Property purchase taxes in Trieste: what you pay (2026)

If you buy a home from a private seller and it will be your main home (prima casa), you pay 2% registration tax (imposta di registro), plus €50 mortgage tax (imposta ipotecaria) and €50 cadastral tax (imposta catastale); and, if you request it, the notary works that tax out on the home's cadastral value (valore catastale) instead of the price you paid. On a €160,000 flat with a cadastral income (rendita catastale) of €600 that comes to €1,486; as a second home, €6,904.

At a glance

• From a private seller: registration tax at 2% for a main home, 9% otherwise, never less than €1,000; mortgage and cadastral tax €50 each.
• From a company selling with VAT, usually the builder: VAT at 4% for a main home, 10% otherwise, on the price; registration, mortgage and cadastral tax €200 each.
• Price-value rule (prezzo-valore): if you ask for it in the deed, the tax base is the cadastral income × 1.05 × 110 (main home) or × 120, and the notary's fees drop by 30%.
• Main home sold within five years: unless you buy again within a year, you lose the relief and pay a 30% penalty.
• Under-36s: the exemptions ended with deeds signed in 2023, or in 2024 with a preliminary contract registered in 2023.
• In Trieste the home becomes yours when it is entered in the land register (Libro fondiario): the notary files the application, with €25 in fees.

What you pay, case by case

It depends on who is selling and whether you meet the main-home conditions.

Who sells	Main home	Other home
Private seller, or a company selling without VAT	registration tax 2% (minimum €1,000) + €50 + €50	registration tax 9% (minimum €1,000) + €50 + €50
Company selling with VAT	VAT 4% + €200 + €200 + €200	VAT 10% (22% for luxury homes, villas and castles) + €200 + €200 + €200

Agenzia delle Entrate, guide to the taxes on buying a home (October 2025), read on 25/10/2026.

As a rule a company sells without VAT, and you pay as you would to a private seller. VAT applies when the seller is the company that built or renovated the home, within five years of finishing the work, or later if it opts for VAT in the deed. Ask before you make an offer: the difference runs into thousands of euros.

The notary pays registration, mortgage and cadastral tax when registering the deed; the VAT you pay to the seller. These costs fall on the buyer unless agreed otherwise (Civil Code, art. 1475).

The price-value rule: taxed on the cadastral income, not on what you pay

If you buy a home from a seller who does not charge VAT, you can ask for all three taxes to be worked out on the cadastral value (Law 266/2005, art. 1, paragraph 497): cadastral income × 1.05 × 110 for a main home, × 120 for others. You will find the cadastral income on the cadastral extract (visura catastale).

The conditions:

• you buy as a private individual, not for your business or your practice;
• you buy a home; a garage, cellar or attic is included if it is registered with a cadastral income of its own and the deed names it as belonging to the home;
• the request goes to the notary in the deed; a later deed cannot add it;
• the deed states the real price, in full. If part of it is hidden, tax is charged on the agreed price, and a penalty of between 50% and 100% of the tax shortfall is added.

In return, the Agenzia delle Entrate cannot reassess the value of the home for registration tax, and the law cuts the notary's fees by 30%. Since 2012 there have been no fixed fee scales: notary and client agree the fee, and you must first be given a written estimate listing every item (Decree-Law 1/2012, art. 9).

For small homes there is a floor: with a cadastral income below about €433, 2% comes to less than €1,000 and you pay the minimum.

Example: the same home, four sums

Example: a flat in Trieste costing €160,000, with a cadastral income of €600. These are assumptions: the real figure is on the cadastral extract.

Case	Sum	Main tax	Fixed taxes	Total
Main home, private seller	600 × 1.05 × 110 = €69,300	€1,386 (registration tax 2%)	€100	€1,486
Second home, private seller	600 × 1.05 × 120 = €75,600	€6,804 (registration tax 9%)	€100	€6,904
Main home, from the builder	price, €160,000	€6,400 (VAT 4%)	€600	€7,000
Second home, from the builder	price, €160,000	€16,000 (VAT 10%)	€600	€16,600

Without the price-value rule, the main home from a private seller would cost €3,300 (2% of €160,000, plus €100): more than double. From the builder, VAT is charged on the price: no price-value rule, and no cut in the notary's fees.

On top of the taxes come the notary, any estate agency fee and, with a mortgage, the substitute tax on the loan (imposta sostitutiva): 0.25% for a main home, 2% for others (Presidential Decree 601/1973, art. 18). On a €128,000 mortgage that is €320 or €2,560 (the mortgage with the real monthly payment).

In Trieste the home becomes yours through the land register

Throughout the province of Trieste, ownership is not recorded in the property registers used elsewhere in Italy: the land register system (sistema tavolare) applies, a legacy of Austria-Hungary (Royal Decree 499/1929). The deed of sale (rogito) is a valid contract, but the right is acquired only when it is entered in the Libro fondiario (art. 2).

• Who does it. After the deed the notary files the application (domanda tavolare) with the Trieste land registry office (Ufficio tavolare), at via Carpison 20, which is run by the Region; the land register judge (giudice tavolare) orders the entry if the register and the documents allow it. A notary who delays without good reason is liable for the damage (art. 11).
• Priority. What counts is the moment the application is filed, which receives a sequential number (GN). If the same home were sold twice, it would go to whoever applied for registration first (art. 6).
• What it costs. €25 in fees for each application. An extract of the land register entry (estratto tavolare) costs €10; consulting the Libro fondiario at the office is free.
• The taxes. The same as elsewhere in Italy: the land register law takes it for granted that the deed pays registration and mortgage tax (art. 91), and Legislative Decree 347/1990 leaves only the formalities to the land register system (art. 20). The notary pays them on registration; the land registry office collects no taxes.

In the extract, sheet B (foglio B) shows the owner and sheet C (foglio C) any mortgages and easements.

Main home: the conditions, and when you lose the relief

You qualify if:

• the home is not a luxury home, a villa or a castle (A/1, A/8, A/9); appurtenances such as a garage or cellar count once per category among C/2, C/6 and C/7;
• it is in the municipality (Comune) where you are resident, where you move your residence within 18 months (declared in the deed), or where you work;
• you do not own, alone or jointly with your spouse, another home in the same municipality;
• you do not own anywhere in Italy, not even a share, a home bought with the relief; or you sell that one no more than two years after buying the new one. Until 2024 the deadline was one year (Law 207/2024, art. 1, paragraph 116).

You lose it, and pay the tax saved, interest and a 30% penalty, if:

• you sell or give away the home within five years without acquiring another within a year, even as a gift, to live in; a preliminary contract is not enough;
• you do not move your residence within 18 months;
• you do not sell your previous main home within the two years;
• you made a false declaration in the deed.

If you realise in time that you will not manage, ask the Agenzia to recalculate the tax (within the 18 months for the residence, or within a year of the sale if you give up buying again): you pay the difference and interest, without a penalty.

Selling and buying again: the tax credit

If you sell a main home bought with the relief and buy another that qualifies within a year, you get a credit equal to the registration tax or VAT paid the first time. It cannot exceed the tax due on the new purchase, and any excess is not refunded. It also applies if you buy before you sell, as long as you sell the old home within two years. You deduct it from the registration tax on the new deed, asking for it there, or use it in your tax return or through an F24 payment.

Example: on the home you are selling you paid €1,200 in registration tax. On the new one, with its cadastral value of €69,300, you owe €1,386: with the credit you pay €186, plus the €100 of mortgage and cadastral tax.

Under-36s: the exemptions have ended

Buyers under 36 with an ISEE (the household means-test indicator) up to €40,000 paid no registration, mortgage or cadastral tax on deeds signed up to 31 December 2023, or up to 31 December 2024 with a preliminary contract registered in 2023 (Decree-Law 73/2021, art. 64). As of 25 October 2026 they have not been renewed. If the 2027 budget law (legge di bilancio) brings them back, this guide will change.

The first-home fund (Fondo prima casa) remains: it guarantees up to 80% of the mortgage for applications made by 31 December 2027, as explained in our mortgage guide.

From 2027 the article numbers change, not the rates

From 1 January 2027 these rules move into three consolidated codes (testi unici): registration, mortgage and cadastral tax in Legislative Decree 123/2025 (put back a year by Decree-Law 200/2025), VAT in Legislative Decree 10/2026, and the price-value rule and the notary's fee cut in Legislative Decree 141/2026 (art. 299, paragraph 10). Rates, the minimum and the fixed taxes stay the same; the main-home note, "nota II-bis", becomes "nota I". Deeds signed in 2026 still follow the old laws.

Frequently asked questions

How much tax do you pay when buying a home in Trieste?

From a private seller, 2% (main home) or 9% of the cadastral value, minimum €1,000, plus €100 in fixed taxes. From a builder charging VAT, 4% or 10% of the price plus €600. On a €160,000 home with a cadastral income of €600: €1,486 as a main home, €6,904 as a second home.

First-home purchase taxes in 2026: what has changed?

Not the rates. Since 2025 you have two years, not one, to sell your previous main home; the under-36 exemptions have expired; from 2027 the legal references change, not the content.

How is the cadastral value worked out for the taxes?

Cadastral income × 1.05 × 110 for a main home, × 120 otherwise: with a cadastral income of €600, €69,300 or €75,600.

Who pays the notary and the taxes, the buyer or the seller?

The buyer, unless you agree otherwise (art. 1475 of the Civil Code). The notary collects registration, mortgage and cadastral tax and pays them to the Agenzia delle Entrate on registration.

If I sell my main home within five years, do I lose the relief?

Yes, unless you buy another home to live in within a year. Otherwise you repay the tax saved, plus interest and a 30% penalty.

What to do now

• Get the cadastral extract: the cadastral income and the category decide the sum and the main-home relief.
• Ask for the land register extract (€10) before making an offer.
• If a company is selling, get it in writing whether the sale carries VAT or is exempt.
• Ask the notary for a written estimate with the price-value rule applied, separating fee, taxes and land register fees.
• Already own a main home? Check that you can sell it within two years, and have the commitment and the credit written into the deed. Then put it all next to the price: what the home is worth, from offer to deed.

What this guide doesn't tell you

It does not cover auctions, gifts, inheritance, luxury homes, non-residential property or purchases by companies. Whether you meet the conditions in your own case is for the notary to check; tax doubts are for an accountant (commercialista).

If you sell with us. On your home's listing we show, under the price, the monthly mortgage payment with its assumptions and the buyer's taxes, main home and second home, worked out with the price-value rule. Tell us about your home. Looking for a home? The same figures are on the listings of homes for sale.

A guide to inform, not tax advice: the notary and the accountant have the final word. For your own case: info@triesteimmobiliare.com · +39 331 8940822.