroll Cycle

For customers of Remote, salaries are monthly based, for work between the first and last day of the month, as well as an additional 13th and 14th month payment.

Employee payments will be made in equal monthly installments on or before the last working day of each calendar month, payable in arrears.

The 13th month salary is paid around mid-December and the 14th month salary is paid around mid-June.

Note that collective agreements in Italy usually determine whether these additional salary payments are required. Many collective agreements mandate one or both of the 13th and 14th month salaries.

Onboarding Time

We can help you get a new employee started in Italy fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 3 working days.

Our team ensures your employees are onboarded and paid as quickly as possible while keeping your business compliant with all local employment legislation. The minimum onboarding time begins after the employee submits all required information onto the Remote platform. The onboarding timeline is also dependent upon registration with local authorities.

For all non-nationals of the country of employment, the Right to Work assessment (if applicable) will add three extra days to the total time to onboard. There may be extra time required if we need to follow-up on the right to work assessment.

Please note, payroll cut-off dates can impact the actual first day of employment. Remote has a payroll cut-off date of the 10th of the month unless otherwise specified.

14 Public holidays

Jan
Monday, January 1, 20241New Year's Day (Capodanno)
Saturday, January 6, 20242Epiphany (Epifania)
Mar
Sunday, March 31, 20243Easter (Pasqua)
Apr
Monday, April 1, 20244Easter Monday (Pasquetta)
Thursday, April 25, 20245Liberation Day (Festa della Liberazione)
May
Wednesday, May 1, 20246Workers' Day (Festa dei lavoratori)
Jun
Sunday, June 2, 20247Republic Day (Festa della Repubblica)
Aug
Thursday, August 15, 20248Assumption of Mary (Ferragosto)
Friday, August 16, 20249Commerce Celebration Day (Festa del Commercio)
Nov
Friday, November 1, 202410All Saints' Day (Tutti i santi)
Dec
Saturday, December 7, 202411Saint Ambrose (Sant'Ambrogio)
Sunday, December 8, 202412Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Immacolata Concezione)
Wednesday, December 25, 202413Christmas Day (Natale)
Thursday, December 26, 202414Saint Stephen's Day (Santo Stefano)

Want to see and manage all holidays? Sign up for our free HRIS!

Effortless HR in Italy: Take the Tour

Seamlessly Manage Your Workforce, from First Hire to Final Paycheck

Competitive benefits package in Italy

Remote supports our clients by offering competitive benefits packages that will help you attract and retain the best talent across the globe. Our benefits specialists have done the research on norms and requirements in each local market and have crafted packages that will allow your employees to thrive, no matter what country they call home.

Our benefits packages in Italy are tailored to fulfil the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:

  • Health Insurance

  • Dental Insurance

  • Vision Insurance

  • Mental Health Support

  • Pension or 401(K)

  • Life and Disability Insurance

Local market insights

Our core benefits (which often include things like healthcare) are required in most countries where we hire. We do not require customers to offer benefits in Italy due to its strong public system and local laws that protect us (and you!) against claims of non-discriminatory hiring practices. However, we do recommend that employers in Italy offer benefits to their employees based on market standards. Note that we do not add a markup on any benefits premiums or administration costs.

For more insight into fair equity and benefits best practices, download our Global Benefits Guide and share with the rest of your hiring team.

Taxes in Italy

Learn how employment taxes and statutory fees affect your payroll and your employees’ paychecks in Italy.

  • 29.41%

    Social Security

  • 1.5%

    INAIL (Injuries Insurance)

Types of leave

In Italy there are 3 different types of leave that falls in the category annual leave:

  • Vacation (Ferie) - 22 days for 5 days a week workers, 26 for 6 days a week workers

  • Working time reduction hourly permit (ROL) - 36 hours a year (after first 2 years), to be used in groups of 4 or 8 hours

  • Ex Festivita’ hourly permit - 32 hours a year, to be used in groups of 4 or 8 hours (in place of the 4 holidays abolished by law 40 years ago)

Employment termination

Termination process

Italian employers can in general terminate an employment contract in the following ways:

  • Urgent dismissal of the employee without notice for just cause, for example in case of theft or any other serious misconduct; or

  • Ordinary dismissal with notice based a subjective reason, involving breaches of of the employee's legal and contractual duties

Notice period

Except for fixed term contracts, notice periods are decided on and governed by collective bargaining agreements and vary with period of service.

Severance pay

Upon termination of the employment relationship, the employee receives the so called TFR (Trattamento di fine rapporto), which is a part of workers' wages whose payment is deferred upon termination of the employment relationship. The employee can choose to receive it at the end of the employment or have it monthly deducted to a personal pension fund.

Probation periods

The statutory probationary periods in Italy are 45-60 days for employees not assigned to management functions and six months for all other employees. Applicable probation periods are usually mentioned in the national collective bargaining agreement the employer is working under.

Fair Pricing in Italy

Employer of Record

Hire and pay your global team

Starting at $599/month

for annual plans

Top features

  • Satisfaction guaranteed

  • No deposits or hidden fees

  • Zero onboarding or offboarding fees

  • Compliant equity incentives support including withholding and reporting

  • Built-in security and compliance

  • Fast onboarding (average 2-3 days)

  • Flexible, localized benefits

Contractor Management

Compliantly onboard and pay contractors

$29

per contractor/month

Sign up

Top features

  • Only pay for contractors you actively work with

  • Work with contractors in 200+ countries

  • Create, edit, and sign tailored, localized contracts

  • Approve contractor invoices with one click or auto-pay

  • Transparent payments with complete visibility

Remote Payroll

Consolidate your multi-country payroll

$50

per employee/month

Top features

  • Reduce costs by centralizing payroll management

  • Ensure local compliance for every country

  • Direct support from in-house local payroll experts

  • Accurate, on-time, compliant payroll to level-up your employee experience

  • Tax and labor authority reporting handled for you

HR Management

Manage all of your employees in one place

Free
Sign up

Top features

  • Guided onboarding and offboarding

  • Employee profile and document management

  • Time and attendance (time off and tracking)

  • Expense management and reimbursement

  • Employee self-serve on the platform and mobile app