Expat Advice: Financial Issues in Milan, Italy

What is the name of the city or town that you are reporting on?

Milan

Which banks do you use? If you have a local account, which bank do you use? How do you like it? Do you also have an account in your home country? Which bank? Do they charge for ATM withdrawals? Do they charge a lot for international wire transfers? How has it been working with them from abroad? Do you use a special international wire transfer service? Do you use an online bank? If so, tell us about them.

There is no such thing as an "ex-pat" focussed bank.

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Tripiamo empowers expats & travelers with comprehensive online country-specific driving guides, enabling them to drive confidently abroad from day one. Prepare in advance, stay safe, and cut unnecessary hassle and expenses while moving abroad and exploring new destinations.

Tripiamo

Tripiamo empowers expats & travelers with comprehensive online country-specific driving guides, enabling them to drive confidently abroad from day one. Prepare in advance, stay safe, and cut unnecessary hassle and expenses while moving abroad and exploring new destinations.
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What advice would you offer others about banking as an expat in your country? What do you wish you had known about banking when you first arrived?

Compared to the UK, banking costs are very high, and use of automated transactions is very undeveloped. There are charges for cards and to receive statements. There are even very high charges to RECEIVE deposits from overseas, even if in Euros! Internet banking is also new, but we found Rasbank, which has some very competitive charges and using internet banking helps overcome the traditional Italian queues and solves many language problems.

What sort of challenges or frustrations have you encountered as an investor living overseas? Please describe.

The same difficulty as in the UK in understanding all the charges and small print, compounded by havng to understand specialist terms in Italian.

What advice was particularly helpful to you in managing your finances? What advice would you give? Any other thoughts?

1 To use a relatively new bank with a modern approach rather than an old traditional one. 2 To take advantage of overseas domicile by opening an offshore account for savings.

Do you do your own taxes, use a local firm, an expat-oriented firm or does your employer handle this for you (i.e. via an corporate tax firm)?

Employer does this

What advice could you offer others about doing your taxes as an expat?

In Italy, you must get expert help.