Costs and taxes: what it really costs to buy and keep a second home

This is the most common case for resales. The main tax is registration tax, and its base is not the price.

The mechanism is called price-value: the cadastral income is revalued by 5% and multiplied by 120, and the rate is applied to that value. It must be requested in the deed, it applies to individuals buying a dwelling and its appurtenances, and the real price must be declared all the same. A company pays on the price.¹

The “first home” benefits require, among other things, moving your residence to the municipality within eighteen months: those who buy for holidays do not qualify, and the right calculation is that of a second home.¹

If the seller is the company that built or renovated the property, within five years of completion, the sale is subject to VAT. The base is the price: price-value does not apply.¹

At the same price, a new build therefore carries more tax than a resale. In exchange, a buyer from a company has protections that do not exist between private parties: we explain them in the guide to buying from a developer.

Notary. Chosen by the buyer, with no fixed scale of fees: ask for a quote, preferably two. With price-value the law provides for a reduced fee; with a mortgage there is a second deed.⁴

Agency. Commission is freely agreed. Where the parties have agreed nothing else, the custom recorded by the Chamber of Commerce for the province of Udine applies: 3% of the price from each party, plus VAT at 22%.⁵

Mortgage. The bank withholds a substitute tax: 2% of the loan for a second home, 0.25% for a first home.⁴

Preliminary contract. It must be registered: a fixed tax plus a percentage of the deposit, which is then offset against what is due at the deed.¹

Since 1 January 2023 IMU has been replaced in Friuli Venezia Giulia by ILIA, the autonomous local property tax. It is paid by whoever owns the property, resident or not. The base is the revalued cadastral income multiplied by 160: a different multiplier from the one used at purchase.²

On a home that is not let, ILIA replaces income tax, as IMU did. Owners resident abroad who cannot use the F24 form pay by bank transfer to the municipality, which supplies the details.²¹⁰

The waste tax has one component per square metre and one per number of occupants. For the homes of non-residents the number of occupants is presumed from the floor area, unless declared otherwise. A provincial environmental surcharge is added. It is a modest item.⁶

Heating is another story. Sappada is in climate zone F: no limits on the period or hours of heating, and a heat demand, for the same house, more than double that of Udine or Trieste. There is no mains natural gas: there is a piped LPG network, firewood, pellets, heating oil and heat pumps. The network operator publishes its LPG tariffs every year: compare them with the price of heating oil in the month you do the sum.⁷¹¹

A practical rule follows: in Sappada the energy class is part of the price. Between an old, poorly insulated house and a recent one of the same size, the winter bill changes a great deal. The real figures are in the energy performance certificate and in the seller's bills: ask for both.

State deductions. Deductions for renovation and energy saving are also open to non-residents, but at the lower of the two rates: the full rate is reserved for the main residence. They are deductions from Italian income tax: those who pay none have nothing to deduct from.⁸

Regional grants. First home, renovation, energy efficiency, photovoltaics: almost all require residence in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Buyers from another region or from abroad, as a rule, have no access.⁹

If you resell. Those who sell within five years of purchase pay tax on the capital gain, with exceptions such as inherited property. A second home is never a “main residence”: anyone thinking in short horizons should factor this in.¹²

In the listings of the homes we handle we state the energy class or say why it is missing, and we ask the seller for the cadastral record and the bills before the listing goes out. The site's calculator applies the rules on this page to a price of your choice. For your own case, though, the answer lies with the notary and the accountant.