Ram's activity

Its not at all difficult.  Pick up a car from Catania airport - right outside the arrivals and drive out of the airport and take the road to Siracusa - (this is the most difficult bit)  Stay on that road until you get to Rosolini where the motorway finished and then take the SS115 to Ragusa where  you turn left and go down to Punta Secca.  THe roads arent busy at the best of times.  At the seaside in October there will be very little going on.  Signposting is ok in Ragusa province.   Dont drive in Catania or Palermo though, that needs practise!  Your other alternative is to bus it from Catania to Siracusa and hire the car from there.  THe Montalbano B&B is exactly that, but if you are Montalbano fan you should also see Scicli, Ragusa Ibla and Modica where it is all filmed.   THey're all within a 20mile radius and are all pretty baroque towns.  Dont hire a satnav its not worth it.  Ragusa province is the safest in Sicily - its completely different to the rest of Sicily, there is very very little crime.   As far as driving goes - drive on the right, right on the right.  Dont tailgate, because the person in front will start their manouvre before they put their indicators on, and dont worry about people overtaking you on blind bends.  You can pootle along with all the other Sicilians in their ancient Fiat 500's and you'll be fine.  GO for it! 

If you've already paid tax in the UK, then Im sure you have no eligilibity in Italy - certainly for pensions. 

I advise all my clients to take a photo fo the car dashboard when you return it to the airport with the tank as full, time etc all illuminated.  Take photos ofthe car and where you park it.  Then if you ever get a threatening email, send the photos and everything stops there.  Neveer take 'return the car empty' option', don't use satnav in Sicily unless on motorways and A roads.  Dont drive in Palermo and Catania if you can avoid it.  Drive on the right, right on the right.    Dont tailgate unless you have Sicilian reflexes.   

Depends on what you mean by rebuild.  A new house on a piece of land incurs plusvalenza from the moment the build is finished.  A restoration does not necessarily incur plusvalenza unless you knocked it down and started again.  IT depends on how much work you did to the house, and whether it was substantially enlarged. 

 but - as the poster is UK resident, then his Italian house cannot be his main home, but a second home, and not exempt.   By paying any capital gain direct to the notaio at the point of sale he would benefit from the preferential 20% tax rate.  However, you can opt to pay the tax yourself included in your tax return at whichever rate is applicable to you.  Some people - choose this route, leave the country and hope never to be discovered.  

The capital gain is due in Italy, therefore paid in Italy, In this case it has nothing to do with the UK, or where you are fiscally resident, as it is not a cross border tax - AFAIK

Im sure it is a regional thing - here in SIcily we can still autocertificate our non energy saving houses, but in the north you cant.   I havent had a comune refuse a cert of abitabilita because there wasnt an ACE, but that may well be here and not there.   The idea behind these ACE was that in a few years you will have a little ceramic plate next to your house number with the energetic class of your house on it, and it will (apparently) impact hugely on its value.   However, the big problem with the ACE is its all about heat dispersion, not keeping a house cool - so its got bog all to do with houses in the south, but everything to do with houses on ski slopes and the like.  Thats the trouble with a long thin country.  As regards the certification of plant - my advice would be to insist on certification before you pay them.  If you dont they wont do it, and you will have to pay others to do what your plumber should have done in the first place.  Obviously if they issue a certificate they will also need to show a fattura for the work should the Guardia come round, which has obvious implications.   I would get all certification before I paid out any money to anyone - lesson born of experience, and ultimately a huge time saver in the long run.   For Richard and Marie - if your downstairs room has not been structurally changed, ie you havent heightened it, lowered it, put in windows and doors then you dont technically need a Cert of Agibilita.  Alot of people wouldnt own up to having done the work because you will get a higher catastal value and therefore pay more tax - but thats an 'improper' suggestion.   

For me agibilita/abitabilita and all the other certifications are completely distinct and separate.  To sell a house you need certificazione energetica, impianti, etc AND a cert of agibilita.  The agibilita is not necessary if the house was built before 1967 (it is one of the anti abusivo things), but if your house was built before 1967 and you have had structural work done technically you should have one reissued.   The agibilita is more to do with room size, windows, seismic precautions, ie - whether the house can be lived in according to the law, and not to do with how much energy it uses.   If it is a property from after 67 the notaio must have the agibilita before stipulating the atto, if not there is no necessity to have one, unless the catastal drawings differ hugely from the previous ones, but this is the notaios call not yours.     Its all to stop two beds and bath shoehorned into the attic with ceiling heights of 1.2m being classed as bedrooms - when it remains underroof space - and so on.   Obviously if your house suddenly has 4 beds instead of 2, the idea is that you should be paying tax on a 4 bed house and not a 2 up two down.   The tecnico who did the original project should sign it off cos its his problem, ie if he didnt do the work well.  Another tecnico who signs is taking legal responsibility for the work of another, and usually its not to be advised! 

The thing about the tax is not really connected to the prima casa - if you are a resident then thats the limiting factor.  Whether you chose to take advantage of the prima casa incentives is irrelevant in this case.  I bought seconda casa, but am resident in Italy - file my tax return here and so on - so the tax would apply to me if I had any property elsewhere. 

I would have thought that America will probably get off lightly with regard to this tax as property prices are generally low (if you dont live in Manhattan) and property taxes incredibly high - certainly more than 0.07% of the property value.   With regard to the Monti proposal, the main problem is for those who bought in Italy using prima casa, with no intention of ever living here full time.  They saved a few bob at atto paying lower taxes and then thought they were sitting pretty.  Obviously there is the rub - and if I were one of the those I would seriously think about reneging on my resident status.  The new double tax jobby just signed by Cameron and Monti (and a few others) allows for much closer cooperation in checks and balances, and its just a matter of time before they will get caught - not by the Agenzia dell'entrate, but by HMG For those who actually are resident but have a bolt hole/prima casa in another country, then the tax applies.  If for some reason you cant prove your purchase price then it will be calculated on market price (how and by who?)  with offset provable taxes paid in the other country.   For most this wont be a problem,  it will become a headache only for those who are trying to shaft the system at both ends.  For Belvedere - the tax will apply to anyone who is resident in ITaly - ie, living there (according to their declaration) for more than 183 days a year and therefore fiscally resident in Italy.  It doesnt matter whether you are Italian or not, only that your residence in in Italy and all your tax affairs fall under Itlaian law.