Check the substance
Cadastral income, share, months of ownership, rate applied: errors in municipal notices are not rare.
Property · Remedies
Late, missed or underpaid IMU
It happens more often than you would think: a missed instalment, an inherited property nobody looked after, the wrong rate. Until an assessment arrives there is a way out, and it costs a fraction.
01 · The cases
Situations where unpaid IMU needs regularising
Ravvedimento (voluntary correction with reduced penalties) is needed whenever IMU (the Italian municipal property tax) was not paid, was underpaid or was paid with the wrong details. It is possible as long as the Comune (the municipality) has not served a notice of assessment.
- Missed instalment: the June advance or the December balance not paid, through oversight or a mix-up over dates.
- Underpayment: wrong rate, wrong coefficient, cadastral income not updated.
- A property never declared: typical of inheritances, gifts and estates that nobody followed up.
- Loss of the conditions for an exemption or reduction not reported: comodato (free loan of a home to a relative), main residence, property let at an agreed rent (canone concordato).
- Wrong municipality code or wrong reference year in the F24 (the Italian tax payment form).
- Missing IMU return, where one was due: it carries a penalty of its own.
A mistake in the municipality's cadastral code or the reference year is not a failure to pay: the money was paid, but allocated elsewhere. It is corrected with an application for amendment, with no penalties, and does not require a new payment. It is worth checking before you pay twice.
02 · What it costs
How the voluntary correction is calculated
You pay the tax due, a reduced penalty that depends on the delay, and statutory interest calculated day by day.
- Statutory interest is calculated at the rate in force in each period, day by day.
- When the delay spans several years, the different rates for each year apply.
- Voluntary correction is only possible before a notice of assessment is served.
- Some municipal regulations set minimum thresholds below which no payment is due.
- The correction is complete once tax, penalty and interest have been paid in full.
| Delay | Reduction of the penalty |
|---|---|
| Within a few days of the deadline | The largest: an almost token penalty |
| Within thirty days | A very large reduction |
| Within ninety days | A large reduction |
| Within one year | A mid-range reduction |
| Within two years | A smaller reduction |
| Beyond two years | The most limited reduction, but still worthwhile |
03 · The form
How to fill in the F24
Payment is made with the F24 form, in the section for IMU and other local taxes, with a few particular features.
The tax codes
You use the same codes as for the ordinary payment, which differ by type of property and by recipient, the Comune or the State.
The reference year
This is the tax year the debt relates to, not the year in which you pay. It is the most frequent mistake.
The ravvedimento box
It has to be ticked: it identifies the payment as a voluntary correction.
Penalty and interest
In the IMU section they are added to the tax under the same tax code, unlike what happens for national taxes.
What we need for the calculation
With these details the calculation is immediate.
- Land registry extract (visura catastale) with the cadastral income and category of each property
- Your ownership share and the months of ownership in the year
- The Comune's resolution setting the rates for that year
- Copies of any F24 forms already paid
04 · The other obligation
The missing IMU return
It is an obligation separate from payment, with its own penalty. Not everyone has to file it, but anyone who should have and did not has an open position even if they paid everything.
- It has to be filed when there are changes that cannot be derived from the Comune's databases.
- It is required for cases that give the right to reductions: comodato, uninhabitable buildings, buildings of historic interest.
- It is needed for properties bought or sold when the deed does not pass through the online channels that feed the databases.
- The automatic voltura catastale (land registry transfer) from notarial deeds covers many situations: see land registry transfer.
- Failing to file carries a separate penalty, which can also be corrected voluntarily.
- The filing deadline is annual and refers to the year in which the change took place.
If you obtained the reduction for comodato without filing the IMU return, your position is fragile: the benefit can be refused even if all the other conditions were met. In that case the return is a condition of the entitlement.
05 · Too late
What to do if a notice of assessment arrives
Once a notice of assessment has been served, voluntary correction is no longer available, but that does not remove all room for manoeuvre.
Check the service
Time limits and whether the notice was properly served are the first things to check.
Acceptance
Paying within the deadline for an appeal usually brings a reduction in penalties.
Self-correction by the Comune
For obvious errors you ask for the notice to be cancelled through autotutela (self-correction by the authority), without waiting for an appeal.
Instalments
Almost all municipal regulations allow them on application, with set criteria and a set number of instalments.
Appeal
A short, strict deadline from service. See tax notices and payment demands.
06 · Prevention
How to stop it happening again
Almost all irregular positions come from the same three causes, and all three are easy to prevent.
- Update your list of properties after every inheritance, gift or purchase: that is where forgotten properties come from.
- Check the Comune's resolutions every year: rates change and the Comune does not tell you.
- Report changes of use: a property that stops being your main residence is treated differently from the following month.
- Check the shares after an inheritance: joint inherited ownership creates obligations for each heir in proportion to their share.
- Keep the payment receipts together with the land registry extracts.
- Clients of the practice receive the calculation and the form before each deadline, without having to think about it.
By far the most frequent cause is still the inherited property: the heirs file the declaration of succession, the land registry transfer goes through, but nobody puts IMU in the diary. Three or four years go by and an assessment arrives, for a property that often is not even used.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
I forgot the June advance payment. How much will it cost to put right?
Very little if you act straight away: within a few days of the deadline the reduced penalty is almost token, and statutory interest over a few days is negligible.
The reduction in the penalty falls in steps as time passes, so the cost rises, but it always stays below the cost of an assessment. It is not worth waiting for the December balance to sort out the advance.
I inherited a house and have never paid IMU. What should I do?
The position is rebuilt year by year (ownership share, months, the rates set by the Comune in each year) and the years still open are corrected voluntarily.
You also need to check whether the IMU return was due, since it carries a separate penalty. This is a very common situation among co-heirs and it can be sorted out, provided an assessment has not already arrived.
I paid but used the wrong municipality code.
It is not a failure to pay: the money was paid but allocated to the wrong Comune. You file an application for transfer or amendment with the municipalities concerned.
No penalties and no new payment are needed, but the application does have to be made: until it is sorted out, the correct Comune shows you as not having paid.
I have received an assessment. Can I still correct voluntarily?
No, once the notice is served, voluntary correction is ruled out. Other routes remain, though: autotutela for obvious errors, acceptance with reduced penalties, instalments, an appeal.
The first step is always to check the substance of the notice: cadastral income, share, months and rate. Errors in municipal assessments are more frequent than people think.
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The sooner you put it right, the less it costs. That is arithmetic, not a figure of speech
The penalty rises in steps as the delay grows. Bring us the land registry extracts and the calculation is done in one meeting.