Taxes when buying a second or holiday home in Italy

Why the relief usually does not apply

The first-home relief rests on a link between the buyer and the municipality. The tariff note (DPR 131/1986, note II-bis) requires the home to be in the municipality where you have, or will establish within 18 months, your residence, or where you work. A home bought only for holidays, in a municipality where you neither live nor work, meets neither test. The only route is a genuine intention to make it your residence: you declare it in the deed, the move must happen within 18 months, and the declaration is open to later checks; see prima casa tax benefits.

A separate case is a buyer who already owns a first home bought with the relief. The Agenzia delle Entrate (the tax agency) says that a buyer who already owns a home bought with the relief can still claim it on a new home if the old one is sold within two years. That is an upgrade case, covered in selling before buying, not a second-home case.

The purchase taxes in numbers

Calculation with official rates on a €200,000 holiday home bought from a private seller: 9% = €18,000, plus €100, so €18,100. The same home bought with prima casa would be 2% = €4,000, plus €100; the difference of €13,900 is what is at stake in getting the residence question right. On a €200,000 purchase from a builder selling with VAT at 10%, VAT is €20,000 plus €600 of fixed taxes, so €20,600. These are calculations, not quotes, and exclude the notary’s fee.

If you are an individual buying a dwelling in a sale without VAT, the prezzo-valore rule also works for a second home, at the ordinary multiplier of 120 on the cadastral income (prezzo-valore). The Agenzia says it can be used “even in the absence of the prima casa benefits”.

The mortgage: 2% substitute tax

If you borrow to buy a second home, the substitute tax on the loan is 2% of the amount, not 0.25%, because the 0.25% rate is tied to a prima casa loan (DPR 601/1973, art. 18). A €120,000 loan carries, by calculation, 2% = €2,400. The mechanism is explained in substitute tax on the mortgage.

Yearly taxes: IMU

IMU (imposta municipale propria) is the municipal property tax. The Finance Department’s table shows that a main home in categories A/2 to A/7 is exempt, but a second home is an “other building”. For those the law sets 0.86%, and the municipality may set a rate from 0 up to 1.06%, with a further increase to 1.14% where the law allows. The rate is set by each municipality in a resolution, and it takes effect for the year only if published on finanze.gov.it by 28 October of that year; otherwise the previous year’s resolution applies. The Finance Department’s search page lets you find the resolution for a municipality. In the Province of Bolzano the tax is called IMI, and in the Province of Trento IMIS.

This guide does not give the taxable base of IMU, which the sources read do not set out. Ask the municipality’s tax office or an accountant to calculate your bill before you buy.

Yearly taxes: TARI

TARI is the waste tax. The Finance Department says the trigger is the possession or holding of premises or uncovered operational areas capable of producing municipal waste. The Department notes that case law treats furniture or a single utility connection as enough to presume use, and that exclusion from the tax needs both to be absent, so a furnished holiday home that stands empty is not automatically outside it. Rates are set by each municipality; look for the municipal tariff.

If you let the home

Rent from a second home is taxed. The Agenzia states the cedolare secca option: a flat 21% of the annual rent, or 10% for agreed-rent contracts. For short lets, 21% applies to one property chosen in the tax return and 26% to the second; from tax year 2026 the option applies only if no more than two flats are used for short lets in the year. The 10% municipality list was not read. See short-term rentals and cedolare secca.

What varies locally

Registration tax, VAT and the fixed taxes are national. IMU, IMI, IMIS and TARI vary by municipality, and so does the prima casa test, since it looks at the municipality. In the land-book areas (Trento, Bolzano, Trieste, Gorizia and part of Udine), Payotte has found no source on whether the registration-tax rules differ; ask the notary.

Which professional to consult

An accountant or tax adviser can model your yearly taxes, and the notary explains which purchase regime applies. A real estate agent can tell you the local running costs of the area.