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The latest on the Italian luxury GA tax?

Last I heard was that the 3-day parking limit was increased to 45 days.

Does anyone have concrete information on whether this is being enforced and how, and the amounts? For example do they keep track of multiple visits and add them up?

There was always a provision to exempt aircraft which were "undergoing maintenance". Has this been defined? It could be anything from a pilot declaration of "unairworthiness" to having to be worked on by an Italian Part-M company. The latter could be a problem if one went AOG at an airport where there are no maintenance facilities.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

The swiss aeroclub association wrote an article in April 2012 saying that the change from 2 days to 45 had been decided by the deputy chamber but still had to go through the senat.

There was no details as to the definition of "undergoing maintenance" other than maintenance stay and oldtimers above 40 years are exempted from the tax.

Until very recently, the rule was: 45 days, and as soon as you flew out, the "counter" was back to zero.

Now, this has been changed. It is 6 months now, but when you fly out, the "counter" does not go back to zero. The intention was probably to avoid that owners of aircraft fly out of Italy for a day every 45 days (very impractical and expensive IMHO, but possibly someone really did it).

The is the theory.I have no information how the tax really works in practice.

Nobody will ever define what "undergoing maintenance" means. It's Italy...

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

oldtimers above 40 years are exempted from the tax

That's interesting and if true, it could reignite my ambition to ship an N-registered 2-seat taildragger to Italy. The idea was two summers of Aviosuperficie touring by a non-EU resident pilot. Then pull the wings again and ship it back.

But I thought the ''aviosuperficie'' were for microlights only?

Not that many would be very strict, down there, and that's quite as it should be, too.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

The intention was probably to avoid that owners of aircraft fly out of Italy for a day every 45 days (very impractical and expensive IMHO...

I would think that would be a very cheap way to avoid the tax. Pop over the Adriatic to one of the Croatian islands for lunch (a 30 minute flight for most of Italy?) or to Portoroz, etc...

It doesn't suprise me they stopped it.

Nobody will ever define what "undergoing maintenance" means. It's Italy...

Sure, but that uncertainty cuts both ways, as they say...

It's a little while since I last landed in Italy but the airport (LIEE) pursued me vigorously afterwards for some confirmation that it was (or wasn't) a business trip. Full VAT was paid on the fuel so I can't see why they cared. So, sometimes at least, "somebody" does pay a great deal of attention to "something" (even if for a completely wrong reason) and if one is parked there and can't fly out, one's bargaining position is not all that great.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

But I thought the ''aviosuperficie'' were for microlights only? Not that many would be very strict, down there, and that's quite as it should be, too.

The people at grass strips in Italy do seem to be a friendly bunch. My understanding is that I'd probably be OK flying around between aviosuperfici, but I understand I might run into trouble at flying fields smaller than that, campi di volo.

Mine would have an N-number on the side, but is otherwise a microlight (except perhaps that its only worth Euro 20K max, a lot less than most microlights). When I've visited aviosuperfici, some of the the aircraft on hand were considerably heavier and more sophisticated than the 375 Kg aircraft I have in mind. Like a certified Marchetti S205, a large four seater.

I'd certainly appreciate any additional information on the above.

Silvaire,

let me try to explain it. (BTW, mods might want to "split" this, as it has little to do with the GA luxury tax thing).

If you understand german, you may want to read (or otherwise have google translate) this:

http://fliegen-in-italien.de/aviosuperfici.html

In summary, the "rules" are:

-"Aeroporti: only "CofA" airplanes allowed (there are exceptions to this)

-"Aiosuperfici": both CofA" and "other stuff", such as microlights allowed

-"Campi di volo": only microlights allowed.

The problem is that these rules have been made with only the italian microlight definition in mind. Italian (=I-1234 and so on) mircolights (they call them "VDS") are somewhat different than ULMs in other countries: no radio required whatsoever, no type approval required (such as in Germany) and so on. After all, let's remember that mircolights are strictly a national thing.

Therefore, whenever someone with a non-italian microlight comes to Italy, there is a certain doubt as to which "category" these have to be assimilated with. For example, in the past, german (D-Mxxx) ultralights were normally considered (at least by ATC and airport managements) to be like "real" airplanes and thus were treated as such. For example, they were not usually bothered al all when when flying to an "aeroporto". BTW, some people concluded that this was because they did not recognize these as german microlights because they don't have numbers in their regs like in Italy...but that is not true. They sure recognize them, but again, they mostly considered them "worthy" aircraft due to them having radios, transponders, and so on.

Two years ago, things have become even more complicated when Italy introduced their "advanced" mircrolight subcategory. It's a real mess now, so the only solution if you really want to avoid trouble is: when intending to land at an "aeroporto" with anything less than a full CofA aircraft, call (or fax) ahead for PPR (after all, most airports are PPR anyway) to make sure you are welcome there with whatever type and "category" of airplane you have.

You might want to read this as well.

Regarding "campi di volo": These can not even be considered as "registered airstrips" (such as the " aviosuperfici"). They are just private pieces of land which are used by someone for flying purposes. So they are not official in any way and thus, strictly speaking, only to be used by (italian registered?) microlights. Yet, still, they are sometimes used by "real" airplanes as well (don't ask me how I know:-)), which is usually fine for the owner (all aviosuperfici and campi di volo are strictly PPR, by definition). Just don't bend anything or annoy the neighbours when doing so. And a good deal of attention is indeed required with any campo di volo, as these are not supervised in any way way by the authorities, so you will indeed find some very, err, let's say, "interesting" (read: short, little-cared-for, undulating, even curving) strips.

In summary, if you pay a little bit of intention and apply a little bit of common sense, you can have loads (and I mean loads) of fun with recreational flying in Italy. Just not the type of flying Peter does....:-). One cannot expect to have a clear, black/white picture painted by reading the rules. And yes, this is, to a certain degree, unfortunate for visitors.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Boscomatico, thank you for the helpful write-up and description.

I have two aircraft, both N-registered C of A in normal category, but the one I'd do this with is very Cub like in its size, weight, and performance, and equipment. 83 kts cruise, 450 fpm climb, handheld radio with no electrical system. STC'd for Mogas. It's also easy to pull and reinstall the wings.

Thinking about the rules you've described, it's intriguing to consider being a 'cultural parachutist' and flying that aircraft around as you've described. Its got an ICAO airworthiness certificate, I have a US pilot certificate and I have no intent to be a EU resident. The aircraft would be parked wherever I could find a spot, and I'd visit it several times per summer (from the US via Germany). I've spent some time visiting aviosuperfici and campi di volo, and I think it'd be really fun to fly around from one to another, blending with the Italian micro lights. I could write a book like all the other Tuscan tourists :-)))) ;-)

The biggest issues I can see are insurance, and getting into and out of the country without hassles.

Probably sounds kind of dream like, but I've been doing almost the same thing with a US registered motorcycle for many years.

Thanks again very much.

(PS My Italian is a lot better than my German I can actually carry on a conversation in Italian, but neither is good... Learning German properly is on my list too)

It was mentioned here recently that the Italian GA tax does not apply if you are not an Italian citizen.

Unfortunately the chap who mentioned it has not been back.

Has there been a recent change?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
33 Posts
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