Legal Strategy

Owning Property in Italy While Living Abroad: A Step-by-Step Tax Guide

22 August 2026

Practical guidance for non-resident individual owners, updated on 22 August 2026 for the 2026 filing season covering income earned in 2025.

Last week, I completed my Italian tax declaration as a non-resident owner of two (2) apartments in Lanzo d’Intelvi. The process reminded me how difficult the Italian system can appear from abroad: unfamiliar forms, several different taxes, cadastral figures bearing little resemblance to market value, and deadlines that do not all fall on the same date.

This guide explains the process in plain English. It is aimed at individuals who live outside Italy and own Italian residential property personally, not through a company or as part of a professional property business.

My properties are in Lanzo d’Intelvi, now within the Comune di Alta Valle Intelvi, but the income-tax steps apply throughout Italy. Local IMU and TARI rates must always be checked with the municipality where the property is situated.

The most important point comes first: nationality is not the deciding factor. An Italian citizen can be a non-resident taxpayer, while a foreign citizen can be an Italian tax resident. What matters is tax residence and the source of the income.

The three obligations owners often confuse

Owning an Italian apartment can create three (3) separate obligations:

Paying IMU does not automatically file an income-tax return. Filing an income-tax return does not pay IMU or TARI.

A separate dichiarazione IMU may also be required after certain changes, but it is not the same document as the annual income-tax return.

Step 1: Confirm that you are genuinely non-resident

Do not begin with the property. Begin with your tax status for the relevant year.

If you were non-resident for Italian tax purposes, Italy generally taxes you only on income regarded as arising in Italy.

If you were an Italian tax resident, the position is entirely different: Italy may tax your worldwide income and may require you to report foreign assets.

Residence can become complicated if you spent substantial time in Italy during the year or retained important personal, family or economic connections there. Citizenship, a foreign residence visa and even registration abroad do not, by themselves, settle every case.

Anyone whose residence status is uncertain should resolve it before completing the return. The remainder of this guide assumes that non-resident status is clear.

Step 2: Decide whether an Italian income-tax return is required

The Agenzia delle Entrate states that a person living abroad who has Italian-source income must declare it in Italy unless a specific exemption applies.

A non-resident who must file uses the same REDDITI PF model as residents but completes it as a non-resident. The official guidance is available in the Agenzia delle Entrate’s non-resident instructions.

For an overseas property owner, the practical decision is usually as follows.

The apartment was not rented

An apartment that was empty, used only by its owner or generally kept available is normally subject to IMU.

In the usual case, IMU replaces IRPEF and the related regional and municipal income-tax surcharges on that unlet building.

This does not mean the property is ignored. Where an income-tax return is being filed, the property is still reported in Quadro RB. The Agenzia explains the IMU substitution rule in its 2026 guidance on buildings.

If IMU-subject, unlet property is your only Italian item, you may fall within a filing exemption because there may be no Italian income-tax liability.

Therefore, you should not assume that every overseas owner must file an annual Italian income-tax return. Equally, you should not assume that no return is needed simply because the apartment was empty.

Check the exemption rules for the relevant year. A rental period, another source of Italian income, a tax credit to carry forward or another filing obligation can change the answer.

The apartment was rented under a normal residential lease

Rent from property situated in Italy is Italian-source income and will normally require a return.

It may be taxed (i) under the ordinary IRPEF system, or (ii) under the optional cedolare secca regime, if all the legal conditions are satisfied.

Under ordinary taxation, the taxable amount is generally based on the higher of the revalued cadastral income and the taxable portion of the rent.

For an ordinary free-market residential lease, the taxable rent is generally 95% of the contractual rent, subject to the cadastral minimum and special rules.

Cedolare secca is generally charged at (i) 21% of the gross rent for a qualifying free-market residential lease, or (ii) potentially 10% for a qualifying canone concordato lease.

Actual repair, agency and finance costs are not deducted from the cedolare base.

The 10% rate should never be assumed merely because the contract is described as an “agreed rent” contract. The contract, municipality and any required certification must qualify.

The apartment was rented through Airbnb, Booking.com or another short-term platform

Short-term rental income must also be reconciled in the return.

Platform statements and any Certificazione Unica, Locazioni brevi should be compared against your own schedule of gross receipts and tax withheld.

For the 2025 tax year, the short-let cedolare rate is (i) 21% for one property chosen by the taxpayer, and (ii) 26% for the other properties used for short-term rentals.

The Agenzia explains this rule in its short-let guidance.

For the 2025 tax year, Quadro RB also contains a section for the property’s Codice Identificativo Nazionale, or CIN, where the dwelling is used for tourism or short-term letting.

The Agenzia’s Quadro RB instructions confirm that the CIN should be checked against the national accommodation database.

If more than four (4) apartments are used for short-term rentals during the tax year, the activity is presumed to be a business. That situation falls outside the scope of this guide and requires professional advice.

Step 3: Assemble your documents before opening the form

For each owner, collect:

1. the Italian codice fiscale;

2. a copy of the owner’s identification document;

3. the foreign residential address;

4. the foreign tax-identification number;

5. the country of tax residence;

6. the purchase deed, inheritance document or other title;

7. an up-to-date visura catastale for every apartment;

8. separate cadastral records for garages, cellars and other units;

9. each unit’s municipality, cadastral section, sheet or foglio, parcel or particella, sub-unit or subalterno, category and rendita catastale;

10. the acquisition or disposal dates;

11. the ownership percentage;

12. details of any usufruct, right of use or right of habitation;

13. every registered lease and its RLI registration receipt;

14. a month-by-month record of gross rent due and received;

15. platform statements and Certificazioni Uniche for short-term rentals;

16. details of tax withheld by platforms or intermediaries;

17. the CIN for every tourist or short-let unit;

18. the previous Italian return and its submission receipt;

19. all F24 receipts for IRPEF, cedolare secca and IMU;

20. TARI notices and proof of payment; and

21. evidence supporting any deduction, tax credit or special relief being claimed.

Use the rendita catastale, not the purchase price, current market value or annual IMU bill, in Quadro RB.

If two (2) people co-own an apartment, each owner normally reports his or her percentage in a separate tax return.

If one person holds the usufruct and another holds only bare ownership, the holder of the usufruct or other relevant real right normally reports the property. The Agenzia expressly notes that the bare owner does not complete Quadro RB for that property.

Step 4: Choose the correct form and filing route

A person who was non-resident in 2025 or 2026 cannot use Form 730 and must use REDDITI Persone Fisiche 2026 if a return is required.

This is confirmed in the Agenzia’s model-selection guidance.

There are two realistic filing routes.

Filing directly

Access the Agenzia delle Entrate’s reserved online area using SPID, CIE, CNS or another credential accepted for that user.

Open the pre-filled return, select REDDITI PF, review and correct the information, complete the relevant sections, calculate the result and submit the return.

Filing through an Italian intermediary

A commercialista, CAF or other authorised professional can prepare and transmit the return.

This is often the simplest option for a foreign owner who:

1. does not have an Italian digital identity;

2. has rental income;

3. changed the use of a property during the year;

4. owns multiple cadastral units;

5. is uncertain about cedolare secca;

6. has short-term rental income; or

7. must coordinate the Italian result with a foreign tax return.

Pre-filled information is only a starting point. It is not a guarantee that the return is complete.

The system may know about a purchase or registered lease but not know:

1. how the apartment was actually used;

2. when its use changed;

3. whether the owner received all the contractual rent;

4. whether ownership changed during the year;

5. which property should receive the 21% short-let rate; or

6. whether a special exemption or reduction applies.

Step 5: Complete the front page / Frontespizio

Check or enter:

1. the owner’s name;

2. date and place of birth;

3. Italian codice fiscale;

4. the Residente all’estero section;

5. foreign tax number or equivalent identifier;

6. country code;

7. foreign locality;

8. full foreign address;

9. nationality details, where required; and

10. Italian tax domicile.

For a non-resident, the Italian tax domicile is generally the municipality in which the Italian income was produced.

If the income was produced in several municipalities, it is generally the municipality in which the highest amount of income was produced.

For a person whose only Italian income comes from apartments in Lanzo d’Intelvi, that will generally point to Alta Valle Intelvi.

Lanzo d’Intelvi, Pellio Intelvi and Ramponio Verna were merged into Alta Valle Intelvi from 2017. Current municipal codes and tax rates, not the former municipality’s, must therefore be used.

The special “Non residenti Schumacker” box

Do not tick the Non residenti Schumacker box unless you genuinely satisfy its conditions.

Broadly, it applies to certain non-residents who (i) earn at least 75% of their total income in Italy, and (ii) do not receive equivalent tax benefits in their country of residence.

Qualifying for this treatment can remove some of the normal restrictions on deductions available to non-residents. However, it requires a specific eligibility review and should not be selected merely because most of the person’s Italian assets are property.

Step 6: Complete Quadro RB for every property and period

Quadro RB: Redditi dei fabbricati is the central section of the return for an individual who directly owns Italian property.

Complete a separate row for each cadastral unit.

If the property’s use, ownership share or status changed during the year, use separate linked rows for the different periods and mark the continuation field.

The main fields have the following meanings.

1. Rendita catastale

Enter the official cadastral income appearing on the visura catastale.

Do not enter (i) the market value, (ii) the purchase price, (iii) the rent, (iv) the IMU taxable base, or (v) the amount of IMU paid.

The cadastral figure is generally entered before applying the standard 5% revaluation, unless the instructions for the relevant year expressly provide otherwise. The tax software normally performs that calculation.

2. Utilizzo

Select the code that matches the property’s actual use during the relevant period.

Possible uses include:

1. kept available to the owner;

2. rented under a free-market lease;

3. rented under an agreed-rent lease;

4. used for short-term rentals;

5. provided to a family member; or

6. another special use listed in the instructions.

A non-resident’s holiday home should not automatically be described as an Italian abitazione principale merely because the owner spends holidays there.

The exact use code should be checked against the instructions for the filing year, particularly where the non-resident owns more than one unlet apartment.

3. Giorni

Enter the number of days during which the facts reported on that row applied.

If the ownership and use remained unchanged for the full calendar year, enter 365 days.

If an apartment was purchased, sold, first rented or taken back for private use during the year, divide the year between separate rows.

The combined number of days for the same property should not exceed 365.

4. Percentuale di possesso

Enter the owner’s legal ownership or real-right percentage.

Do not enter 100% unless the person was the sole relevant owner.

For example, where two people each own 50%, each normally reports 50% in a separate return.

5. Codice canone and canone di locazione

Complete the rent fields only for periods during which the property was rented.

Select the appropriate rent category and enter the amount required by the instructions.

Reconcile the amount against (i) the registered contract, (ii) the rent schedule, (iii) bank receipts, (iv) platform statements, and (v) any Certificazione Unica.

The number entered may not always be identical to the net amount received in the bank. Platform commissions, withholding and other deductions must be separated from the gross rent.

6. Casi particolari

Use this field only where a specifically defined event applies.

Examples can include qualifying non-received rent or another special circumstance expressly listed in the instructions.

Do not use a special code simply because a property was empty or because the owner lives abroad.

7. Casi particolari IMU

Complete this field only where a specific IMU exception or treatment applies.

The fact that IMU was paid does not necessarily mean that a code must be entered in this box. Check the instructions for the particular situation.

8. Cedolare secca

Tick the cedolare secca box only where a valid election applies.

For a long-term lease, confirm (i) that the landlord and property qualify, (ii) that the contract was correctly registered, (iii) that the RLI records are consistent with the election, and (iv) that the rules concerning the waiver of rent indexation were satisfied.

For a qualifying short-term rental, the election is generally made in the tax return.

9. CIN

Complete the dedicated CIN section for each tourist or short-let unit that is required to have a Codice Identificativo Nazionale.

Make sure that the CIN belongs to the correct apartment. This is particularly important where an owner has two or more units in the same building.

Repeat the Quadro RB exercise for garages, cellars or storage rooms if they have separate cadastral identities. Do not combine two (2) apartments merely because they share the same address or building.

Step 7: Complete only the other sections that apply

The calculation sections are normally generated using the information entered elsewhere.

The most relevant sections are:

1. Quadro RN, which calculates ordinary IRPEF;

2. Quadro RV, which deals with regional and municipal IRPEF surcharges where applicable;

3. Quadro LC, which calculates cedolare secca and reconciles short-let withholding;

4. Quadro RP, which contains qualifying deductions and tax credits, subject to the narrower rules applicable to non-residents; and

5. Quadro RX, which records the final debit or credit and explains how a credit will be used or refunded.

A genuine non-resident does not normally report foreign homes, bank accounts or investments in Italian Quadro RW merely because an Italian return is being filed.

The Agenzia describes Quadro RW as the foreign-asset monitoring form for individuals resident in Italy.

If residence is uncertain, however, obtain advice before deciding that Quadro RW does not apply.

Check whether the final result makes sense

Unlet apartments subject to IMU may appear in Quadro RB but generally should not create ordinary IRPEF on their cadastral income.

Rented apartments should feed into (i) Quadro RN under ordinary taxation, or (ii) Quadro LC under cedolare secca.

They should not disappear from the calculation, and they should not be taxed under both regimes.

Tax withheld by an Airbnb-type platform is normally a credit or payment on account. It is not necessarily proof that no return is required.

Step 8: Calculate and pay the tax

The filing deadline and payment deadlines are different.

For REDDITI PF 2026, covering income earned between 1 January and 31 December 2025:

1. the normal 2025 balance and first 2026 advance were due on 30 June 2026;

2. payment could instead be made by 30 July 2026 with a 0.40% addition; and

3. any second or single advance generated by the return is generally due on 30 November 2026.

The Agenzia’s official calendar confirms the 30 June payment deadline and the 30 July option with the 0.40% addition.

Payment is normally made using Form F24.

Common IRPEF codes include (i) 4001 for the IRPEF balance, (ii) 4033 for the first IRPEF advance, and (iii) 4034 for the second or single IRPEF advance.

These codes appear in the Agenzia’s official tax-code directory.

Cedolare secca uses separate codes. Use the F24 produced by the tax software or adviser instead of copying codes from an old return.

If you do not have a suitable Italian bank account or online-payment facility, arrange payment early through an intermediary or confirm the current overseas-payment procedure with the Agenzia.

Do not wait for the November filing date. By then, the ordinary June and July payment dates have already passed.

If a payment deadline has been missed, do not simply transmit the original F24 amount. Request a ravvedimento operoso calculation so that the appropriate late-payment interest and penalty are included.

Step 9: Submit the return and retain proof

The online filing deadline for REDDITI PF 2026 is 2 November 2026.

The Agenzia publishes this date on its REDDITI PF 2026 page.

After submission, save:

1. the complete filed return;

2. the official electronic submission receipt;

3. the calculation summary;

4. all F24 receipts;

5. the documents supporting every figure; and

6. the adviser’s working papers or property schedule.

A screenshot saying that a file was sent is not sufficient. The official receipt is the evidence that the Agenzia accepted the transmission.

Keep the file throughout the applicable Italian assessment period and for as long as it may be required to support a foreign tax credit in your country of residence.

IMU: the separate annual property tax

For an ordinary apartment, the broad calculation is:

Cadastral income × 1.05 × cadastral multiplier × municipal rate × ownership share × taxable period

For most residential categories and the usual C/2, C/6 and C/7 appurtenances, the cadastral multiplier is 160. Other property categories can have different multipliers.

A simple example

Assume an ordinary apartment has a cadastral income of €600 and was owned 100% for the full year.

Its approximate IMU taxable base would be:

€600 × 1.05 × 160 = €100,800

At a municipal rate of 1.03%, the approximate annual IMU before any special reduction would be:

€100,800 × 1.03% = €1,038.24

This is only an illustration.

The result can be affected by:

1. partial ownership;

2. acquisition or disposal during the year;

3. separately registered garages and cellars;

4. agreed-rent reductions;

5. qualifying pensioner rules;

6. uninhabitability;

7. historic-building treatment;

8. free-loan arrangements; and

9. other exemptions or reductions.

The position in Alta Valle Intelvi

For Alta Valle Intelvi in 2026, the approved rate for “other buildings”, the usual classification for a non-resident’s ordinary apartment, is 1.03%.

The municipality requires (i) a 50% first installment by 16 June 2026, and (ii) a balancing installment by 16 December 2026.

The municipality’s official IMU page links to its calculation facility. The official 2026 rate schedule confirms the 1.03% rate.

For an ordinary apartment in Alta Valle Intelvi, the usual F24 local-tax code is 3918, and the municipality code is M383.

The Agenzia identifies 3918 as the IMU code for “other buildings”.

Both entries should be checked against the current municipal calculator before payment.

TARI: the waste charge

TARI is not calculated in Quadro RB. It is administered locally and normally depends on:

1. the property’s taxable surface;

2. the number of actual or assumed occupants;

3. the applicable municipal tariff;

4. the period of possession or occupation; and

5. any available reduction.

Alta Valle Intelvi’s published rules currently treat a domestic property held by a person resident outside the municipality as occupied by two people, subject to the municipality’s ability to use a higher figure supported by registry information.

The current rule appears on the municipality’s TARI calculation page.

An owner should file or update the local TARI declaration following a (i) purchase, (ii) sale, (iii) change of occupant, (iv)change of use, (v) change in taxable surface, or (vi) other event covered by the municipal rules.

If no TARI bill arrives, do not assume that nothing is due. Contact the municipal tax office and confirm that the property and overseas correspondence address are correctly registered.

Double taxation in the country where you live

Completing the Italian return may be only half of the job.

Your country of tax residence may also require you to report:

1. ownership of the Italian apartment;

2. the property’s value;

3. gross rent;

4. net rental income; or

5. Italian tax paid.

Tax treaties generally allow Italy to tax income from real estate situated in Italy. The country of residence may then provide a foreign-tax credit or another form of relief under its domestic law and the applicable treaty.

The figures and timing do not always match. Italian taxable income, foreign taxable income and cash rent received may all be different amounts.

Keep:

1. the Italian return;

2. the electronic filing receipt;

3. F24 payment receipts;

4. rental schedules; and

5. evidence that the Italian tax is final.

These documents may be necessary before a foreign tax credit can be claimed.

Common mistakes made by overseas owners

The most frequent problems include:

1. using Form 730 instead of REDDITI PF;

2. believing that “non-Italian” automatically means “non-resident”;

3. treating a holiday apartment as an Italian principal residence;

4. entering the purchase price instead of the rendita catastale;

5. forgetting a separately registered garage, cellar or second apartment;

6. reporting 365 days on one row even though the property was bought, sold or first rented during the year;

7. entering 100% ownership for jointly owned property;

8. assuming that Airbnb withholding replaces the tax return;

9. assuming that paying IMU replaces the income-tax return;

10. forgetting the CIN;

11. failing to reconcile platform statements with the Certificazione Unica;

12. missing the June payment deadline because the return is not due until autumn;

13. ignoring TARI because the apartment was empty;

14. assuming that no TARI is due because no bill arrived abroad; and

15. forgetting to report the Italian property or rental income in the country of residence.

Final checklist

Before considering the year closed, confirm that you have:

1. determined your Italian tax-residence status;

2. checked whether a REDDITI PF return is required or an exemption applies;

3. included every cadastral unit;

4. divided changes of ownership or use into the correct periods;

5. reconciled rent, platform statements and withholding;

6. selected ordinary taxation or cedolare secca deliberately;

7. paid the income-tax balance and any required advances;

8. filed the return and saved the official receipt;

9. calculated and paid IMU separately;

10. checked the TARI account and overseas correspondence address; and

11. considered the reporting and foreign-tax-credit rules in your country of residence.

This article provides general information, not personalised Italian or foreign tax advice. Rates, forms and deadlines can change each year. Always check the instructions for the relevant filing year, the municipality’s current resolutions, and the tax treaty and domestic law applicable in your country of residence.

Originally published on my LinkedIn newsletter, The Quiet Advantage.