Comune di Torino
Nursery and school fees, canteen, school transport and educational services, set in bands.
English desk · Means test
ISEE in Turin: the number almost every Italian benefit runs on
If you have children in an Italian nursery or university, if you applied for the child allowance, if you are on a social housing list or hoping for a discount on your electricity bill, all of it is decided by one figure. Getting that figure right is worth more than most people realise.
01 · The mechanism
What it actually measures
ISEE stands for Indicatore della Situazione Economica Equivalente. It combines the income and the assets of everyone in your household, then divides the result by a scale that accounts for how many people that income has to support. Two families with identical salaries can end up with very different indicators if one has three children and the other none.
The declaration you sign to obtain it is called the DSU. Once submitted, INPS cross-checks it against the tax authority and the register of financial accounts, and issues the certificate.
That cross-check is the reason accuracy matters: the data is already known. A mismatch produces a certificate marked as non-compliant, which many public offices will refuse until it is corrected.
02 · Two years back
The reference year catches everyone out
The ISEE looks at income from two years before, and at assets as at 31 December of that same year. It is deliberately backward-looking, because those figures are verifiable. The consequence is that it describes a situation you may no longer be in.
| Item | Reference date | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Household composition | At the date of filing | This part is current, unlike the rest |
| Income | Two years back | It is the last definitively assessed year |
| Bank balances | 31 December, two years back | Balance and average balance, both required |
| Property | 31 December, two years back | Ownership at that date, even if since sold |
| Vehicles | At the date of filing | Current registration, not the reference year |
If your income has dropped since (you lost a job, your hours were cut, you closed a business), there is a separate instrument, the ISEE corrente, which recalculates the income part on the most recent months. It has its own requirements and a shorter validity, and it is worth asking about rather than accepting a figure that no longer reflects your life.
03 · What goes wrong
What foreign residents get wrong most often
Five errors account for almost every rejected or inflated declaration I see from clients who moved to Italy.
- Assets held abroad. A flat in your home country, a bank account you still hold there, a plot of land inherited from a relative: all of it goes into the DSU. It produces no income, but it is wealth, and wealth counts. Leaving it out makes the declaration untruthful, and benefits obtained on that basis can be revoked and recovered.
- Balance versus average balance. The form asks for two different numbers per account: the balance on 31 December and the average balance over the year. They are rarely the same, and the second does not appear on a statement; your bank issues it on request, and most publish it in online banking early in the year.
- Who counts as household. The ISEE household is not simply who sleeps in your flat. A spouse living at a different address usually still counts until there is a legal separation. An adult child living elsewhere may still be attracted into the parents' household in certain conditions.
- Property value. Italian property goes in at its IMU value, derived from the cadastral income, not at market price. Writing the market price penalises you, sometimes heavily.
- The mortgage. The capital still outstanding on your main home at 31 December is deducted from the property value. Forgetting it inflates the indicator for nothing.
Why omitting an account never works
Every financial relationship is already visible to INPS.
- Accounts appear in the register of financial relationships, opened or closed
- An account at zero balance still has to be declared
- A prepaid card with an IBAN is a financial relationship, not a gift card
- A child's savings book belongs to the household's assets
04 · Documents
What to bring for the ISEE in Turin
With everything in hand the DSU is completed in one sitting and the certificate arrives without annotations.
- Identity document and codice fiscale for every member of the household, children included.
- Balance and average balance for every account, card with IBAN, deposit account and postal book, as at 31 December two years ago.
- Cadastral details of any property owned, in Italy or abroad, and the outstanding mortgage capital.
- Registered lease, if you rent: it lowers the indicator and is often forgotten.
- Vehicle registration numbers for cars and motorcycles above a certain engine size.
- Disability certificates, where relevant, since they change the scale applied and open dedicated schemes.
- Documentation of any assets or accounts held outside Italy.
05 · The benefits
What the certificate is used for
Each scheme has its own thresholds, and some ask for a specific variant of the ISEE (the one for study grants, or the one for socio-health services), so it is worth checking the call for applications before requesting the wrong one.
University
Tuition bands, exemptions and study grants, through the dedicated variant of the certificate.
Assegno Unico
The child allowance. Without a valid ISEE it is paid at the minimum rate, and the annual difference is substantial.
Utility bonuses
Electricity, gas and water discounts, applied automatically in the bill with no application needed.
Housing
Social housing lists and rent contribution schemes, each with its own window.
Home care
Domiciliary and residential services, through the socio-health variant of the certificate.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
I arrived in Italy last year. Can I even get one?
Yes. The declaration covers your situation wherever the income and assets were located. If two years ago you were living and earning abroad, that is what goes in, converted and documented.
It is more work than a purely Italian household, but it is entirely ordinary and it is done regularly.
Does the ISEE expire?
The ordinary one runs until the end of the calendar year and then has to be renewed.
Renew it early in the year: many schemes have windows, an expired indicator means an application on hold, and the utility bonuses restart only from the date the new declaration is filed.
My partner and I are not married. Are we one household?
It depends on residence and on whether you have children together. It is one of the points that changes the result most.
It is worth establishing correctly rather than assuming, because getting it wrong in either direction produces a certificate that does not survive the cross-check.
Can this be done remotely?
The preparation and review, yes. Documents travel online and the appointment can be a video call.
Some CAF procedures still require you in person, and you will be told in advance if yours is one of them.
From the blog
Articles that go deeper into this page
ISEE in Turin: what to prepare in January
The ISEE expires on 31 December and is renewed from January. Which years of income and assets it looks at, which documents each household member needs and why it pays to ask for the balance and the average balance straight away.
Read the articleFive common ISEE mistakes in Turin, and how to avoid them
Average balance confused with the year-end balance, an adult child left in the wrong household, the home you own declared at market value. Mistakes that shift the indicator by thousands of euros.
Read the article
Let's talk
With everything in hand, it is done in one sitting
You will get the document list before the appointment, filtered on your household, so the certificate arrives without annotations.