Property Purchase Process in Italy  | [ Download document in PDF ]

For many of our clients this has been one of the best decisions of their life. People buying the holiday home see a huge lifestyle benefit and they often become so comfortable in the area that they later decide to retire there. They usually also see it increase enormously in value over the years. The person retiring finds a better climate, a lower cost of living and, often, a far more active social life that they enjoyed at home. The investor who buys well and takes good advice sees an asset that often performs far better than the stock exchange - and often with less risk.
Buying a property overseas is not for everyone, but it suits a very large number of people. There are now over 800,000 British households that own a property overseas (Source: MINTEL). [Continue]

Property Taxes in Italy  | [ Download document in PDF ]

The information contained in this document relates only to people not resident for tax purposes in Italy. A person is resident for tax purposes if:
- He is physically present in Italy for more than 182 days in any calendar year
- His main home is in Italy
- He is in business or employed in Italy
There are other rules that can capture you as a tax resident in Italy. It is impossible to give tax advice without detailed knowledge of your personal circumstances.

Taxes payable on the transfer of property

Registration tax (Imposta di Registro): this is a tax payable when you purchase either agricultural land or a house, apartment or building plot. It varies from 3 - 10% of the declared avlue of the property as expressed in the Rogito (Deed of Conveyance. For non residents  buying a holiday home  is usually 7%).

VAT (IVA): this is charged at 10% on all new proeprty except luxury homes, which bear 20%. It is usually included in the advertised price of the property.

Notary's fees: these vary according to the value of the property, the number of pages in the documents prepared and various other factors. Noraty's fees are approximately €2000 / €5000 but varies slightly between Notaries.

Estate Agents Commission: this is not strictly a tax but is ancluded here for the sake of completeness. Our fees are as follows:

For properties less than € 100,000 there is a minimum fee of € 3,000 + VAT (IVA).

Example of a house purchase breakdown of costs:  

€ 100,000 - purchase price

€ 3,000 - agency fees + € 600 VAT

€ 4,000/€ 8,000 - house taxes*and Notary fees

€ 350 - survey fees if a survey is requested 

* Generally with an inexpensive property the house taxes are relatively high. This is because in Italy the Registered Value (Valore Catastale) is usually much lower than the purchase price. On completion, it is normally the Registered Value which is written into the Final Act and therefore used for calculating the tax due. With inexpensive properties the difference between the purchse price and the registered Value is less significant that with higher priced properties.

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