Taxes

No tax discount for Italians living abroad on houses in Italia

The Ministry of the Economy specifies that the reduced rate of registration tax applies if the transfer is made for business reasons

by Cristina Bartelli

11 March 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The question
The Answer

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

First home: no tax discount for anyone, Italian, resident abroad, for reasons other than work, who wants to invest in Italia real estate or has inherited a house from their parents.

Not only do these conditions not comply with the current rules in Italy on first home tax relief, but if they were recognised, they could lead to incompatibility with European Union rules. Nothing doing therefore for those who, for non-work reasons, Italians or children of Italians are abroad and would like to purchase Italian property without the burden of the registration tax. This was confirmed by Lucia Albano, undersecretary at the Ministry of the Economy, in response to a question signed by Toni Ricciardi (PD) in the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday 11 March 2026.

The question

The question noted that the preferential treatment for first home purchases with regard to registration tax (2% rate instead of 9%) excludes from the benefit those persons who have emigrated abroad for reasons other than work. In the opinion of the questioners, this would create a penalisation for the category of Italians living abroad who want to invest in Italy, buying their only home, and for those living abroad who inherit their only home in Italia from their parents.

The Answer

The reply recalls the conditions laid down by law to access the first home benefit also for those who reside abroad.

The provision (Note 11-bis, placed at the foot of Article 1 of the Tariff, Part One, annexed to Presidential Decree No. 131 of 26 April 1986 (TUR)) was amended, in 2023, to avoid an infringement procedure by the European Commission precisely on the conditions for recognising the tax discount. For these reasons, the tax benefit was linked to an objective criterion, unrelated to that of citizenship.

More specifically, it is recalled, individuals who cumulatively meet the followingrequirements are eligible for benefits:

have moved abroad for reasons of work;
have resided in Italy for at leastfive years, or carried out, for the same period, their activity, prior to the purchase of the property;
have purchased the property in the Municipality of birth, or in the one in which they had their residence or carried out their activity prior to the transfer.

And the reply emphasises precisely this aspect: 'Considering the literal content of the provision, which refers to the purchaser who "(...) moved abroad for work reasons", it is believed that, for the purposes of applying the tax relief rules, it is not relevant to transfer abroad for reasons other than work. It follows that,' the answer states, 'given the current legal framework described above, it is not possible, by way of interpretation, to extend the aforesaid tax relief to the cases of persons resident abroad who inherit from their parents a house in Italy, their one and only home in Italy, or of fellow countrymen resident abroad who intend to invest in Italy, in the absence of the requirement of transfer abroad for employment reasons. Moreover, should such a favourable measure be recognised for those who inherit the dwelling, doubts could arise as to its compatibility with EU law, since it could discriminate against other persons who, for reasons other than inheritance, would only be entitled to the exemption if they had established their registered residence and dwelling in the property in question. In particular, the proposal, from the standpoint at issue, could ultimately result in a potential restriction of the principle of the free circulation of capital'.