IMU in Turin
Calculation, F24, municipal rates and the return.
Open30 September 2026 · IMU
IMU in Turin: the cases that raise most doubts
The general rule of IMU (the Italian municipal property tax) fits in one sentence: you pay it on the property you own, except your main home, if it is not a luxury one, and its appurtenances. The doubts start when real life does not match the rule: two spouses with two homes, a home given to a child, an inheritance, a separation. Here are the cases that come up most often.
01 · The starting point
The basic IMU rule, in brief
IMU is paid by whoever holds a property as owner or under another real right, such as usufruct or the right of habitation. The main home is exempt, meaning the one where the holder has their registered residence and habitual abode, provided it does not fall into the luxury cadastral categories, together with a limited number of appurtenances.
Payment is split into an advance and a balance, in June and December, at the rates set by the Comune di Torino (the City of Turin) for the current year. The step-by-step calculation, with the taxable base and the F24 (the tax payment form), is on the page about IMU in Turin. The cases below are the ones where applying the rule needs a check.
02 · First case
Spouses with different residences
For years the rule was that a household could have only one exempt main home. Following a 2022 ruling of the Constitutional Court, the exemption is tied to the individual holder: if each spouse genuinely has their residence and habitual abode in a different home, each can treat their own as the main home.
The key word is genuinely. Separate registered residences that do not reflect separate lives are not enough, and the Comune can check, for example through utility consumption. If the situation is real, it is wise to keep the documents that prove it.
03 · Second case
Garages, cellars and lofts: how many appurtenances are exempt
Together with the main home, appurtenances are exempt up to a maximum of one for each cadastral category: C/2 (cellars and lofts), C/6 (garages and parking spaces) and C/7 (open-sided shelters). What counts is the category, not the distance or the use.
Example. You own the flat you live in, a cellar and two garages. The cellar and one of the two garages are exempt; the second garage pays IMU like any property other than the main home. If the cellar were registered in the land registry together with the flat, as part of the same unit, it would already count with it, and a space registered separately as C/2 would be the second appurtenance in that category.
04 · Third case
A home lent free of charge to a child or to parents
Letting a child use a home free of charge does not turn it into the main home of the person who owns it: IMU is still due. There is, however, a 50% reduction of the taxable base when the free loan (comodato) is between parents and children and all the conditions set by law are met.
The conditions are strict: a registered free-loan contract, use as a main home by the borrower, limits on the number of homes owned by the lender and on where they are located, and exclusion of the luxury categories. If just one is missing, the reduction is lost. The details are on the page about the free loan of property (comodato d'uso gratuito).
05 · Fourth case
A home let under an agreed-rent contract
If you let a property under an agreed-rent contract (canone concordato), drawn up according to Turin's local agreements, you are entitled to IMU reduced to 75% of what you would pay at the rate set by the Comune. It is one of the reliefs most often forgotten, because the owner has to apply it when calculating their own payment.
Example with round, purely illustrative figures: if the IMU calculated at the municipal rate came to €1,000 a year, with the agreed rent you would pay €750. The contract must meet the requirements of the local agreement, and in some cases a certificate of compliance is needed. The page on the agreed-rent contract covers it.
06 · Fifth case
Inherited property: who pays and from when
When the succession opens, the heirs become holders pro rata, and each owes IMU in proportion to their share and to the months of ownership, from the date of death. There is no need to wait for the inheritance tax return or for the transfer in the land registry.
There is an important exception: the surviving spouse is entitled by law to the right of habitation in the family home. In that case the spouse is the person liable for IMU, and if the home is their main home and not a luxury one, the tax is not due; the children, although they are heirs, do not pay it on that property. For the related formalities there is the page on the inheritance tax return.
07 · Sixth case
Separation: the home assigned to one spouse
When the court assigns the family home to one of the spouses, usually the one the children live with, the assigned spouse becomes the person liable for IMU, even if the property belongs to the other spouse or to both. For the assigned spouse that home is the main home, and if it is not a luxury one, no tax is paid.
The spouse who has left the home does not pay IMU on that property, but will need to look at their own position for the new home. This is a case where the court order assigning the home should be kept and, if necessary, reported in the IMU return.
08 · Seventh case
Buildings unfit for use or for habitation
For buildings declared unfit for use or uninhabitable, and actually not in use, the taxable base is cut by 50% for the period in which those conditions exist. It is not enough for the home to be old or in need of renovation: there must be structural decay that cannot be remedied by ordinary or extraordinary maintenance.
The unfitness must be established by the municipal technical office or stated in a self-certification, according to the Comune's rules. Without this step the reduction does not apply, even if the property is actually empty.
09 · Putting it right
If you realise you paid the wrong IMU
If you paid less than you owed, for example because you treated the second garage as exempt, you can put it right with the ravvedimento operoso (voluntary correction), paying the tax with reduced penalties and interest: the sooner you act, the lower the penalty. The page on unpaid IMU explains how it is calculated.
If instead you paid more than you owed, because you did not apply a reduction you were entitled to, you can ask the Comune for a refund within the set time limits. To go over the full calculation and the year's deadlines, go back to the guide to IMU in Turin.
Rates, municipal reductions and how to file the return are always checked against the resolution of the Comune di Torino and the rules for the current year. The examples are simplified.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
Do I have to file an IMU return?
Only in some cases: when the changes are not already shown in the land registry data or in notarial deeds, or when reductions and reliefs apply that the Comune cannot otherwise know about, such as certain free-loan situations or the assignment of the home. It has to be assessed case by case.
Who pays IMU, the usufructuary or the bare owner?
The usufructuary. The bare owner does not have to pay as long as the usufruct lasts. If the property is the usufructuary's main home and not a luxury one, the tax is not due.
If I sell my home halfway through the year, do I pay IMU for the whole year?
No: the tax is split between seller and buyer according to the months of ownership, following the calculation rules provided. Each pays their own part, for the portion of the year in which they held the property.
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