Rendita catastale: the number your IMU is built on
Italian property tax is not based on what your house is worth. It starts from a figure most foreign owners have never heard of until the first bill.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
The rendita catastale, or cadastral income, is a notional yearly income that the Italian land registry assigns to every building unit from its area, use category, quality class and size. It is not the price you paid and not the rent you could charge, and it changes only when the land registry record is updated. IMU uses the rendita on record on 1 January of the tax year, exactly as printed on the visura catastale, the registry extract. The calculation adds 5 % and multiplies by a coefficient that depends on the category: 160 for homes, 55 for shops, 65 for warehouses. A village house classed A/4 with €512.46 of rendita therefore has a taxable value of €86,093, and at the 1.06 % rate most comuni charge on second homes it pays €913 a year, in two instalments of €456. Getting this one number right is most of the work.
From cadastral income to IMU base
Taxable value of a home
€109,200
| Income revalued by 5 % | €682.50 |
| IMU at 1.06 % | €1,158 |
A notional income, not a valuation
In many countries property tax follows a market or rental valuation. Italy instead uses the cadastre, a national register that classifies each unit and gives it a rendita through a tariff for its area, its use category and its class. The tariffs date back decades, so the rendita is usually far below what the property would earn on the market, and two similar flats in the same street can carry different figures if one was registered recently. That gap is not an error: the multipliers in the IMU formula were set precisely to turn a low notional income into a taxable value.
Practical consequence for buyers: the rendita of a house you are considering is public information and shows you the IMU you will pay before you sign. Ask the agent or notary for the visura, or look up the unit yourself, and run the figure through the IMU calculator with the comune’s rate.
The Italian terms on the visura
The visura is short but dense. These are the fields you will meet, and which ones matter for the tax.
| On the visura | What it means | Role in IMU |
|---|---|---|
| Rendita catastale | Cadastral income: a notional yearly income set by the land registry | Base for buildings |
| Visura catastale | Extract of the land registry record | Where you read the rendita |
| Categoria (A/2, A/4, C/6…) | Use class of the unit: home, shop, garage | Chooses the multiplier |
| Classe | Quality grade within the area | Already inside the rendita |
| Consistenza (vani, m²) | Size in rooms or square metres | Already inside the rendita |
| Foglio, particella, subalterno | Map sheet, parcel and unit number | Identify the unit |
| Reddito dominicale | Notional income of farmland | Base for agricultural land |
Garages, cellars and attics often have their own line with their own subalterno and rendita. Each one is taxed separately with its own multiplier, unless it is a pertinenza of your main home in Italy, which non-residents rarely have.
From the registry figure to the payment
Take the rendita, multiply by 1.05, multiply by the category coefficient, apply the comune’s rate, then scale for your share of ownership and the months you owned the property. Co-owners use the rendita of the whole unit: never divide it by your share before starting, or you will apply the share twice. The table shows the yearly tax on homes classed A/4 at the 1.06 % rate.
| Rendita | Taxable value | IMU per year | Each instalment |
|---|---|---|---|
| €300 | €50,400 | €534 | €267 |
| €450 | €75,600 | €801 | €401 |
| €600 | €100,800 | €1,068 | €534 |
| €800 | €134,400 | €1,425 | €712 |
| €1,100 | €184,800 | €1,959 | €979 |
Why the category matters as much as the figure
The same rendita produces very different taxable values depending on the category, because the multiplier changes: €512 on a shop gives €29,595, on an office €43,047, on a home €86,093. A rural building converted into a holiday let but still classed as a barn is not a loophole: once the use changes, the classification should be updated, and the comune can assess the difference. The multipliers guide lists every category.
Changes during the year
The law freezes the rendita on 1 January, with one exception: when building works change the rendita, the new one applies from the end of the works or from first use, if earlier. A new house is taxed from the same moment, even before the definitive rendita is recorded; until then the plot is treated as building land and taxed on its market value. If you buy or sell during the year, the rendita does not change, but the months are split between buyer and seller, with the day of the deed counting for the buyer, as explained in the guide on buying and selling.
Farmland uses a different figure
Plots in the countryside are recorded in the land registry for land, where each parcel has a reddito dominicale (owner’s income) and a reddito agrario (farming income). IMU looks only at the first, increased by 25 % and multiplied by 135. Olive groves and vineyards bought with a country house are taxed this way, at a base rate of 0.76 %, unless the comune lists its farmland as exempt; the agricultural land guide covers the exemptions.
When the rendita looks wrong
If the visura does not match the property, for instance a garage converted into a room or a flat merged with the one next door, the fix goes through the land registry, usually with a geometra who files an update. The comune keeps using the rendita on record until then, and a payment based on your own estimate of the “right” figure exposes you to back tax, a penalty and interest. Comuni can check up to the end of the fifth year after the payment was due. If an official correction shows you paid too much, you can ask the comune for a refund.
Checklist before your first payment
Get the visura for every unit you own, including garage and cellar lines. Note the category and the rendita of each. Check the comune’s rate for second homes in the rates by comune tool, since it can be anywhere from zero to 1.14 %. Enter your share and months. Keep a copy of the visura with your payment receipts: it is the document you will need if the comune ever questions the amount.