Job ended
The employment ended in the previous year and you have no new job when you file. This is the most frequent situation.
CAF services · Special cases
730 tax return without an employer
Lost your job, retired partway through the year, or work for someone who does not act as a withholding agent? You can still file the 730 (the Italian tax return for employees and pensioners). The only things that change are who settles the balance and how long you wait.
01 · The difference
How it differs from the ordinary 730
In the ordinary 730 the sostituto d'imposta (the withholding agent: your employer or the body that pays your pension) receives the result of the return and applies it to your pay: a refund arrives with your salary, and any amount due is deducted from it.
In the 730 without a withholding agent that step does not exist, because at the time of settlement there is nobody who can carry it out. The result is handled directly by the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency): the refund is paid into your bank account, and any amount due is paid with an F24 (the Italian tax payment form).
The return, the documents and the deductions are exactly the same. Only the channel the money moves through changes.
Filing the 730 without a withholding agent is not a matter of convenience: it is the correct route when the conditions for settlement through your pay are not met. Filing it the wrong way means the return is rejected at processing.
02 · Typical cases
Who files the 730 without an employer
There is a single condition: in the year you file, there is no withholding agent required to settle the balance. These are the cases that come up again and again.
Fixed-term contracts over
Several short contracts during the year, all of them finished. You have the Certificazione Unica (the annual income statement from each employer), but no withholding agent.
Domestic workers, carers and similar
A household employer is not a withholding agent: anyone working in this sector always falls into this case.
Pensioners paid from abroad
If your only pensions are paid by foreign bodies, you have no Italian withholding agent.
Heirs
A return filed on behalf of a person who has died is filed this way.
Other income
Anyone who during the year had only rental income or other income with no employment relationship.
03 · How the money arrives
How and when the refund arrives
The refund is paid by the Revenue Agency, not by your employer. This assumes the Agency knows where to send it: if no IBAN has been registered, the refund does not go out and stays on hold.
Register your IBAN
The IBAN must be registered in your personal area on the Agency's website. The account must be in your name, alone or jointly.
Filing the return
The CAF (the authorised tax assistance centre) sends the 730 with the visto di conformità (the compliance check on the return), stating that there is no withholding agent.
Processing
The Agency processes the return and, for refunds above a certain threshold, carries out a preliminary check that adds time.
Payment
The refund reaches your account. Without an IBAN, a payment order is issued that you collect some other way, and it takes longer.
The timing is not that of a payslip. Where the ordinary 730 wraps up in one or two months, here you are looking at several months more, especially if the preliminary check on large refunds is triggered.
04 · The opposite case
If the return shows an amount due
When the balance is in the Revenue Agency's favour, there is no payslip to deduct it from: the amount is paid with an F24, by the ordinary deadlines for the return.
- Payment follows the ordinary deadlines set for income taxes.
- You can pay in instalments, with the interest that applies.
- The F24 is prepared by the practice together with the return: you do not have to fill it in yourself.
- If a payment is missed, you can put it right with ravvedimento operoso (voluntary correction), which reduces the penalty according to how late you are.
Watch out for advance payments
What you owe is not always just the balance for the year just closed.
- If you exceed the set thresholds, advance payments for the current year are added to the return
- People used to settling through their payslip do not expect them and find a higher amount than they planned for
- In some situations the advance payments can be reduced, but that choice has to be justified
- Better to know before filing, not in June
05 · Which return
The 730 without an employer or the Redditi PF return?
They are two legitimate routes for the same situation, with different consequences. It is not a matter of taste: it depends on what you have to declare and how quickly you need the refund.
| Aspect | 730 without withholding agent | Redditi PF return |
|---|---|---|
| Refund | Paid by the Agency into your account | Paid by the Agency, usually taking longer |
| Visto di conformità | Yes, applied by the CAF | Not provided in this form |
| Income you can declare | Limited to the categories allowed in the 730 | Any category, including those excluded from the 730 |
| Foreign assets | Since 2024 in the 730 quadro W, to be checked on the current year form | Quadro RW, the traditional place for foreign assets and investments |
| Deadline | The 730 deadline | A later deadline, in the autumn |
A practical rule: if your case is one the 730 accepts, the 730 without a withholding agent is almost always preferable, for the speed of the refund and for the visto di conformità. If you have income the 730 does not accept, the Redditi PF (the general income tax return) is not an alternative but an obligation.
06 · What you need
What to bring
The list is the one for the ordinary 730, with two additions that become decisive here.
- Every Certificazione Unica for the year, including those from short contracts.
- An IBAN already registered with the Agency, or your login details so we can register it together at the appointment.
- Documents showing the end of the employment, if needed to reconstruct the periods.
- Any benefits received while out of work, which count as income in every respect.
- All your deductible expenses for the year, as in an ordinary return.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
I found a new job in March. Can I still use this route?
If, when you file, you have an employer required to settle the balance, the correct route goes back to being the ordinary 730, with the result applied to your pay.
What counts is your situation when you file the return, not the one in the year the income refers to.
How long before I see the refund?
It depends on the amount and on the checks. Modest refunds follow ordinary processing; those above a certain threshold, or with inconsistencies, go through a preliminary check that can last several months.
Filing early with complete documents is the only way to shorten the wait.
What happens if I do not register my IBAN?
The refund is not paid into an account: the Agency issues a payment order that you collect some other way, with a noticeably longer wait and a few extra steps on your side.
Registering the IBAN in your personal area takes a few minutes and is the single thing that most affects how quickly the refund arrives.
Does it also apply to domestic workers and carers?
Yes, and it is one of the most common cases. A household employer does not have the status of withholding agent, so cannot carry out any settlement.
People working in this sector therefore file the 730 this way even when the employment is ongoing and fully regular.
Let's talk
Not sure this route applies to you?
All we need to know is what kind of work arrangement you had during the year and what you have now. Ten minutes is enough to see which return suits you.