Selling an inherited home in Trieste: steps, costs and timing

In Trieste an inherited home can be sold after three steps: the succession declaration (dichiarazione di successione, within 12 months), the cadastral transfer (voltura catastale) and the Court's certificate of inheritance (certificato di eredità), which here is what puts the heirs on the land register (Libro fondiario). Between parents and children, inheritance tax only applies above €1,000,000 per heir, and no capital gains tax is due on the sale.

At a glance

• Succession declaration: within 12 months of the death, online; one filing covers everyone.
• Taxes on the home: 2% mortgage tax and 1% cadastral tax (imposta ipotecaria, imposta catastale) on the home's value; €200 + €200 if at least one heir meets the first-home requirements (prima casa).
• Inheritance tax (imposta di successione): for a spouse and children, 4% above €1,000,000 per heir; since 2025 you work it out yourself.
• In Trieste the heirs go on the land register, before any buyer, only with the certificate of inheritance (Royal Decree 499/1929, art. 3): €98 + €27 at the Court, €25 at the Land Registry Office (Ufficio tavolare).
• Capital gains (plusvalenza): property acquired by succession is excluded (Income Tax Code, TUIR, art. 67).
• Several heirs: to sell the whole home, everyone signs (Civil Code, art. 1108).

First, the succession declaration

It goes to the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) within 12 months of the death (Legislative Decree 346/1990, art. 31), filed by anyone called to inherit (chiamato all'eredità), even before accepting, or by legatees; one filing is enough (art. 28). With a home in the estate there is no exemption.

You file it online, including with the Agency's pre-filled version, or through a tax assistance centre (CAF) or a professional. If you never file, the penalty is 120% of the tax, or €250 to €1,000 when no tax is due; if you file late but within 30 days, 45%, or €150 to €500 (art. 50).

Who inherits	Allowance per heir	Inheritance tax
Spouse, children and other direct-line relatives	€1,000,000	4% on the excess
Brothers and sisters	€100,000	6% on the excess
Other relatives to the fourth degree, some in-laws	none	6%
Everyone else	none	8%

Legislative Decree 346/1990, art. 7; Agenzia delle Entrate, "How to pay the taxes", 15 July 2025.

For successions opened from 1 January 2025 you calculate the tax yourself in the declaration and pay it no later than 90 days after the deadline for filing; from €1,000 upwards, in instalments if you wish (arts. 37 and 38). From 2027 these rules move, unchanged, into the consolidated act of Legislative Decree 123/2025 (arts. 93, 116 and 120).

With the declaration you also pay the 2% mortgage tax and the 1% cadastral tax, each at least €200 (Legislative Decree 347/1990); they become a fixed €200 each if even one heir meets the first-home requirements (Law 342/2000, art. 69). For property in the land register, the mortgage registry fee (tassa ipotecaria) and the stamp duty of the property registry (Conservatoria) are not due.

If you declare at least the cadastral value, the Agency cannot adjust it (Legislative Decree 346/1990, art. 34, para. 5): for a home, multiply the cadastral income (rendita catastale) by 1.05 and then by 120, or by 110 if it is the first home of the person receiving it.

Accepting the inheritance, and what changes here

You become an heir by accepting (Civil Code, art. 459), in three ways:

• express, if in a public deed or a private document you declare that you accept, or describe yourself as heir (art. 475);
• tacit, if you do something only an heir can do (art. 476), such as selling the home;
• with the benefit of inventory (beneficio d'inventario), by a declaration before a notary or the court clerk plus an inventory (art. 484): you answer for the deceased's debts only up to the value you receive. For minors it is compulsory (art. 471).

Anyone already holding the assets, for instance living in the home, must make the inventory within three months, or is treated as an heir without that benefit (art. 485).

Elsewhere in Italy the acceptance is recorded in the property registers (art. 2648). In Trieste those rules do not apply (Royal Decree 499/1929, art. 12): the certificate of inheritance and entry in the land register take their place. In the application for the certificate you declare yourself heir in writing, with your signature authenticated: decide before you sign.

The cadastral transfer is a separate request here

Elsewhere the declaration updates the cadastre by itself; for the land register it does not. The transfer application must be filed within 30 days of the declaration being registered, online too, with the "Voltura catastale web" service. It costs €70 plus €16 of stamp duty for every four pages. It serves the tax authorities; ownership is shown by the land register.

The Trieste step: the certificate of inheritance

Throughout the province of Trieste, anyone inheriting a home goes on the land register only with the judge's certificate of inheritance, and until the heirs are entered, not even someone buying from them can be (Royal Decree 499/1929, art. 3). With property to inherit, applying for it is compulsory (art. 13). We explain the land register in from offer to deed.

• Where: at the Court (Tribunale) of the deceased's last domicile; if they lived outside the land-register territories, where most of their land-register property lies. In Trieste: Foro Ulpiano 1, room 99, by appointment.
• How: an application with the names of all the heirs, signed by all of them, with the signatures authenticated by a notary or a lawyer: other authentications are not valid (Court of Trieste, 7 July 2026).
• Attachments: death certificate, historical family record (stato di famiglia storico), the registered succession declaration, the will if there is one, the land register extract (visura tavolare).
• Costs: €98 court fee (contributo unificato), €27 of charges, €11.79 for the certified copy up to four pages, plus the authentication of the signatures.
• Time: no law sets it and the Court does not publish it; the judge may hear anyone with opposing interests or have a notice published (art. 16).

With the certificate you apply to the Land Registry Office to enter the heirs: €25 per application, which you can file yourself, at the counter or online with AgileFVG. Without that entry the sale is still a valid contract, but the buyer does not become the owner (art. 2). Whether the heirs must already be entered at the deed (rogito), or the notary can apply for both entries together, ask beforehand: the law only requires the heirs to come before the buyer.

With assets in another EU country as well, such as Slovenia, in 2019 the Trieste land register judge accepted the European Certificate of Succession issued by a notary (Law 161/2014, art. 32): a decision, not a rule.

Capital gains: none on an inherited home

A gain on a property resold within five years of purchase is taxed, but not for property acquired by succession (TUIR, art. 67, para. 1, letter b); nor for homes with Superbonus works, where the period is ten years (letter b-bis). From 1 January 2027 the same exclusion moves into the new consolidated income tax act (Legislative Decree 117/2026, art. 76).

Several heirs: everyone signs

Selling the whole home needs the consent of every co-owner (art. 1108). An heir who lives far away can sign through a power of attorney in the same form as the deed (art. 1392). For an heir who is a minor you need the authorisation of the guardianship judge (giudice tutelare; art. 320), which today the notary handling the deed can also give (Legislative Decree 149/2022, art. 21). A surviving spouse who lived there has a right of habitation (diritto di abitazione; art. 540).

If one heir will not sell:

• you can sell your share (art. 1103), first offering it to the other co-heirs, stating the price: they have two months to exercise their right of first refusal (prelazione). If you do not offer it, they can buy it back from whoever bought it (art. 732);
• you can ask for partition (divisione), at any time (art. 713). If it cannot be conveniently divided, the home goes to the heir with the largest share, or to several heirs together, with a balancing payment to the others; if nobody wants it, it is sold at auction (art. 720);
• court comes after mediation, which is compulsory for partitions (Legislative Decree 28/2010, art. 5). Nobody can promise how long a case will take.

Worked example: a flat in Trieste, two children

Example. The father died in 2026, a widower, without a will. He leaves a flat with €700 of cadastral income and €30,000 in the bank; the heirs are his two children, half each, who already own homes in Trieste and so do not meet the first-home requirements. These are assumptions: the real cadastral income is in the cadastral extract (visura catastale).

• Cadastral value: 700 × 1.05 × 120 = €88,200.
• Each child's share: (88,200 + 30,000) / 2 = €59,100, below €1,000,000: no inheritance tax.
• Mortgage tax 2%: €1,764; cadastral tax 1%: €882. In total €2,646; €400 if one of the two meets the first-home requirements.

Step	Who	What it costs	How long it takes
Succession declaration	one of the two, or a professional	€2,646 (€400 with the first-home requirements)	within 12 months of the death
Cadastral transfer	whoever filed the declaration	€70 + €16 stamp duty	within 30 days of registration
Certificate of inheritance	both of them, by application	98 + 27 + 11.79 = €136.79, plus authentication	it depends
Entering the heirs	you, or the notary	€25	it depends
Sale and deed	you and the notary	the seller's costs; no capital gains tax	it depends on the market

In total €2,893.79 of taxes and fees, €647.79 with the first-home requirements, plus any professional's fee. The seller's other costs are in what it costs to sell a home; the buyer's in the taxes when you buy.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to sell an inherited home in Trieste?

Mainly it depends on the Court and the Land Registry Office, which do not publish their times. The law only sets the outer limits: 12 months for the declaration, 30 days for the cadastral transfer.

Do you pay capital gains tax on an inherited home sold in Trieste?

No, even if you sell it a month later (TUIR, art. 67; from 2027 Legislative Decree 117/2026, art. 76).

Can you sell an inherited home in Trieste without the succession declaration?

No. Without proof that the declaration has been filed, the notary cannot carry out acts concerning the succession (Legislative Decree 346/1990, art. 48), and in Trieste the Court requires it for the certificate.

Siblings inheriting a home in Trieste: what if one won't sell?

The whole home cannot be sold without them. You can sell your share, offering it first to your siblings (art. 732), or ask for partition.

How much does the succession of a home in Trieste cost?

Between parents and children, below €1,000,000 per heir: 3% of the cadastral value, or €400 with the first-home requirements, plus €247.79 for the cadastral transfer, the certificate and the land register application.

What to do now

• Get the cadastral extract and the land register extract (estratto tavolare): cadastral income, land register entry (partita tavolare), who is shown as owner.
• Collect the death certificate and the historical family record; look for a will.
• File the declaration, then the cadastral transfer within 30 days; keep the receipt showing the registration details.
• For the application, write to successioni.tribunale.trieste@giustizia.it and have the signatures authenticated first.
• Agree with the other heirs; then what the home is worth, the documents for selling and cadastral compliance.

What this guide doesn't tell you

It does not cover contested wills, debts, renunciations, legacies, reserved shares, trusts or foreign law. The times of the Court and the Land Registry Office have not been measured. On acceptance and debts, decide with a notary or lawyer; on tax, with an accountant.

If you sell with us. Before your home goes online we read the papers, land register included, and tell you what is missing and who can provide it: for an inherited home, how far the succession and the heirs' entry have got, with the steps in the right order. If you live far away you can tell us about the home on a video call, and we see you through to the notary. Tell us about your home.

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