One of the important questions that people ask when interested in purchasing property in Italy is, "What will be the yearly costs of owning a property in Italy?"
The first one is the property tax, which is commonly referred to by the Italian abbreviation IMU. The basis for the calculation of this tax is the cadastre income value of your property. If you have established residency in your home, you are in most cases exempt from paying IMU, unless your home is classified in the cadastre categories A/1, A/8 or A/9 (villas and luxury homes). The second one is the waste disposal tax, commonly referred to by the abbreviation of TARI. The basis for the calculation of this tax is the floor space of your property, together with the number of people in your household. If you intend to rent out your property, there will be a third cost to take into account. The rent will be considered an income that is produced in Italy and will be subject to the payment of income tax.
Once you have become the owner of your property in Italy, you will have to file two forms/declarations in your Comune, an IMU declaration and a TARI declaration. To fill in these forms you will need information about your property, which you will find on the cadastre certificate, in Italian the visura catastale.
You will find a detailed outline of what your costs will be when you own a home in Italy on the following pages.
Conclusions
If you are looking to buy property in Italy, bear this in mind:
⦁ avoid luxury homes if you intend to reside in Italy; luxury properties and villas in the cadastre categories A/1, A/8 and A/9 are not exempt of property tax;
⦁ try to buy the right size of home; waste disposal tax is calculated by the surface of your home + accessories;
⦁ decide if you want to buy extra space for short term private rentals; be sure that the extra purchase cost, the extra work and the extra obligations will make it worthwhile.
