Guessing the advance payments
Advance payments are calculated on the return, not on your bank statement. Paying less than is due results in penalties and interest; paying too much ties up cash until the following year.
VAT numbers · Income tax return
Income tax return in Turin (Redditi PF, formerly Unico)
The Redditi Persone Fisiche form (Redditi PF, the general income tax return for individuals), which many people still call Unico, is the income tax return for those with a partita IVA (Italian VAT number), income from shareholdings, assets abroad or a situation the 730 cannot accommodate. The practice prepares it, checks it with you and transmits it as an authorised intermediary.
01 · Who it is for
Who must file the income tax return with the Redditi PF form
Individuals have two forms available for their income tax return: the 730 and the Redditi Persone Fisiche. The 730 (the Italian tax return for employees and pensioners) is designed for employees and pensioners and has the advantage of settlement through your pay. The Redditi PF is the general form: it accepts every type of income and every situation, and it is the only one you can use when your position includes something the 730 does not provide for.
The most frequent case is the partita IVA. Anyone carrying on a business or a profession, under any accounting regime, declares that income in the Redditi PF: a professional under the ordinary or simplified regime in section RE, a sole trader in sections RF or RG, and anyone applying the regime forfettario (the flat-rate scheme) in section LM. The same applies to partners in partnerships, such as an snc or sas, who receive their share of the partnership's income on a look-through basis.
There are also situations that concern people without a partita IVA: a taxpayer who is not resident in Italy but earns income here, heirs who have to file the return on behalf of a family member who has died, people with financial capital gains or crypto-assets to declare together with other income the 730 cannot handle, and people who have to fill in specific sections, such as those for income subject to separate taxation or to a substitute tax.
- Holders of a partita IVA, whether under the flat-rate scheme or keeping simplified or ordinary accounts
- Professionals registered with a professional body or with the INPS Gestione separata (the separate pension fund of INPS, the Italian social security institute)
- Sole traders, craftspeople and shopkeepers
- Partners in partnerships and collaborators in family businesses
- Non-resident taxpayers with income earned in Italy
- Heirs declaring the income of a person who has died
- People with assets abroad or crypto-assets in a more complex situation
- People who choose the Redditi over the 730, even if they could use either
Heirs cannot use the 730 to declare the income of a family member who has died: the Redditi PF is always used, signed by one of the heirs. For deaths occurring close to the deadlines, the law provides for an extension. If there is also a declaration of succession to file, it is worth coordinating the two procedures.
02 · The comparison
730 or Redditi PF: which income tax return applies to you
For an employee or pensioner with no other income the answer is almost always the 730 form: the refund arrives sooner and the settlement goes through your employer or pension provider. The Redditi PF becomes compulsory as soon as there is income the 730 does not provide for, and from then on it makes sense to look at your whole position, not one piece at a time.
In recent years the 730 has broadened: today it also accepts some financial income and part of the reporting of foreign assets, and anyone without a sostituto d'imposta (withholding agent) can file the 730 without an employer. The boundary between the two forms therefore shifts over time, and it has to be checked on the form for the year in which you file.
| Aspect | 730 form | Redditi PF |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it | Employees, pensioners, similar categories | All individuals, compulsory with a partita IVA |
| Business and self-employment income | Not accepted | Sections RE, RF, RG, LM |
| Refund | In your pay packet or pension slip | Through the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency) or offset through the F24 |
| Paying the taxes | Withheld by the withholding agent | Paid by you with the F24 form (the Italian tax payment form) |
| Partners in partnerships | Not accepted | Section RH |
| Non-residents | Not accepted | Accepted |
| Return for a deceased taxpayer | Not accepted | Filed by the heirs |
| Filing deadline | 30 September, unless extended | 31 October, unless extended |
If you have filed the 730 and realise you have income that form does not accept, you do not have to start again from scratch: you file a Redditi PF that takes account of what you have already declared. The same form is used to correct a 730 after the deadline for the amended 730 has passed.
03 · How it is structured
The main sections of the Redditi PF
The form is divided into sections (quadri), each dedicated to a type of income or to part of the calculation. They are not all filled in: a normal return uses only a few, and the work lies precisely in choosing the right ones and making them fit together.
Some sections concern income, others expenses, and others the final calculation. The additional taxes, for example, are calculated in section RV based on your tax domicile: for people living in Turin, the Piedmont regional surcharge and the Turin municipal surcharge apply, with the rates and any exemption thresholds adopted for the tax year.
| Section | What it contains | Who usually fills it in |
|---|---|---|
| RN | Calculation of IRPEF (Italian personal income tax): total income, deductions, credits, tax due | Everyone |
| RV | Regional and municipal IRPEF surcharges | Almost everyone, based on tax domicile |
| RP | Expenses deductible from tax or from income: medical, mortgage, building work, pensions | Anyone with expenses to recover |
| RB | Income from buildings, including rents and the cedolare secca (flat tax on rental income) | Property owners |
| RE | Professional self-employment income under the ordinary or simplified regime | Professionals not on the flat-rate scheme |
| LM | Flat-rate scheme income and substitute tax | VAT numbers on the flat-rate scheme |
| RH | Income from shareholdings in partnerships and professional associations | Partners in an snc, sas or associated practice |
| RL | Other income: capital income, miscellaneous income, occasional self-employment | People with non-habitual income |
| RM | Income subject to separate taxation or to a substitute tax | Specific cases, including foreign income |
| RT | Financial capital gains, including crypto-assets | People who have sold securities, shares or crypto |
| RW | Reporting of foreign assets, IVIE and IVAFE | People with accounts, property or investments abroad |
| RR | Social security contributions for craftspeople, shopkeepers and the Gestione separata | VAT numbers registered with INPS |
Section RW is easily forgotten because it often generates no tax: it is used to declare that an account, a property or a crypto-asset portfolio exists. Omitting it, however, is penalised even when there is nothing to pay. For the related wealth taxes, you will find the detail on the page on IVIE and IVAFE.
04 · Preparation
The documents for your income tax return
When your appointment is confirmed, you receive a checklist built around your situation. For those whose partita IVA is managed by the practice, much of the data is already on file; for those coming from another professional, a few more documents are needed in the first year.
- Identity document and codice fiscale (Italian tax code) of the taxpayer and of dependent family members
- The previous year's return with the filing receipts
- Certificazioni Uniche (annual income statements) received during the year, including for fees subject to withholding tax
- Invoices issued and received or the accounting summary, for those with a partita IVA
- F24 forms paid during the year: advance payments, balance, contributions, any offsets
- Social security statements and contributions paid to professional funds or to INPS
- Land registry data for properties and registered rental contracts
- Statements from foreign intermediaries, account and portfolio statements as at 31 December
- Reports from crypto-asset platforms with the values and transactions for the year
- The partnership's statement showing the share of income allocated, for partners
- Deductible expenses: medical, mortgage interest, building work, supplementary pension
- For heirs: death certificate, the heirs' details, the deceased person's documents for the year
The first year with the practice
If you are coming from another professional, the previous year's return is the most useful document of all: it contains the multi-year deduction instalments, any credits to carry forward, the advance payments calculated and any losses still usable.
- Ask for the complete copy, not just the front page
- Get hold of the transmission receipts
- Collect the F24 forms paid during the year, including advance payments
05 · The procedure
How the process works at the practice in Turin
The process is the same for a pensioner with a property abroad and for a professional on the flat-rate scheme. What changes is the amount of work, not the order of the steps.
First contact
You describe your situation and receive the checklist and the fee before we begin.
Collection and checks
The documents are checked and compared with the pre-filled return and with the previous return.
Calculation and explanation
The result is explained to you: taxes, contributions, advance payments, credits, with the F24 forms already prepared.
Filing and receipts
The practice transmits the return as an authorised intermediary and gives you a copy and the receipt.
The Redditi PF does not go through your employer: you pay any tax due yourself with the F24 form, and you claim credits as a refund or use them to offset other payments. If you have never filled one in, the page on how to pay the F24 explains the steps. Offsetting credits above the legal thresholds requires the visto di conformità (the compliance certification on the return).
06 · Calendar
Income tax return deadlines
The Redditi PF has two separate calendars: one for payments and one for filing. You pay before you file, and this surprises many people coming from the 730.
- 30 JuneBalance and first advance paymentPayment by F24 of the balance for the tax year and of the first advance payment for the current year, together with the contributions due
- 30 JulyPayment with surchargeThe same amounts can be paid within the following thirty days with a surcharge of 0.40%
- From JuneInstalmentsThe balance and first advance payment can be split into monthly instalments, with interest, within the limits set by law
- 31 OctoberElectronic filingDeadline for transmitting the return, unless extended for the current year
- 30 NovemberSecond advance paymentPayment by F24 of the second IRPEF advance and, where due, the advances on contributions and substitute taxes
- Within 90 daysLate returnFiled within ninety days of the deadline, it is still valid, with a reduced penalty to settle
The dates shown are the ordinary ones. Each year they may change because of extensions, deadlines falling on a Saturday or Sunday, or special rules for certain categories, such as ISA taxpayers (those subject to the tax reliability indicators) and those on the flat-rate scheme. The calendar for the year in which you file is always what counts, and you will find it kept up to date in the practice's guide to tax deadlines.
07 · To avoid
The mistakes that come back every year
Forgetting section RW
An online account opened abroad, a crypto portfolio on a foreign platform, a property inherited outside Italy: they must be declared even if they produce no income.
Not carrying credits forward
A credit from the previous year that was not used for offsetting and not carried forward in the return is hard to recover. Continuity from one year to the next matters.
Overlooking contributions
For craftspeople, shopkeepers and those registered with the Gestione separata, the return also calculates contributions. A mistake in section RR carries through into the following payments.
Using the 730 when you cannot
If you opened a partita IVA during the year or have income from partnerships, you cannot file the 730. A return on the wrong form then has to be corrected.
Waiting until October
The filing deadline is at the end of October, but the balance and first advance payment are paid in June or July. People who put off the return often pay anyway without knowing how much they owe.
08 · The fee
How much it costs and what it depends on
The fee is disclosed before the work begins, as required for professional services. I do not publish a price list because two returns on the same form can involve very different amounts of work: a Redditi PF with a single property abroad cannot be compared with that of a professional keeping simplified accounts, with partners, collaborators and capital goods.
The variables that affect it are concrete and are clarified at the first contact: whether there is a partita IVA and which regime applies, the number of sections to fill in, the amount of foreign assets and crypto-asset transactions, the need to reconstruct data from previous years, and whether there are credits to offset with the visto di conformità.
For those whose partita IVA is managed by the practice, the annual return is part of the whole year's work and is agreed together with the rest of the services. People who come back in later years have shorter timescales, because their history, remaining instalments and open positions are already on file.
What is included
- Checking the documents and comparing them with the pre-filled return
- Filling in the sections your situation requires
- Calculating taxes, contributions, advance payments and credits
- Preparing the F24 forms with the deadlines shown
- Electronic filing as an authorised intermediary
- A copy of the return and the filing receipt
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
What was the Unico form?
Unico was the name of the form that, until a few years ago, combined the income tax return and other tax returns, such as the VAT return, in a single document. Since 2017 the VAT return has been filed separately and the form for individuals has been called Redditi Persone Fisiche.
In practice people still talk about Unico, and the content of the income section has stayed very similar: what changes from year to year is the name, the way the booklets are organised and some of the rules.
Can I switch from the 730 to the Redditi PF?
Yes. Anyone can file the Redditi PF instead of the 730, even if they meet the requirements for the 730. You do lose the advantage of a refund through your pay, though: with the Redditi, any credit is claimed from the Agenzia delle Entrate or used to offset other payments.
Switching becomes compulsory when there is income the 730 does not accept. If you have already filed the 730 and realise you need the Redditi, you file the latter taking account of what you have already declared.
Do people with a flat-rate partita IVA have to file the Redditi PF?
Yes. The flat-rate scheme simplifies bookkeeping and VAT, but not the income tax return: the year's revenue or fees are entered in section LM, where the substitute tax is calculated, and social security contributions are handled in the related sections.
The flat-rate scheme is excluded from the ISA (the tax reliability indicators), so you do not fill in the related forms. If you also have employment income in the same year, that goes into the same return too.
What happens if I file the return late?
If you file it within ninety days of the deadline it is considered late but valid: a penalty applies, which can be reduced through ravvedimento operoso (voluntary correction), on top of whatever is due for any payments not made on time.
After ninety days the return is treated as not filed, with much heavier consequences. If, on the other hand, you filed it on time but with a mistake, it is corrected with an amended tax return.
Does the CAF prepare the Redditi PF?
It depends on the situation. For those without business or self-employment income, the return can be prepared as part of the tax assistance provided by CAF CGN (a CAF is an authorised tax assistance centre), for which the practice is a Centro Raccolta Dati (data collection centre).
For VAT numbers and for positions that require professional work, the practice prepares and transmits the return as an authorised intermediary. In both cases your point of contact is the same, and at the first contact you are told which route applies.
I live abroad but have a home in Turin: do I have to file a return?
Often, yes. Non-residents declare in Italy the income earned in Italy, such as income from a rented property, and must use the Redditi PF because the 730 is not allowed.
First, though, your tax residence needs to be clarified, which does not depend only on registration with AIRE (the register of Italians resident abroad), together with any double taxation treaty between Italy and the country where you live.
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A tax return you understand before you sign it
You bring the documents, you receive the calculation explained line by line and the F24 payment forms with the deadlines already shown. You know the fee before we begin.