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You run a sole proprietorship and are winding it up

Closing your business

Understand how to close the VAT number and what remains to be done afterwards, compute the registration tax if you sell the business, the capital gain and the final VAT balance, then report the cessation, deregister from the Companies Register and file the last VAT and income tax returns: 8 steps.

Start here: Closing an Italian VAT number and winding down the business

Understand: closing the VAT number, final obligations

  1. Step 1 of 8
    CourseFree38 min

    Closing an Italian VAT number and winding down the business

    When a business has really ceased, which tool to use between forms AA9/12, AA7/10 and the single business notice, the thirty-day deadline and the filing channels, removing a sole trader from the Business Register and the annual chamber fee, and closure by the tax office. Then the final accounts: VAT on assets the owner keeps, the flat-rate scheme, the last VAT return, revenue and capital gains in the final year. Two modules with case studies, 2026 rules.

Compute: registration tax on a business sale, capital gain, VAT balance

  1. Step 2 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    Italian registration tax on the sale of a business — property, assets and receivables

    When a business is sold in Italy, registration tax is charged at a different rate for each kind of asset: 9% on property, 3% on movable assets and goodwill, 0.50% on receivables, each on the part of the price the deed assigns to it. Liabilities taken over by the buyer are spread across the assets in proportion to their value. If the deed does not split the price, the highest rate applies to the whole.
  2. Step 3 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    Spreading a business capital gain in Italy — selling a business over five years

    The gain is the sale price, net of directly attributable costs, less the undepreciated cost (TUIR art. 86). Since 2026 (Law 199/2025) only a gain on selling a business or a business unit held for at least three years can be spread: in equal instalments over the year of sale and the following years, up to the fourth. Every other gain is taxed in full in the year it arises.
  3. Step 4 of 8
    CalculatorFree result

    Italian annual VAT balance — paying in one go or in instalments

    The Italian annual VAT balance is due by 16 March, either in one payment or in equal monthly instalments falling on the 16th of each month, the last one no later than 16 December. Each instalment after the first carries 0.33 % interest per month (0.33 % on the second, 0.66 % on the third, and so on). If you defer payment to the income-tax deadline, a surcharge of 0.40 % for every month or part-month after 16 March is added first.

File: cessation, deregistration, final returns

  1. Step 5 of 8
    FormFree20 min

    Closing an Italian VAT number (forms AA9/12 and AA7/10)

    Within 30 days of ceasing, by PEC, at an office or by registered post: which form to use, when the Comunicazione Unica applies, how to answer an ex officio closure — guide, deadlines and worked example.
  2. Step 6 of 8
    FormFree30 min

    Striking an Italian sole-trader business off the Companies Register

    Within 30 days of ceasing trading, with the Single Communication and form I2: who files (heirs included), which forms to add for INPS, the Agenzia delle Entrate and the craft register, how to avoid next year's annual fee and what ex officio removal means — guide and worked example.
  3. Step 7 of 8
    FormFree60 min

    Italian annual VAT return (Iva and Iva base forms)

    Online from 1 February to 30 April, by the end of February if it carries the fourth quarter: who must file, who is exempt (flat-rate taxpayers for the whole year, exempt transactions), when the simplified Iva base form can be used and where options are notified — guide, deadlines and worked example.
  4. Step 8 of 8
    FormFree90 min

    Italian income tax return: Redditi Persone fisiche form

    Online from 15 April to 2 November 2026 for tax year 2025: who must use the Redditi PF form (business, self-employment, non-residents, heirs), when the 730 is enough, which tools to complete it with and how the taxes are paid — guide, deadlines and worked example.

The other paths

A different procedure, the same principle: the three pillars in order.

Read in Italian