Opening a VAT number in Turin
The positions that are opened, and later have to be closed.
OpenVAT numbers · Closure
Closing a VAT number in Italy
Closing costs less than opening, but it has to be done in full: the partita IVA (Italian VAT number) is only one of the positions you opened, and the ones left behind keep generating contributions and penalties for years without anyone noticing.
01 · The timing
When a VAT number has to be closed
The closure must be notified when the activity really ends. It is not a question of convenience: it is an obligation with a deadline, and the deadline runs from the date the activity actually ceased, not from when you make up your mind.
- You have stopped working and do not expect to start again.
- You have found a job as an employee and the self-employed activity has run its course.
- You have transferred the activity into a company: the individual position must be closed.
- You have sold the business: the seller closes, the buyer opens their own.
- Moving abroad and losing Italian tax residence.
You do not need to close if you simply do not invoice for a few months. A partita IVA that is inactive but still exists is perfectly legitimate: what is not legitimate is leaving it open after the activity has ended for good. The difference lies in whether you intend to start again, and that has to be assessed honestly.
02 · The positions
Closing the VAT number alone is not enough
It is the mistake I see most often. The partita IVA is only one of the positions opened at the start, and the others do not close by themselves.
| Position | Where it is closed | If it stays open |
|---|---|---|
| Partita IVA | Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency) | The filing obligation continues |
| Artisans or traders fund | INPS (the Italian social security institute), deregistration request | Fixed contributions keep building up |
| Gestione Separata (the INPS fund for freelancers) | INPS | No contributions if there is no income, but the position stays open |
| Registro Imprese (Companies Register) | Chamber of Commerce | The annual fee is due every year |
| Albo artigiani (Artisans' Register) | Chamber of Commerce | The registration remains |
| INAIL (workplace accident insurance) | INAIL | The insurance premium carries on |
| SCIA or licences | Comune (the municipality) | An active permit for a business that no longer exists |
| PEC (certified email) | Provider | Official notices sent to a mailbox nobody checks |
The correct sequence starts at the Chamber of Commerce, where the Comunicazione Unica (single filing) passes the closure on to several bodies at once. People who start with the Revenue Agency often stop there and leave everything else behind.
03 · The procedure
The procedure, step by step
It changes depending on whether or not you are registered with the Registro Imprese, and the difference is not just a formality.
Businesses on the Register
You use the Comunicazione Unica, which with a single submission notifies the closure to the Agenzia delle Entrate, the Chamber of Commerce, INPS and INAIL.
Professionals not on the Register
You file the closure form with the Agenzia delle Entrate and, separately, the deregistration from your social security fund.
The deadline
Thirty days from the actual end of the activity. After that a penalty applies, which can be reduced with ravvedimento (voluntary correction).
Confirmation
Keep the receipt from each body: it is the only proof of the closing date if a request arrives later on.
The closing date
Choose it carefully, because it affects everything else.
- Fixed contributions build up until that date, scaled to the months
- The Chamber of Commerce fee is due for the year in which the closure takes place
- Invoices issued after that date are a problem, not an oversight
- Backdating it to save on contributions is a false declaration
04 · Loose ends
What to sort out before closing
Some things become much harder after the closure. It is worth looking at them while the position is still open.
- Invoices still to issue: everything already carried out must be invoiced beforehand, because once the number is closed you can no longer issue invoices.
- Payments still to collect: collecting after the closure is possible, but the taxation follows its own rules and has to be set up in advance.
- Remaining VAT credit: you need to decide whether to claim a refund. Closure is one of the cases that allows it, but the claim must be made within the deadlines.
- Business assets: taking assets still in use for personal use is a transaction relevant for VAT and has to be handled.
- Adjustment of the VAT deduction on depreciable assets bought in previous years.
- Stock in hand, if any: what happens to it must be documented.
05 · What remains
What you still owe afterwards
Closing does not wipe out the past: the obligations for the period when you were active remain, and must be met by the ordinary deadlines of the following year.
- Income tax return for the last year of activity, filed the year after by the ordinary deadlines.
- VAT return for the last year, dealing with any remaining credit.
- Balance and advance payments of taxes and contributions built up until the closure.
- Keeping your records until the assessment deadlines expire: invoices, ledgers and receipts must not be thrown away.
- Tax assessments: the authorities can check the years still open even after the closure.
If you close partway through the year, the following year you still face the June and November deadlines for the balance and advance payments relating to the period you worked. It is the most common surprise for people who thought they had finished.
06 · If you change your mind
Reopening after closing
You can, with no time limit, but it is not entirely neutral.
- You open a new partita IVA, with a different number: the old one is not reactivated.
- The flat-rate scheme with the reduced rate for new activities requires the activity to be genuinely new: reopening the same activity you closed shortly before does not meet the requirement.
- The social security and Chamber of Commerce positions must be reopened too, with their start-up costs.
- If the closure was recent, it is worth asking whether it would have been cheaper not to close at all: an inactive partita IVA in the Gestione Separata costs nothing in contributions.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
I have not invoiced for a year. Do I have to close?
Not necessarily. Temporary inactivity does not oblige you to close: what matters is whether the activity has ended for good or whether you expect to start again.
The sums still need doing, though: if you are in the artisans or traders fund, fixed contributions build up regardless and a year of inactivity costs money. In the Gestione Separata, on the other hand, with no income there is no contribution, and keeping the position open costs nothing.
Can the Revenue Agency close it for me?
Yes. Where there are signs that the activity has ceased (no transactions and no returns for several years), the Agency can close the number on its own initiative.
That is not good news: it happens later, often together with a notice for the missed obligations, and it does not cancel anything that has built up in the meantime.
How much does closing cost?
The notice to the Agenzia delle Entrate is free. Businesses on the Registro Imprese pay administrative fees and stamp duty for the Chamber of Commerce procedure, both modest amounts.
The real cost, when there is one, comes from the loose ends to sort out beforehand: VAT credit to reclaim, assets taken for personal use, adjustments. Those are the items that make it worth looking ahead.
Can I close if I have outstanding tax debts?
Yes, having debts does not prevent the closure. The debts remain due and collection carries on as normal.
If you are paying in instalments, the plan continues. Stopping the payments because "I have closed anyway" makes you lose the benefit and brings the whole amount back.
Let's talk
A position left open does not know it has stopped
It keeps generating fixed contributions and Chamber of Commerce fees. Closing everything together costs one procedure; finding out three years later costs a great deal more.