Registration Tax (ital.: Imposta di registro)

Q: Registration Tax (ital.: Imposta di registro)

Registration tax ( Imposta di Registro ) is a central tax in Italy that is levied on the registration of certain legal acts. Contracts, deeds, minutes and agreements generally only become fully legally valid once they have been registered with the Revenue Agency, which issues an officially certified date certificate ( data certa ). The amount of registration tax depends on the type of document. For many civil law documents – such as rental agreements, minutes of shareholders’ meetings, agreements between parties or declarations with external effect – the tax is levied as a fixed amount of currently €200, provided that there are no value-dependent elements. If, on the other hand, an economic value is transferred or determined, the calculation is made on a proportional basis. In the case of real estate purchase agreements, the assessment basis is usually the cadastral value ( valore catastale ). The tax rates are generally 2 % for the purchase of a first home and 9 % for other properties, provided that the seller is a private individual. If the seller is a company or a property developer, the purchase may be subject to VAT instead of registration tax. In this case, only fixed amounts of €200 each are usually payable for registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes.

Question

Accepted Answer

Registration tax (Imposta di Registro) is a central tax in Italy that is levied on the registration of certain legal acts. Contracts, deeds, minutes and agreements generally only become fully legally valid once they have been registered with the Revenue Agency, which issues an officially certified date certificate (data certa).

The amount of registration tax depends on the type of document. For many civil law documents – such as rental agreements, minutes of shareholders’ meetings, agreements between parties or declarations with external effect – the tax is levied as a fixed amount of currently €200, provided that there are no value-dependent elements. If, on the other hand, an economic value is transferred or determined, the calculation is made on a proportional basis.

In the case of real estate purchase agreements, the assessment basis is usually the cadastral value (valore catastale). The tax rates are generally 2 % for the purchase of a first home and 9 % for other properties, provided that the seller is a private individual. If the seller is a company or a property developer, the purchase may be subject to VAT instead of registration tax. In this case, only fixed amounts of €200 each are usually payable for registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes.