The True Cost of Buying a Home in Tuscany

Picture a buyer at a kitchen table with a notepad. At the top of the page, the agreed price, underlined. The rest of the page is still empty, and filling it in is the work of this article: each cost head, and the rule behind it.

What tax is due on the purchase itself?

The main tax on a resale from a private individual, or on an exempt sale by a company, is imposta di registro, registration tax. It is 9% of the price stated in the deed, with a minimum of €1,000. Mortgage tax (ipotecaria) and cadastral tax (catastale) are €50 each. The notary collects the taxes and pays them when the deed is registered.

The cases that follow are the prima casa rate, the cadastral value, a sale with VAT, agricultural land and the preliminary contract.

The prima casa rate

A reduced rate of 2% (minimum €1,000, plus €50 and €50) applies only where the prima casa conditions are met. The prima casa is the reduced-rate treatment for a buyer’s first Italian home. The test is not tax residency. The main conditions are these.

The property must be in the comune, the municipality, where the buyer resides, or the buyer must move residence there within 18 months and declare the intention in the deed. The comune where the buyer works also qualifies, including for unpaid activity. A buyer who moved abroad for work, and who lived or worked in Italy for at least five years, may also use the comune of birth, or the comune of residence or activity before the move.^[1] The AdE (Agenzia delle Entrate, the Italian revenue agency) states that the five years need not be continuous.^[2]

Then comes the cadastral category. It must be A/2 to A/7 or A/11. Categories A/1, A/8 and A/9 are excluded, and many villas, castles and palazzi fall in them.

The benefit can be lost. Resale within five years, or failure to sell a previous prima casa within the statutory period, can lead to loss of the benefit: the tax saved, interest and a 30% penalty. The period for selling the previous prima casa was extended to two years for deeds from 1 January 2025.^[3]

Tax on the cadastral value

Registration tax is normally calculated on the price stated in the deed. There is an exception, known as prezzo-valore. The buyer may ask the notary to apply the cadastral value instead, in the deed itself and not in a later integrating deed. The conditions are these: the buyer is a private individual, the property is a residential unit with its pertinences, and the seller is not charging VAT. The real price must still be stated.^[4]

The cadastral value is the rendita catastale, the cadastral income, × 1.05 × 120, or × 110 for a prima casa. If the price is concealed, tax is due on the real price plus a penalty of 50% to 100% of the difference. Where the rule is applied, the law provides a 30% reduction of the notary’s fees.^[5]

Sales with VAT

A sale by a company is VAT-exempt as a rule. VAT applies where the seller is a construction or restoration company selling within five years of completion, or later if the seller opts for VAT. VAT is 10%, or 22% for categories A/1, A/8 and A/9. Registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes are then €200 each.

Agricultural land

Land has its own rate. The transfer of agricultural land to a buyer who is not a coltivatore diretto, a farmer who works the land personally, or an imprenditore agricolo professionale (IAP), a professional farming entrepreneur, is subject to registration tax at 15%. Farmhouses are often sold with land, so the deed, the land and the buyer’s status need to be looked at together.

Before the deed

The preliminary contract carries taxes of its own. It must be registered within 30 days. Fixed registration tax is €200, plus stamp duty. A 0.5% tax applies to the confirmatory deposit (caparra confirmatoria) and to payments on account not subject to VAT. The AdE applies a 3% tax to a penitential deposit (caparra penitenziale).^[6] The proportional tax paid is credited against the registration tax due at the deed.

The deed itself must state how the price was paid and whether a mediator was involved. At the request of at least one party, the notary must hold the price, or the balance, in a dedicated account and release it after registration and transcription.^[7]

The rules in 2026 and from 2027

A new consolidated text on indirect taxes entered into force on 13 August 2025.^[8] A later decree-law, converted into law in 2026, moves its application to 1 January 2027.^[9] The rules above are those applied in 2026. The rates, amounts and prima casa conditions are the same in the texts published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale, read on 2 October 2026, and only the article numbers differ.^[10] A further consolidated text, on tax assessment and compliance, is in force from 7 August 2026.^[11] It applies from 1 January 2027 and re-houses some of the provisions cited here. See also “The Taxes on Buying a Home in Italy, 2026: Line by Line”.

What does everyone else in the transaction charge?

Beyond the taxes, the other people in the transaction charge fees of their own: the notary, the agent, the lawyer and the technician, and any advisor the buyer engages.

The notary comes first. No national tariff fixes the notary’s fee. Professional tariffs were abolished in 2012, and the ministerial parameters that remain apply to court liquidation only. The notary must give the client a written or digital estimate of the fee when the engagement is given, and the fee is separate from the taxes the notary collects.

Agency commission follows its own rule. Under the Civil Code a mediator, the legal term for the estate agent, is entitled to commission from each party if the deal is concluded through the mediator’s intervention.^[12] The amount and its split between the parties are set by agreement, by tariffs or by local usage, and otherwise by the court in equity.^[12] There is no fixed legal percentage.

A lawyer’s reading of the contracts and a technician’s check of the cadastral and building position are paid by the buyer at the rates the professionals quote. Their fees are also set by agreement, with a written estimate required. Where a buyer engages an advisor, that fee is a further cost paid by the buyer, separate from any commission owed to an agency.

What does an illustrative example look like?

The figures that follow are an illustration, not a quote. They use the worked example published by the AdE for the cadastral-value rule: a resale of a residential unit from a private seller at a price of €200,000, with a rendita catastale of €900, bought as a second home.^[13]

The same €200,000 home gives different registration-tax figures, depending on the base and on whether the prima casa conditions are met.

The example leaves out the notary’s fee, any agency commission and professional fees, which are set as described above.

What continues after completion?

Annual charges follow ownership. IMU, the municipal property tax, applies to second homes and other buildings. A main home is exempt unless it is in category A/1, A/8 or A/9, for which a separate rate of 0.5% applies. For buildings other than the main home, the statutory base rate is 0.86%, and a comune may set it between 0% and 1.06%.^[15] The Ministry of Economy and Finance table also shows a ceiling of 1.14% for comuni that use an option the law provides.^[16]

TARI, the municipal waste charge, is set by each comune. Utilities, insurance and upkeep add further costs. None of these is due at completion. IMU and TARI are both set, within the national framework, by the comune where the property lies.

Why can’t the cost be given as a percentage of the price?

The sections above show why percentages of price are unreliable. The tax base can be the price or the cadastral value. The rate depends on the buyer’s status and on the property’s category. Professional fees are quoted individually. Tax rates, cadastral values and professional fees vary by property, municipality and transaction. Rates and conditions change and depend on the property, the seller and the buyer.

A list of the rules that apply to a specific purchase can only be drawn up once the seller type, the cadastral category and the buyer’s position are known.