How much to pay: rates, yearly instalments, later steps and the cedolare secca

Luca's SRL, which is VAT-registered, lets a building that is capital property by nature to another business for €30,000 a year, and pays €300 of registration tax, not €600. Upstairs, the neighbour letting a flat at €7,200 pays €144 a year, or €557.57 up front for four years. Three figures, one logic: a rate according to the property, and a choice of how to pay.

Different rates for different properties

Registration tax on leases is proportional to the rent, at a rate that depends on the property. For homes it is 2 per cent of the annual rent, multiplied by the number of years. The same rate applies to the catch-all category of other properties, worked out on the annual consideration.

For buildings that are capital property by nature, the landlord makes the difference. When the let is made by a VAT-registered party the rate falls to 1 per cent of the annual rent; in other cases, such as a private individual letting his own warehouse, it stays at 2 per cent. Agricultural land has the lowest rate, 0.50 per cent.

A security deposit paid by the tenant bears no registration tax. If, however, the deposit is paid by a third party outside the lease, for instance a relative paying it in the tenant's place, tax is due at 0.50 per cent. A deed that does nothing but lower the rent is exempt from both registration tax and stamp duty.

Agreed rent and the €67 minimum

Two rules adjust the result. The first concerns agreed-rent leases (canone concordato) on property in municipalities with high housing pressure: the taxable base is reduced by 30 per cent. In practice the annual rent counts for 70 per cent of its amount, and the 2 per cent is worked out on that reduced figure.

The second is a floor: the payment for the first year cannot be less than €67. The floor concerns the first year only. Someone paying year by year may pay less than €67 for the following years, when the working produces a lower figure.

The floor also weighs on rentals of farmland. Agricultural land let at €5,000 a year would produce €25 of yearly tax at 0.50 per cent, yet the first year still costs €67. For modest contracts it is the minimum, not the rate, that sets the amount paid on registration.

Paying year by year or all at once

For multi-year leases the payment method is a choice. One can pay the tax for the whole term on registration, equal to 2 per cent of the total consideration, or pay year by year 2 per cent of each year's rent, taking account of ISTAT increases, within thirty days of the end of the previous year.

Paying everything at once earns a discount: a deduction from the tax equal to half the statutory interest rate, multiplied by the number of years. With the 2026 statutory rate at 1.6 per cent, half is 0.8 per cent; for a four-year lease the discount is 3.2 per cent of the tax.

The discount is not the only criterion. Paying everything at once ties up a larger sum, while yearly payment follows any rent updates. If the lease is terminated early and the tax had been paid for the whole term, the years after the one in which termination occurs are refunded.

The following years

Those who chose yearly payment must pay of their own accord, every year, within thirty days of the end of the previous year. No reminder arrives. Payment is made through the RLI online services, by account debit, or with the F24 Elementi identificativi form and tax code 1501, working the tax out on the updated rent.

From now on the identifying details field must be filled in. It carries the lease's seventeen-character identification code, found on the copy returned by the office or on the online registration receipt. Alternatively the Agenzia describes a sixteen-character code built from the registration references.

The reference year is the year the step falls due. If a year is paid late, the codes for putting it right are not those of first registration: 1509 is used for penalties and 1510 for ravvedimento interest on later years and later steps.

The working takes account of any rent adjustment, such as the ISTAT update. If the €7,200 rent has been raised to €7,344, the year costs 7,344 × 2 % = €146.88, no longer 144. The tax follows the actual rent of each year, not the figure written on the day of signing.

Extension, early termination and assignment

An extension lengthens the lease beyond its expiry and must be reported to the Agenzia. As with first registration, the tax may be paid year by year or for the whole extension period, no later than thirty days after the lease, or the previous extension, runs out, allowing for rent updates.

Whoever pays for an extension with the F24 must also file the RLI form, within the same deadline, at the office that registered the lease; online, the notice goes out with the debit. In the Agenzia's 4+4 example, renewed for four more years on its 30 April 2030 expiry, the extension tax is due by 31 May 2030.

Early termination costs a flat €67 tax, payable within thirty days of the event, under code 1503 or by online debit. If the parties agree a payment for ending the lease, proportional tax applies to that sum. The termination must be reported on the RLI form within the same deadline.

For assignments of the lease without payment, on urban property let for several years, the tax is likewise a flat €67, under code 1502. In other cases, such as non-urban property, 2 per cent is applied to the rent still owed, or 0.50 per cent for agricultural land.

What the cedolare secca changes

The cedolare secca is an optional regime: a tax that replaces IRPEF and its surcharges on the income from the property, at an ordinary rate of 21 per cent of the annual rent. The course devoted to the cedolare secca weighs up whether it pays; what matters here is its effect on registration, which is considerable.

Under the cedolare secca neither registration tax nor stamp duty is paid: nothing on registration, nothing on extension, nothing on termination. The lease must still be registered within thirty days like any other, and early termination must still be reported on the RLI form. The option does not cover assignment of the lease, which remains taxed.

Timing matters. If the option is not taken on registration, ordinary rules apply, and whatever registration tax and stamp duty were paid then are not refundable. One may opt in a later year, within thirty days of the end of the previous one: from then on registration tax for the following years is no longer due.

When there are several landlords, the full effect requires all of them to opt. A co-owner who does not opt pays registration tax on his share of the rent according to his ownership share, and stamp duty on the lease is still due. Termination remains taxed if even one landlord has not opted.

Opting does not take anyone out of the tax net; it only changes the tax. The cedolare is paid in advance instalments and a balance, on the same deadlines as IRPEF: the Agenzia's page on registering at the office says so right next to the registration tax receipt, which these leases do not need.