Your Guide to Hiring Employees and
Contractors in Italy
Capital city
Rome
Currency
Euro
Language(s)
Italian
Ease of doing business
Very easy
Payroll frequency
Monthly
Employer taxes
29.40% – 32.40%
Payroll
Monthly Payroll
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.
Minimum Wage Requirements:
In Italy, there is no minimum wage by law.
Individual Income Tax:
The individual income tax ranges from 0% to 43%. Income tax is calculated according to progressive rates. Multiple additional factors may impact overall rates such as the household status and the number of children.
Up to EUR 15,000
Tax rate: 23%
Up to EUR – 28,000
Tax rate: 27%
Up to EUR – 55,000
Tax rate: 38%
Up to EUR – 75,000
Tax rate: 41%
Over EUR – 75,000
Tax rate: 43%
Employer Cost:
The employer cost is generally estimated at 38% of the employee salary. For employees classified in the Dirigente category, an additional estimated EUR 1,341.84 must be paid.
- Social Security: 23.81%
- Family Allowances: 0.68%
- General Fund: 1%
- Sickness Benefit: 2.44%
- Maternity: 0.24%
- TFR Funds: 7.40%
- TFR Guarantee Contribution: 0.20%
- Employment Insurance: 1.61%
- Injuries at Work Insurance: 0.40%
Working Hours
Work Week
Monday to Friday.
Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours
Overtime payment is mandatory.
Hours outside of standard work hours are considered overtime.
Employees can work a maximum of 250 hours of overtime per year.
Employment Termination
Terminations in Italy can be complex. In exceptional cases, there is at-will termination in Italy for employers outside the probation period and generally, the termination must be done for just cause.
Compliant terminations include:
- Voluntarily by the employee
- By mutual agreement
- Unilaterally by the employer based on:
- Probation period
- Objective grounds
- Disciplinary dismissal
- Without cause (exceptional cases)
- By the expiration of the contract
Notice period:
Notice periods are decided on and governed by collective bargaining agreements.
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