Change in the tax residence of one of the spouses or civil partners residing abroad

Description

The Ombudsman expresses his satisfaction for the policy modification which gives the possibility to any of the spouses or civil partners residing abroad, to change his/her tax residence, following the issue of a circular (POL 1201/2017) by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) which specifies the procedure and provides relevant instructions to the competent tax authorities. This development harmonises the practice of the administration with a relevant judgment of the Council of State and implements a proposal of the Ombudsman to the Ministry of Finance and AADE, which the Independent Authority has stated since 2011.
In March 2017, the proposal of the Independent Authority to allow spouses to file a separate tax return, at least in cases where one of them resides abroad, was accepted by the Governor of AADE at a meeting with the Ombudsman in the offices of the Independent Authority. However, until recently no instructions had been given to the tax authorities on how to regularise their practice with the above, which was done by POL.1201 / 2017.