Renovation Deductions in 2026: What Is in Force, Who Can Use Them, and What Is Required

Picture the builder’s first estimate, folded into a jacket pocket, and a long list of rooms still to be done. Somewhere in those numbers sits a question: how much of it comes back from the tax office.

This article sets out the rates and caps for each year, who can use the deduction, which works and expenses qualify, and the payment and documentation requirements. It also describes the related measures for furniture and appliances and for VAT. It draws on the pages and guide published by the Agenzia delle Entrate (AdE), the Italian tax agency, as read on 30 September 2026. It does not say whether anyone should claim a deduction, and it does not assess any project.

How much does the deduction give back, and for how long?

The Italian word is detrazione, a deduction. It is subtracted from the personal income tax (IRPEF) due, not from taxable income, and here the amount is a percentage of the expense. The rates and the caps change from year to year, and the table gives them as the AdE states them for the renovation deduction of the income-tax code.^[1][2]

Renovation deduction by year of payment

The deduction is spread over ten equal yearly instalments and follows the cash principle: the expense counts in the year it is paid.^[1] The 2026 budget law extended the higher rates to 2026, as the AdE guide records.^[3] The rows for 2027 and later years are as the AdE stated them on 30 September 2026; no later law had been published.^[4]

Two exceptions are noted by the AdE. The replacement of an emergency generator is always deducted at 50 per cent. And since 1 January 2025 there is no deduction for replacing winter heating systems with single boilers fuelled by fossil fuels. That covers condensing boilers and condensing hot-air generators.^[2]

Who gets the higher rate?

The higher rate is 50 per cent in 2025 and 2026 and 36 per cent in 2027. To use it, the taxpayer must hold ownership, bare ownership, surface ownership or a real right of enjoyment – usufruct, use or habitation – at the start of the works or, if earlier, when the expense is paid. The unit must also be the main home. The unit of a family member counts as the main home for this purpose if it is that person’s habitual residence: the spouse, relatives to the third degree and in-laws to the second degree.^[2]

A tenant or borrower, or a cohabiting family member who does not hold a right in rem, gets the lower rate: 36 per cent in 2025 and 2026, 30 per cent in 2027.^[2]

A circular of the AdE adds four points.^[5] Where the unit is not yet the main home at the start of the works, the higher rate applies if it is the main home at the end.^[5] Works on pertinences (pertinenze) qualify.^[5] For common parts of a condominium, the higher rate applies to the condominium owner’s share.^[5] And the higher rate is kept if the unit later ceases to be the main home.^[5]

Is there a cap for higher incomes?

Since tax year 2025, a provision of the income-tax code limits the total of certain deductions for taxpayers with income above €75,000.^[6] The base amount is €14,000 for income from €75,000 to €100,000 and €8,000 above €100,000. It is then multiplied by a coefficient that depends on dependent children.^[7]

Coefficient by number of dependent children

Only the annual instalment counts towards the cap, and the residual instalments of building bonuses for expenses paid up to 31 December 2024 are excluded.^[7]

Who can use the deduction?

According to the AdE guide, the deduction is open to all taxpayers subject to IRPEF, whether or not they are resident in the territory of the State. That includes owners and bare owners, and holders of usufruct, use, habitation or surface rights. Tenants and borrowers are on the list too, but they need the owner’s consent and a deed registered before the start of the works. Members of housing cooperatives, sole traders for property that is not used in the business, and the entities of art. 5 TUIR are included as well.^[8][1]

Family comes next. Cohabiting family members and de facto cohabitants who bear the cost qualify if cohabitation exists at the start of the works and when the expense is paid. The separated spouse to whom the home is assigned qualifies as well, and so do co-owners, if the invoice notes each one’s share.^[1]

The list reaches a future buyer too: someone with a registered preliminary contract and possession of the unit who carries out the works at his or her own cost. The deduction is kept even if the purchase later fails. A self-builder can claim for the materials only. In a condominium, the owners each claim their share, on the administrator’s certificate. A condominio minimo is a condominium of up to eight owners.^[1]

Which works and which expenses qualify?

The works must fall within the categories of art. 3 of the national building code.^[9] On the common parts of a residential building, the categories in letters (a) to (d) qualify.^[9] On single units, extraordinary maintenance, restoration and conservative restoration, and building restructuring do, and ordinary maintenance does not.^[1] The buildings must be residential, of any cadastral category and including rural ones, together with their pertinences. Productive, commercial and office buildings are excluded. The categories are explained in “CILA, SCIA, Permesso di Costruire and the Landscape Authorisation”.

Demolition and reconstruction come with a dated rule. Before 17 July 2020, a reconstruction with an increase of volume counted as new construction and did not qualify; from 17 July 2020 the amended art. 3 applies.^[10] An extension without demolition qualifies for the existing part only. Units in cadastral categories F/2 and F/4 qualify if the building title shows conservation works and the unit is residential in the cadastre at the end of the works.

The deduction also reaches other works listed in the same provision of the income-tax code: reconstruction after a calamity, removal of architectural barriers, measures against crime, cabling and noise, energy saving and renewable energy (including photovoltaic plants for domestic use), anti-seismic works, asbestos removal, prevention of domestic accidents and conformity of systems.^[11] Related expenses count too: design and professional fees, materials, the conformity report, surveys, VAT, stamp duty and permit fees, and urbanisation charges. Not deductible are the removal and storage of furniture, and the extra fee of a condominium administrator unless he or she is appointed works manager.

The deduction cannot be combined for the same expenses with the energy-efficiency deduction. For the same expense the taxpayer may request only one of the two, and must meet the formalities of that one.^[12] It can be combined with the 19 per cent deduction on half of the expense for listed properties (vincolati).^[13]

What must be paid and documented to keep the deduction?

The expense is paid by bank or postal transfer, the bonifico, that states the reference to the deduction (the causale), the tax code of the person claiming it and the VAT or tax code of the payee. The expense counts when the transfer is ordered. No transfer is needed for urbanisation charges, stamp duty or fees paid to public administrations. Banks and Poste Italiane withhold 11 per cent on the transfer, since 1 March 2024.

An incomplete transfer loses the deduction unless it is repeated correctly. If that is not possible, the AdE accepts a sworn declaration of the firm.^[14] Payment through a finance company is allowed under conditions. Where several people claim, the invoice and the transfer must carry their tax codes or an annotation of the shares, from the first year.

Several other requirements apply. Before the works, a notice by registered letter with return receipt goes to the ASL, the local health authority, if the site-safety rules require one. The deduction is lost for omission only where the notice was required, and the omission cannot be cured by the remissione in bonis procedure.

For works started from 28 May 2022 with an amount over €70,000, the engagement deed must state the construction-sector collective agreement applied. In the tax return, the cadastral data of the unit are entered; for a tenant or borrower, the registration details of the deed. For works on energy saving and renewable energy, the data go to ENEA, the national agency, through its portal bonusfiscali.enea.it within 90 days of the end of the works. According to an AdE resolution of 2019, a missed or late filing does not lose the deduction.^[15]

According to an AdE provision of 2011, the documents to keep are these:^[16]

– the invoices and the receipt of the transfer;

– the application for cadastral registration, if the unit was not yet registered;

– the IMU receipts, if due;

– the condominium resolution and the table of shares;

– the owner’s consent, for a tenant or borrower;

– the building titles or, where none is needed, a sworn declaration stating the start date and that the works are eligible.^[17]

The AdE lists the cases of forfeiture. They are the ASL notice not sent, where required, payment not made by transfer or made by an incomplete transfer, invoices not produced, a receipt in another person’s name, works not complying with municipal planning rules, and a breach of the safety or contribution rules, unless the firm declares compliance.

What happens to the deduction if the home is sold or the owner dies?

Unused instalments pass to the buyer of the home, if an individual, unless the deed says otherwise. If the deed is silent, the transfer is automatic.^[1] On inheritance, the instalments pass to the heirs who keep direct possession of the property. Where a usufruct exists, they stay with the bare owner. The instalments do not pass to the successors of a tenant or borrower.

What other measures come with a renovation?

On VAT, a reduced rate of 10 per cent applies to services for the ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of dwellings, and to restoration and renovation works. A rule for “significant goods” (beni significativi) follows the ministerial list of 29 December 1999.^[18]

The furniture deduction, the bonus mobili, is 50 per cent on a maximum of €5,000 per unit for purchases in 2026, in ten instalments. The cap is also €5,000 for 2024 and 2025. It requires a renovation begun from 1 January of the year before the purchase, which means works begun from 1 January 2025 for purchases in 2026, and the start of works must come before the purchase. It is given only to the taxpayer who claims the renovation deduction.

It covers new furniture and large appliances of at least the stated energy class – A for ovens, E for washing machines and dishwashers, F for refrigerators and freezers – with transport and assembly. Doors, floors, curtains and other furnishing accessories are excluded, as are works for which the energy-efficiency deduction is used and the construction of parking spaces or garages. Payment is by bank transfer or debit or credit card, not by cheque or cash, and the transfer need not be the special renovation transfer. Unused instalments do not pass on a sale or on death. The deduction applies to purchases made by 31 December 2026.

A further measure concerns the purchase of renovated buildings. The AdE guide states a deduction calculated on 25 per cent of the price, at the 50 per cent rate (main home, 2025–2026) or 36 per cent in other cases, over ten years. This article does not describe its conditions.

Two more measures are noted. The 75 per cent deduction for the removal of architectural barriers applied to expenses up to 31 December 2025,^[19] and a secondary source states that the 2026 budget law did not renew it.^[20] The energy-efficiency and anti-seismic deductions are separate deductions.^[21] For the energy-efficiency deduction, the AdE gives 36 per cent for expenses paid in 2025 and 2026, raised to 50 per cent for the main home, and 30 per cent, or 36 per cent for the main home, for 2027.^[22]