Serie A Growth Decree Repeal 2026: How the End of Tax Breaks Changed Italian Football

For five glorious years, foreign footballers in Italy paid tax on only half their salary. A €10 million contract at AC Milan was taxed as if it were €5 million. The effective tax rate dropped from roughly 45% to roughly 22.5%. Agents called it the best deal in European football. Players called it the reason they chose Serie A over the Premier League. And on January 1, 2024, the Italian government killed it.

The Growth Decree — Decreto Crescita — was a tax incentive designed to attract skilled workers to Italy. Footballers were among its biggest beneficiaries. Its repeal has reset Serie A's salary map, made it significantly harder for Italian clubs to attract foreign talent, and created a two-tier tax system within squads that will persist for years. At BreadTruth, we track every tax rule that affects what players actually keep. Here is what the Growth Decree did, why it died, and what its loss means for the next generation of Serie A stars.

What the Growth Decree Did

The Growth Decree was introduced in 2019 as part of a broader Italian economic stimulus package. It allowed workers who had not been Italian tax residents for the previous two years to pay income tax on only 50% of their salary — or just 10% if they moved to certain southern regions. For a foreign footballer signing for a Serie A club, this meant his gross salary was cut in half for tax purposes. The effective rate dropped from roughly 45% to roughly 22.5%. Add regional and municipal surcharges, and the final rate hovered around 25% — still less than half the standard Italian rate.

The impact on Serie A's transfer market was immediate. Clubs that had struggled to compete with Premier League wages suddenly had a powerful counter-offer: come to Italy, keep more of what you earn. Romelu Lukaku's return to Inter in 2022 was structured to benefit from the decree. Christian Pulisic's move to AC Milan in 2023 was, too. The Growth Decree did not just reduce taxes. It changed the calculus of every contract negotiation involving a foreign player.

What the Repeal Means for Player Contracts

Now the part BreadTruth's calculator exists for. Let's run the numbers on a €10 million annual salary — before and after the Growth Decree repeal:

Estimates based on publicly available tax rates and agent fee assumptions. Actual net may vary based on individual circumstances, deductions, and regional surcharges. Source: Agenzia delle Entrate, PwC Italy.

The after-tax gap is staggering. A foreign player earning €10 million at AC Milan kept roughly €7.1 million under the Growth Decree. The same player signing a new contract after the repeal keeps roughly €4.9 million — a loss of €2.2 million per year. Over a four-year contract, that is nearly €9 million in lost after-tax earnings. That kind of money buys a lot of loyalty — or, more accurately, a lot of plane tickets to England, Spain, or Saudi Arabia.

Why the Italian Government Killed It

The Growth Decree was never designed for footballers. It was designed for engineers, researchers, and skilled professionals. But footballers became its most visible beneficiaries — and the optics of millionaire athletes paying tax on half their income, while ordinary Italian workers paid the full rate, became politically untenable. The government, facing pressure from populist parties and trade unions, withdrew the decree for professional athletes from January 2024. The message was clear: footballers do not need a tax break.

Whether that was good policy depends on your perspective. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) argued that the decree had helped revive Serie A's competitiveness, attracting talent that would otherwise have gone to the Premier League or La Liga. The government argued that tax breaks for millionaires were indefensible while public services were underfunded. Both sides were right. The loser was Serie A's ability to compete for foreign talent.

How Serie A Is Adapting

Italian clubs have not given up on foreign signings — they have changed their strategy. The most common adaptation is to sign foreign players on lower gross salaries but with larger signing bonuses, which can be structured to optimize the tax impact. Another is to pursue domestic Italian players more aggressively — a player who has been an Italian tax resident for more than two years was never eligible for the Growth Decree anyway, so the repeal does not affect his cost. The most significant adaptation is simply to accept that Serie A's wage ceiling has dropped — top earners who once commanded €12-15 million are now being offered €8-10 million, and the market is adjusting accordingly.

For players, the message is clear: Italy is no longer the tax haven it was from 2019 to 2023. The after-tax advantage that attracted Lukaku, Pulisic, and a generation of foreign stars is gone. What remains is a league with history, passion, and roughly 48% of every euro going to the tax office. Whether that is enough to attract the next wave of talent depends on factors no tax decree can change.

The Bottom Line

Italy's Growth Decree was the best tax deal in European football for five years. It halved foreign footballers' tax rates and made Serie A competitive with the Premier League on after-tax wages. Its repeal in January 2024 ended that advantage. A €10 million contract that once netted €7.1 million now nets €4.9 million — a €2.2 million annual loss. The Growth Decree is gone. The tax bill is back. And every foreign player considering Serie A now has to ask: is the pasta worth the price?

At BreadTruth, we do not tell you where to sign. We just show you the numbers. And the numbers say Italy was the best deal in Europe for foreign footballers — and now it is not.