Updated 6 November 2026
In short
Rent from a home in Italy is taxed in Italy, also if you live abroad. On short-term rentals (up to 30 days) you can choose a flat tax, the cedolare secca: 26%, reduced to 21% for one home that you choose in your tax return.
It is calculated on the gross rent: no expenses are deducted. Cleaning and linen charged to guests as a flat fee are part of the rent, and so is the commission the platform keeps.
From 2026 the regime applies to no more than two apartments. From the third, the law presumes you are running a business: no flat tax, business rules apply.
Airbnb and other intermediaries that collect payments for you withhold 21% as an advance. You deduct it in your return and pay only the difference.
Balance and first instalment are due by 30 June, the second instalment by 30 November. Non-residents file the Redditi PF return, online by 31 October.
Do you pay Italian tax if you live abroad?
Yes. According to the Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy’s tax agency, all individuals, whether or not they live in Italy, are liable to IRPEF, the Italian personal income tax, and income from real estate is one of the taxable categories. Rent from your home on Lake Como is Italian income, so you declare it in Italy, with an Italian tax code (codice fiscale). How to get one is in our Lake Como short-term rental guide.
Your country of residence may also have rules on this income. How the two systems interact depends on your country: ask an adviser who knows both.
Who can use the flat tax on short-term rentals
For the Italian tax office a “short-term rental” (locazione breve) has three features:
it concerns a residential property;
each contract lasts no more than 30 days;
it is signed by individuals not acting as a business, both the owner and the guest.
The contract can be made directly with the guest or through an agency, a manager or a platform such as Airbnb or Booking.com. The regime also applies when the home is let by someone who holds it on a sublet or a free loan (comodato). In that case they pay tax on the short-term rent, while the owner keeps declaring their own property income (with a free loan, the cadastral income).
You can offer services linked to the home: cleaning, linen, wi-fi, utilities, air conditioning. Other services take you out of the regime, because they require a business organisation: breakfast, meals, car hire, guides or interpreters.
The definition refers to individuals and the texts we cite set no residency condition. Still, have a commercialista (Italian accountant) confirm the flat tax option in your case.
21% or 26%: how the rate works
The rule has applied since 2024, when the 2024 budget law amended article 4 of decree-law 50/2017.
The standard flat tax rate on short-term rentals is 26%.
It falls to 21% for the income from one property, which you indicate in your tax return.
The 26% applies to rent accrued from 1 January 2024, even if the contract was signed earlier.
The flat tax is a choice. Instead, you can have the rent taxed under ordinary IRPEF, at progressive rates and with the regional and municipal surcharges. Which is better depends on your other Italian income: run the numbers with your commercialista.
Which home to keep at 21%
If you let two homes, it is almost always better to keep at 21% the one that earns more. The two rates differ by 5 points, so the higher the rent you apply it to, the more you save.
You choose every year in your return. It is not a permanent choice.
What it is calculated on: the gross rent
With the flat tax the taxable base is the whole rent. There are no deductions and no flat-rate allowance. You do not subtract management costs, commissions, utilities or cleaning you pay for.
Item | Part of the flat tax base? |
|---|---|
Price of the stay paid by the guest | Yes |
Cleaning and linen charged to the guest as a flat fee | Yes |
Costs paid directly by the guest, or recharged at the actual cost incurred | No |
Commission the platform or intermediary keeps from the rent | Yes (not subtracted) |
Commission the guest pays directly to the platform | No |
Deposits, penalties, security deposits | No: they are not rent (if you keep them, ask your commercialista how to declare them) |
The tourist tax (imposta di soggiorno) is a municipal levy with its own rules. Airbnb, for example, does not include it in the base for its withholding.
From 3 apartments: presumed business (from 2026)
The 2026 budget law (Law 199/2025, article 1, paragraph 17) lowered the threshold. From tax year 2026, that is from 1 January 2026, the short-term rental tax regime applies only if you let short-term no more than two apartments in each year. Until 2025 the limit was four.
Above the threshold, the law presumes the activity is a business, even if you let through agencies or platforms. In practice:
you can no longer use the flat tax on that rent;
you need a business set-up and a VAT number (partita IVA);
regional and municipal obligations change too: a SCIA instead of a CIA (see CIN and CIR in Lombardy).
National law provides no transition period: anyone letting three or four apartments at the end of 2025 had to adapt from 1 January 2026. For 2025 income, declared in 2026, the four-apartment threshold still applies.
Co-owned homes
Here the law is not entirely clear.
What is certain. If the home is co-owned, each co-owner declares the income for their share and chooses for themselves between flat tax and IRPEF. If the contract or the platform account is in the name of only one co-owner, the 21% withholding is applied and certified only to them, and only they can deduct it.
What is not clarified.
The home at 21%. The law speaks of “one property unit identified by the taxpayer”. Each co-owner is a separate taxpayer, but the Agenzia delle Entrate has not explicitly explained how co-owners coordinate the choice.
The two-apartment threshold. There is no official clarification on how a home you own only in part counts. The most cautious reading, supported by some commentators, is that it counts in full for each co-owner.
If this is your situation, especially near the threshold, ask a commercialista before deciding.
The 21% withholding by Airbnb, Booking.com and managers
Agencies, managers and platforms that collect the rent for you, or take part in the payment, must withhold 21% and pay it to the tax office. It is an advance payment, whatever tax regime you choose. By 16 March of the following year they give you the Certificazione Unica (CU), the certificate of the amount withheld.
In your return you calculate the tax due (21%, 26% or IRPEF), deduct the withholdings and pay only the difference. If a home is at 26%, the platform has already withheld 21%: you pay the missing 5%.
In practice:
Airbnb has applied the 21% withholding since 2024 to “non-professional” hosts, on payouts for listings located in Italy. Its help page does not distinguish by where the host lives. It calculates it on the gross payout, before the host fee, cleaning included, excluding taxes collected through the platform such as the tourist tax. From 2026 Airbnb stops withholding for hosts with more than two listings, but in some cases the change is not automatic: you update the status yourself in the Taxes section of your account.
Booking.com and other platforms: the legal rule is the same. Withholding applies only if the platform collects or takes part in the payment.
A manager: if a property manager collects the rent and pays you the net, they must apply the withholding.
Direct payment: if the guest pays you directly, nobody withholds anything. You pay it all with your return.
When you pay
The flat tax is paid with the F24 form, Italy’s standard tax payment form, at the deadlines for income tax balance and instalments. If you have no Italian bank account, ask your commercialista how to pay from abroad.
By | What you pay | Tax code |
|---|---|---|
30 June | Balance for the previous year + first instalment for the current year | 1842 (balance), 1840 (first instalment) |
30 July | The same June payment, deferred with a 0.40% surcharge | as above |
30 November | Second instalment, or single instalment | 1841 |
When 30 November falls on a weekend the deadline moves: in 2025, for example, the second instalment was due on 1 December. Each year the calendar can also have specific extensions: check the Agenzia delle Entrate’s deadline calendar. Your commercialista calculates the instalments in your case (amount, first year of letting).
How you declare it
Short-term rental income is declared in the year after you received it.
If you are not resident in Italy, according to the Agenzia’s English pages you file the Redditi PF return (not the simplified 730), online by 31 October of the following year, directly or through an authorised intermediary. If you are abroad and cannot file online, you can send it by registered post by 30 November to the Agenzia’s operating centre in Venice. The rental income goes in section RB (buildings income).
If you are resident in Italy, you can also use the 730 return, in section B.
In the return you choose the flat tax, indicate which home is at 21% and report the withholdings shown in the CU. Anyone letting on a sublet or free loan declares the rent as “other income” (redditi diversi).
If you exceed the two-apartment threshold, the income becomes business income and goes in a different part of the return.
Worked examples
These are round-number examples, only to show how it works. They ignore your personal situation. What listings on the lake actually earn is in Lake Como rental income.
One home
You let an apartment in Cernobbio only through Airbnb. In 2026 the gross rent, cleaning included and before Airbnb’s commission, is €20,000.
Flat tax at 21%: 20,000 × 21% = €4,200
Withholding already applied by Airbnb: 20,000 × 21% = €4,200
To pay with the return: €0 (instalments aside)
Two homes
Home A earns €30,000 and home B €12,000, both through a platform.
A at 21%, B at 26% | B at 21%, A at 26% | |
|---|---|---|
Tax on home A | €6,300 | €7,800 |
Tax on home B | €3,120 | €2,520 |
Total flat tax | €9,420 | €10,320 |
Withholdings already applied (21% of €42,000) | €8,820 | €8,820 |
To pay | €600 | €1,500 |
Keeping the higher-earning home at 21% saves €900, that is 5% of the difference between the two.
What the flat tax does not cover
The flat tax replaces IRPEF and the regional and municipal surcharges on the rent, and the registration and stamp duties on the contract. Nothing else. In particular:
other taxes on the home, such as IMU (municipal property tax) and TARI (waste tax), follow their own rules;
the tourist tax, which goes to the Comune (municipality);
the non-tax obligations of short-term rentals, such as the CIN code, reporting guests to the police and regional rules. They are in how short-term rentals work on Lake Como.
And it does not turn a business into a private let. If you offer hotel-type services or exceed the apartment threshold, the flat tax does not apply.
2027 budget law: does anything change?
The 2027 budget bill (A.C. 3174, presented to the Chamber of Deputies on 30 October 2026 and now continuing as A.C. 3174-bis) is not yet law. In the official summary of its measures and in its flat-tax article we found no changes to short-term rental tax. Its flat tax measures concern regulated-rent leases (canone concordato) and shops. It can still change before approval: we will update this article if the rules for short-term rentals change. The details are in our article on the 2027 budget (in Italian).
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay 21% or 26%?
26% is the standard rate. 21% applies to one home per year, which you choose in your return. If you let a single home and choose the flat tax, you pay 21%.
I live in the UK, Germany or the US. Do I still pay tax in Italy?
Yes. Income from a home in Italy is taxed in Italy, whatever your residence. You file the Redditi PF return. Your home country may also have rules on it: ask an adviser who knows both systems.
If Airbnb already withholds 21%, do I owe anything else?
It depends. If the home is at 21% and Airbnb withheld on everything, you usually add nothing at the balance (your commercialista checks the instalments). If the home is at 26%, you pay the 5% difference. If you choose IRPEF, it depends on your rates. In any case you must file a return and report the withholdings in the CU.
Can I deduct cleaning, commissions or the manager’s fee?
Not with the flat tax: it is calculated on the gross rent, with no deductions. As a business the rules are different: ask your commercialista. What a manager costs, and what is left, is in Lake Como property management fees.
The home is co-owned. How do we declare it?
Each co-owner declares their share and chooses flat tax or IRPEF. The platform’s withholding is attributed only to the person named on the contract or account. On the two-apartment threshold there is no official clarification for co-owned homes.
What is the deadline for non-residents?
Redditi PF online by 31 October of the year after you received the rent, or by registered post by 30 November if you are abroad and cannot file online. Tax payments follow the June and November deadlines.
Sources
Law 30 December 2025, no. 199 (2026 budget law), art. 1, par. 17 (Normattiva)
Agenzia delle Entrate, Circular 24/E of 12 October 2017, tax regime for short-term rentals
Agenzia delle Entrate, Pre-completed return: buildings (flat tax, short-term rentals)
Agenzia delle Entrate (English), Personal income tax: what it is
Agenzia delle Entrate (English), How and when to file a tax return
Agenzia delle Entrate (English), When and how to submit a Redditi PF form
Agenzia delle Entrate, Deadline calendar: flat tax with 0.40% surcharge (30 July 2026)
Agenzia delle Entrate, Deadline calendar: flat tax 2025 second instalment (1 December 2025)
Comune di Torino, Business short-term and tourist lets (text of par. 595, Law 178/2020)
Comune di Rimini, Circular on the maximum number of apartments (January 2026)
Airbnb Help Centre, Italy income tax withholding overview for hosts
Chamber of Deputies, A.C. 3174, 2027 budget bill (record and progress) and text of the articles, Tomo II (art. 5)
Own a home on Lake Como?
The numbers that matter are what is left after tax, commissions and costs. Breva Collections manages short-term rental homes on Lake Como and can prepare a free evaluation of what your home could earn. Request it here, or see our short-term rental management service.
This article is for information only and does not replace advice from an Italian accountant (commercialista) or tax adviser.
