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PROPERTY

Italian property news roundup: Gucci’s house on sale and second home tax deadlines

From a famous Tuscan villa on the market to an important deadline if you have a second home in Italy, catch all the Italian property news you may have missed in The Local's weekly roundup.

Published: 24 November 2021 12:01 CET
A view over the Tuscan countryside.
Are you dreaming of waking up to a view over the Tuscan countryside. Photo: Anton Sulsky on Unsplash

IMU property tax deadline is approaching

This year’s second instalment of IMU, or ‘Imposta Municipale Unica’ (Unified Municipal Tax), is due by December 16th.

IMU is a basic rate of tax that has to be paid to the Italian state, based on the value of the property.

You don’t owe this if your main residence is in Italy and you live in the country more than six months a year. Otherwise, if it’s your second home, you must pay this tax.

READ ALSO: What taxes do you need to pay if you own a second home in Italy?

Therefore, non-EU nationals without residency in Italy, including Americans and now Brits for instance, are allowed to spend 90 days out of every 180 in the EU.

This group of people with a second home in Italy would need to pay IMU.

It would also apply to a property you are renovating, for example, while you are living at another residence. Even though the second property may not be habitable, it is still a second property and so IMU taxes are due. This is important to consider for those planning to use the government’s ‘superbonus 110‘ to restore or rebuild a home.

You don’t need to pay IMU on your main home unless it is categorised as a luxury property, in which case, IMU is payable even if it is your main residence. Italian luxury property in the Italian tax system is defined by its residential category.

In this case, the cadastral categories A1, A8 or A9, for tax purposes are all luxury dwellings (stately homes, villas and castles).

You’ll need to pay IMU on luxury property. Photo by Mike Morgan on Unsplash

So, the second instalment of IMU for 2021 must be paid on the second home and on all properties other than a main home not classed as luxury.

The main house is the property registered or enrolled in the Land Registry as a single unit, in which the owner and the members of his family live habitually or reside ‘anagraficamente’ – that is, registered with the Anagrafe, the registry office.

EXPLAINED: Can second-home owners get an Italian residence permit?

However, there are some exceptions to paying IMU, such as on land owned in a mountain municipality, according to the reintroduced Circular of the Ministry of Finance of 9 June 1993.

Generally, how much IMU you pay depends on your property and the area you live in – payments are based on a percentage of the property value, collected by the municipality where your home is located, with part of the tax also going to the national government.

As a rough guide, you’ll need to take 5 percent of the property value and then multiply that number by a coefficient – a figure that changes according to property type.

This will give you a taxable base and from there, you’ll be charged anything from 0.4 to 1.06 percent of that figure, depending on the municipality where your second home is located.

You won’t get a bill for this: property owners need to abide by the deadline of when to pay and what coefficient your type of property is to be able to do the sums. IMU is paid twice a year and the last instalment was in June.

You can pay this via a form called F24 through the bank or Post Office.

To know exactly what your final IMU tax will be, it’s best to consult an accountant who can arrange the transaction for you too.

Gucci’s house is on sale

A historic Tuscan villa built in the 17th century and owned by the Gucci family is on sale for anyone with an eye for fashion and the funds to meet a designer price tag.

Described as “splendid” in the property listing, this iconic home is on the market for €750,000.

READ ALSO: Why now is the ‘best’ time to buy property in Italy

Located a few steps from the historic centre of San Miniato, a beautiful village on the green hills overlooking the Arno plain, the property sits between the major centres of Tuscany, Pisa and Florence.

It belonged to the Gucci family, well-known Italian entrepreneurs and founders of the Florentine fashion house that bears the family name. Over the centuries, the villa has hosted the most illustrious members of the two branches of the dynasty, including Guccio Gucci, who originated the famous brand by producing hats in San Miniato.

The home measures a considerable 540 square metres, its walls adorned with frescoes, “which recall the seventeenth-century origins of the villa and the eighteenth-century influence,” according to the property description.

Fancy living in the family home of the world-famous fashion house Gucci? Photo by Julien Tondu on Unsplash

There is also a vast garden surrounding the villa of 1,500 square metres, which also contains an old private chapel with a surface of about 20 square meters. Beyond that, the property comes with five hectares of land.

For those with even grander ambitions, the listing reveals there’s another 600 square metres of buildings on adjacent land that can be renovated using the government’s building bonuses.

READ ALSO:

This historic home has been on sale for 20 years and in 2005 it seemed on the verge of changing hands, according to news reports. Chinese buyers were very close to signing but then the sale fell through. The property continues to arouse interest, and it is currently still owned by the Gucci family.

The ‘best’ places to live in Italy

Wondering where to move to in Italy? A new study has revealed the best places to live in the country, rating all provincial capitals from the best to worst.

Parma was ranked top of the league for quality of life in the survey compiled by ItaliaOggi and Rome’s La Sapienza University.

This year, as well as last, the study also took into account how different areas have handled the Covid-19 health emergency.

MAP: Which are the safest parts of Italy to live in?

The pandemic didn’t affect all parts of the country equally. Some areas showed weak spots in dealing with the pandemic, found in all parts of the country from north to south. On the other hand, it highlighted the resilience of other areas.

Some of the usual suspects made it into the top ten, such as Bolzano and Trento, but other cities that have previously been way down the liveability leagues shot to prominence, including Bologna, Milan and Florence.

In case you missed it

Renovation plans are still in the balance for homeowners hoping to take advantage of the government’s hugely popular superbonus 110.

After Italian authorities gave the green light to next year’s Budget Law at the end of last month, many carrying out renovations didn’t get the news they were hoping for.

The plans aren’t favourable for those with single family homes, as Italy decided to extend the superbonus only for condominiums until 2023, meaning there isn’t as much time to move through construction projects.

EXPLAINED: How Italy’s proposed new budget could affect you

As things stand, based on the manovra – or financial measures – set out by the government, there are just over seven months left to access the superbonus for those with a single family home.

That could mean that those who are waiting for their building project to get off the ground or those stuck in a backlog caused by high demand for construction companies don’t have enough time to finish their projects.

Here’s more on how Italy’s building bonus uncertainty is causing headaches for homeowners.

If you have any tips, stories or thoughts on what we should include in the next edition of the property roundup, we’d love to hear from you. Email us here.

See more in The Local’s Italian property section.

Member comments

  1. Just a warning if you are thinking of installing an in-ground pool to even a modest property – it can lead to it being classed as a ‘luxury home’ and thus IMU will be due, even if it is ‘prima casa’. Above ground pools don’t have this issue.

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PROPERTY

Reader question: Has Italy’s ‘superbonus 110’ been scrapped?

The Italian government has announced sweeping changes to the country's popular building superbonus scheme, but does this mean funding is no longer available at all? Here's what you need to know.

Published: 20 February 2023 13:20 CET
Updated: 22 February 2023 10:24 CET
Reader question: Has Italy's 'superbonus 110' been scrapped?

Question: I’m currently renovating my Italian property and plan to use the ‘superbonus 110’ discount from the Italian government. I’ve read in a UK newspaper that Italy has just scrapped the superbonus. Is this true, and if so can I no longer claim it?

This is partially correct – you’re unlikely to be able to begin a new renovation project using the building ‘superbonus’ now, as Italy’s government has just made a major change to the scheme which makes it inaccessible to most people.

Until last week there were three ways of claiming the funding, but following a hastily-approved amendment on Thursday now there’s only one – via a tax deduction (detrazione fiscale), which is only available to those who pay higher rates of income tax (Irpef). This effectively means the superbonus is now only open to the highest-earning Italian taxpayers.

The first thing to know however is that the rule change does not apply retroactively to projects which are already underway.

EXPLAINED: How Italy has changed its building superbonus – again

So you should be able to continue if you’ve already begun your claim for the superbonus under any of the three routes previously available: trading tax credit (cessione del credito), choosing to receive a discount on the invoice (sconto in fattura), or deduction from future income tax bills (detrazione fiscale). You can read a more detailed explanation of how this works here.

However this will depend on exactly what stage you are at with your claim. A qualified geometra (surveyor) or the building firm overseeing your renovation project should be able to confirm whether and how this could change anything in your situation.

So while the superbonus hasn’t been scrapped entirely, it is now so tightly restricted that new claims will be impossible for most.

Builder carrying out renovation work

After undergoing major changes in early January, Italy’s superbonus has been re-modelled once again. Photo by Milivoj Kuhar on Unsplash

There have already been various other recent changes to and problems with the superbonus scheme which stopped many homeowners from either making new claims or completing existing projects in recent months.

The availability of the superbonus was limited from the end of 2022 when long-planned changes came into effect preventing many people who had previously been eligible from claiming, including second-home owners. The maximum amount of funding available was also cut from 110 percent to 90 percent at this point, effectively turning it into the ‘superbonus 90’

While these generous amounts of state funding understandably drew international media attention, in reality many homeowners in Italy using the superbonus found that the maximum amount of funding was only available in rare cases – usually to those paying the highest rates of tax – and everyone else would be more likely to get a deduction of between 50-70 percent.

Still not a deal to be sniffed at, the superbonus proved immensely popular – so popular in fact that it resulted in a building boom leading to a nationwide shortage of building companies available to carry out the work. This plus a shortage of building supplies, which was further exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, meant the cost of labour and materials soared – making many projects unviable even with the hefty rebates.

READ ALSO: How Italy’s building bonuses are delaying the renovation of cheap homes

These shortages also resulted in major delays to many projects, as did another rule change which made it harder for building companies to obtain the credit they needed to begin work. This blocked credit transfers causing delays to projects and uncertainty which, readers tell us, meant they had to cancel their plans or in some cases has not yet been resolved.

So while it was technically available, many people found themselves unable to actually use the building superbonus in 2022.

But if you already have a claim underway, the latest government rule change looks unlikely to cause any further problems on top of those already faced by homeowners.

Please note that The Local cannot advise on individual cases. For more information on claiming Italy’s building bonuses, homeowners are advised to consult a qualified Italian building surveyor or independent financial advisor.

See more in our Italian property section.

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