Buying
Registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes, calculated differently depending on whether you buy from a private seller or a business, and on whether main-residence relief applies.
English desk · Property
Property taxes in Italy
If you own a flat in Italy, two separate things happen every year: a local tax on the property itself, and income tax on what the property earns or is deemed to earn. They follow different rules, different deadlines and different authorities.
01 · The structure
Property taxes in Italy: two different charges on the same flat
Italian property taxation splits in two, and confusing them is the single most common source of trouble for foreign owners.
IMU is a municipal tax on ownership. It is due because you own the property, whatever you do with it, and it is paid to the Comune where the property sits: in this case Turin, or whichever municipality applies.
Income tax is due on what the property produces. If it is rented, on the rent. If it is empty, on a notional income derived from the cadastral value. It is paid to the State, through the annual tax return.
| IMU | Income tax | |
|---|---|---|
| Paid to | The municipality where the property is | The State, via the tax return |
| Triggered by | Ownership or a real right of enjoyment | Income, actual or deemed |
| Main residence | Generally exempt, except luxury categories | Deduction that neutralises the notional income |
| Second home | Due | Due, on the notional income increased as provided |
| Rented out | Due | Due, on the rent |
| Deadlines | Advance in June, balance in December | The tax return cycle, in summer and autumn |
| Who calculates it | You do: no bill is sent | You do, through the return |
Nobody sends you an IMU bill. Italy works on self-assessment: you calculate, you pay, and if you do not, the municipality notices some years later and asks for the tax plus penalties and interest. There is no reminder in between.
02 · The municipal tax
How IMU works
The taxable base starts from the cadastral income shown on the property record, not from the market value and not from what you paid. That figure is revalued and multiplied by a coefficient that depends on the cadastral category.
The rate is then set by each municipality within a statutory range, which is why the same property produces different amounts in Turin and in a neighbouring town.
- Main residence: generally exempt, unless the property falls into a category treated as luxury. The exemption requires both residence and habitual abode, not just one of them.
- Second homes and properties at your disposal: fully due.
- Rented properties: due, sometimes at a reduced rate where a controlled-rent agreement applies.
- Building land: due, on the market value rather than the cadastral one.
- Co-ownership: each owner pays their own share, separately, using their own tax code.
- Non-resident owners: due in the same way. Being abroad changes nothing about the obligation.
The two payments are an advance in June and a balance in December. If ownership changed during the year, the tax is split by months, and the month counts for whoever held the property for more than half of it.
03 · Rental income
If you rent the property out
Rental income can be taxed in two ways, and the choice is made when the contract is registered or renewed. It is worth understanding before signing, because it is not freely reversible mid-stream.
Ordinary taxation
The rent, reduced by a flat statutory allowance, joins your other income and is taxed at progressive rates. Registration tax and stamp duty are due on the contract.
Cedolare secca
A substitute flat tax on the gross rent, which replaces income tax, surtaxes, registration tax and stamp duty. In exchange you give up the right to increase the rent for the duration.
Which one wins
Cedolare secca is usually better for anyone with other income, because it keeps the rent out of the progressive brackets entirely.
Registration
Contracts above thirty days must be registered with the Revenue Agency within a set deadline. An unregistered lease is void and exposes the landlord to significant consequences.
Short lets
Renting to tourists is not simply a shorter lease.
- Contracts up to thirty days need no registration, but everything else still applies
- The property must carry the national identification code, displayed in listings
- Guest details go to the police authority within hours of arrival
- Turin charges a tourist tax per guest per night, which you collect and remit
04 · The surprise
A property that earns nothing still costs
This catches almost every foreign owner at least once. An Italian flat kept empty (for holidays, for a future move, inherited and not yet decided upon) is not fiscally neutral.
- IMU is due in full, because the tax follows ownership, not use.
- A notional income based on the cadastral value must be declared, increased by a statutory percentage for properties kept at the owner's disposal.
- The property must be reported in the tax return every single year, even when nothing has happened to it.
- If you are not resident in Italy but own property here, you generally have an Italian filing obligation for that reason alone.
- Non-resident owners keep the obligation to appoint someone able to receive communications, and to keep the cadastral records aligned.
The most frequent case in my experience is an inherited share of a flat, held jointly with siblings, never declared by anyone because each assumed another had dealt with it. It surfaces years later, with interest.
05 · Transactions
When you buy, and when you sell
Both ends of the transaction carry their own tax treatment, and both are decided at the notary, often in a few minutes, without going back.
Main-residence relief
Substantially reduces the taxes due on purchase, but comes with conditions: residence in the municipality within a set period, and no other relieved property.
Selling within five years
A capital gain may be taxable, unless the property was your main home for most of the holding period, or came to you through inheritance.
Selling after five years
No taxable capital gain on buildings, whatever the profit.
Inherited property
Never generates a taxable capital gain on sale, regardless of timing.
The substitute tax
Where a gain is taxable, a flat substitute tax can be elected at the deed. That election cannot be made afterwards.
06 · Practically
What this looks like in practice
The practice is in Turin, not open to the public, and works by appointment: in person, by phone or by video call, in English.
- A full picture of what you own, from the cadastral records: it is common to discover shares nobody knew about.
- IMU calculated and paid, with the payment forms prepared and a reminder before each deadline.
- The annual return filed with the property correctly declared, whether rented or empty.
- Lease registration and the choice between ordinary taxation and cedolare secca, run on your actual numbers.
- Past years regularised where something was missed, through voluntary correction, which costs a fraction of waiting for an assessment.
- Everything explained in English, including what the Italian documents actually say.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
I live abroad. Do I still have to file in Italy?
If you own property in Italy, in most cases yes. Ownership generates either rental income or a notional income, and both are declared in Italy because the property is here.
Your country of residence may also tax the same income, with relief under the double taxation treaty. The two filings are separate and both usually have to happen.
Nobody has ever sent me an IMU bill. Is it due anyway?
Yes. IMU is self-assessed: no bill is issued, and the absence of one is not evidence that nothing is owed.
This is the single most common reason foreign owners end up with an assessment several years later, for an amount much larger than the original tax.
Is cedolare secca always better?
Usually, but not always. It taxes the gross rent with no deduction for costs, so it loses appeal if your other income is very low and the progressive rates would be gentler.
It also freezes the rent for the duration of the option, which matters on a long lease. The comparison takes ten minutes with your numbers in front of us.
I inherited a share of a flat years ago and never declared it. What now?
It is fixable, and the sooner the better. Voluntary correction lets you file the missing years with substantially reduced penalties, provided the authorities have not already opened a check.
The first step is simply a cadastral search to establish exactly what you hold and since when. That takes minutes.
From the blog
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IMU in Turin: the cases that raise most doubts
Spouses with two residences, the second garage, the home lent to a child, the inherited property, the home assigned after a separation: the IMU cases that raise the most questions and how to read them.
Read the article
Let's talk
Owning without filing is where the trouble starts
Most of the assessments I see are not about avoidance. They are about a flat nobody declared because nobody explained it had to be.