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You are buying your home, perhaps with a mortgage

Buying a home in Italy

Understand purchase taxes, the first-home relief and the mortgage deductions, compute the tax on the preliminary contract, the taxes due at completion, the mortgage substitute tax, the deduction for the agent's fee and the mortgage interest, and the repurchase credit, then register the preliminary contract and claim the deductions in your return: 10 steps.

Start here: Buying a home in Italy: purchase taxes and the first-home relief

Understand: purchase taxes and first home, deductions for mortgage and agent's fee

  1. Step 1 of 10
    CourseFree41 min

    Buying a home in Italy: purchase taxes and the first-home relief

    The seller decides whether you pay 9% registration tax or 10% VAT; the cadastral-value option shrinks the base, the €1,000 floor props it up. Then the first-home relief: who qualifies, 2% registration tax or 4% VAT, moving your residence within 18 months, selling within five years and what losing the relief costs. Two modules with case studies, 2026 rules.
  2. Step 2 of 10
    CourseFree40 min

    Italy's 19% tax credits: medical costs, mortgage, school and sport

    How the 19% credit against Italian income tax is worked out: the 129.11 euro threshold on medical costs, the caps on mortgage interest for your main home, schooling, children's sport, nursery fees and funeral costs, and spending for dependent family members. Then the traceable-payment rule and its exceptions, the phase-out above 120,000 euros of income and the overall cap above 75,000 euros. Two modules with case studies, 2026 rules.

Compute: preliminary contract, taxes at completion, mortgage tax, deductions, repurchase credit

  1. Step 3 of 10
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    Italian registration tax on a preliminary sale contract

    A preliminary sale contract is registered within 30 days with a fixed tax of 200 euros. A confirmatory deposit or price advances outside VAT add 0.5 % of those sums (or the lower tax due on the final deed), credited at completion; a penalty deposit is taxed at 3 %.
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    Taxes on buying a home in Italy — registration tax, VAT, mortgage and land registry taxes

    Buying from a private seller, you pay 9 % registration tax (2 % with first-home relief), never less than 1,000 euros, plus 50 euros of mortgage tax and 50 euros of land registry tax. Buying from a business that sells with VAT, you pay 10 % VAT (4 % for a first home, 22 % for cadastral categories A/1, A/8 and A/9) plus 200 euros each of registration, mortgage and land registry tax. If you lose the relief — for instance by selling within five years without buying another home within a year — you owe the tax difference, a 30 % penalty and interest.
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    Italian substitute tax on mortgages and loans — 0.25% or 2%

    Loans running for more than 18 months pay a one-off substitute tax instead of registration, stamp, mortgage and land registry taxes: 0.25% of the amount lent, rising to 2% for loans to buy, build or renovate a home that does not meet the main-home (prima casa) conditions. On a EUR 200,000 main-home mortgage that is EUR 500.
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    Italian tax credit for estate agent fees

    The fee you pay an estate agent when buying the home that becomes your main residence earns a 19% deduction from gross IRPEF, on up to EUR 1,000 — at most EUR 190. Above EUR 120,000 of total income the deduction shrinks, reaching zero at EUR 240,000.
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    Italian mortgage interest tax credit on your main home (19%, up to EUR 4,000)

    Interest on a mortgage taken out to buy your main home earns a 19% credit on up to EUR 4,000 a year per loan — at most EUR 760. On a joint mortgage the cap is split between the borrowers; if your co-borrowing spouse is your dependant, you claim their share too. The credit does not fall as income rises.
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    Italian tax credit for buying a new main home — how much you get back

    If you sell a home bought with the Italian main-home (prima casa) relief and buy another qualifying home within a year, you get a tax credit equal to the registration tax or VAT you paid on the first purchase. The credit cannot exceed the tax due on the new purchase, and any excess is not refunded.

File: registration of the preliminary contract, pre-filled return

  1. Step 9 of 10
    FormFree20 min

    Registering a private deed with the Italian Agenzia delle Entrate: form 69 and form RAP

    Which private deeds must be registered, when to use form 69, online RAP or RLI, how self-assessment of registration tax works since 2025 and what to bring to the office — guide and worked example.
  2. Step 10 of 10
    FormFree45 min

    Italian 730 tax return (pre-filled and ordinary)

    By 30 September 2026 for 2025 income: who can use the 730, how to check and file the pre-filled return, the 730 without a withholding agent, refunds through payroll and the sections that stay on the Redditi PF form — guide, deadlines and worked example.

The other paths

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

Read in Italian