Freelancer Tax in Italy: IVA, Regime Forfettario & E-Invoicing (2026)

Italian freelancers register a partita IVA (VAT number, 11 digits) with Agenzia delle Entrate (Revenue Agency):

• File Modello AA9/12 (or online via Fisconline) — declaring your business activity (codice ATECO)
• Choose your tax regime: Forfettario (simplified) or Ordinario (standard)
• Enroll with INPS (social security) — most freelancers under "Gestione Separata" (24-26% contributions)
• If applicable, enroll with your professional order's cassa previdenziale (avvocati, ingegneri, etc.)

No registration fees. Process takes 1-3 days. You can begin invoicing immediately upon receiving your partita IVA.

The Regime Forfettario is Italy's flat-tax simplified regime — extremely attractive for most freelancers:

Eligibility:

• Annual revenue ≤ €85,000 (raised from €65K in 2023)
• No employees (or minimal — ≤€20,000 paid to collaborators)
• Not a partner in pass-through companies
• Not primarily employed elsewhere (with some exceptions)

Mechanics:

• Flat tax: 15% on taxable income (down to 5% for first 5 years if you're a new business)
• Taxable income = revenue × coefficiente di redditività (40%-86% depending on activity)
• No IVA charged on invoices (and you can't deduct input IVA)
• Simplified bookkeeping — just an income register
• No IRPEF or regional/municipal surcharges
• INPS contributions still owed (24-26% Gestione Separata)

For a designer earning €40K with a 78% coefficient: taxable = €31,200 × 15% = €4,680 tax. Compare to ordinary regime (~30%+ effective rate after IRPEF brackets and deductions).

Italy's standard IVA (Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto) is 22% — one of the higher EU rates:

• 22% Standard — most services and goods
• 10% Reduced — restaurants, hotels, transport, gas, electricity
• 5% Super-reduced — specific food categories, social services
• 4% Extra-reduced — essential food, books, medical equipment

Exempt activities (Article 10):

• Medical / healthcare services
• Education and training
• Insurance and banking
• Exports outside the EU
• B2B services to EU clients (reverse charge — no IVA)

Ordinario regime freelancers file IVA returns either monthly or quarterly (based on turnover). Forfettario regime does NOT file IVA returns.

Italy mandates electronic invoicing for all VAT-registered businesses since 2019 (extended to Forfettario in 2024 for revenue > €25K, all in 2024+):

Every invoice must be:

• Created in FatturaPA XML format (specific Italian schema)
• Sent through SDI (Sistema di Interscambio) — government clearance system
• Assigned a unique number and timestamp by SDI
• Delivered to client via SDI (using their Codice Destinatario or PEC email)

Manual XML creation is painful — most freelancers use accounting software or web portals (Aruba, Fattura24, etc.) that integrate with SDI.

Key invoice fields:

• Sequential invoice number (numerazione progressiva)
• Your partita IVA + codice fiscale
• Client's partita IVA (B2B) or codice fiscale (B2C)
• Itemized services with codice ATECO
• IVA rate and amount (or Forfettario disclaimer)
• Marca da bollo €2.00 if invoice > €77.47 and IVA exempt

Italy simplified its IRPEF brackets in 2024 from 4 to 3 brackets:

• 23% — up to €28,000
• 35% — €28,001 to €50,000
• 43% — over €50,000

Plus:

• Regional surtax (addizionale regionale) — 1.23%–3.33% depending on region
• Municipal surtax (addizionale comunale) — up to 0.9% depending on city

Effective top marginal rate (including surtaxes): ~47-48% above €50K.

Forfettario regime BYPASSES IRPEF entirely — pays flat 15% (or 5% if new business) on the coefficient-adjusted income.

Italian freelancers contribute to INPS (National Social Security):

Gestione Separata (most freelancers without a professional order):

• 26.07% for freelancers without other pension coverage
• 24% if you also have employee pension elsewhere
• Applied to taxable income (gross revenue minus deductions/coefficient)
• 1/3 can be transferred to the client (you charge 4% surcharge — "contributo INPS")

Casse Previdenziali (regulated professions — lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects):

• Each profession has its own cassa with different rates (typically 14-20%)
• Contribute to your cassa instead of Gestione Separata

Contributions are deductible from taxable income — softening the blow.

Annual filings:

• Modello Redditi PF — income tax return — due November 30 of the following year (online via Fisconline)
• Acconto IRPEF — advance income tax payment — 40% by June, 60% by November

Periodic IVA (ordinary regime only):

• Monthly (turnover > €400K services / €700K goods): 16th of following month
• Quarterly: end of February, May, August, November + €2.50 quarterly fee
• LIPE (Comunicazione Liquidazioni Periodiche) — quarterly summary, due end of next quarter

INPS contributions:

• Same deadlines as income tax (acconto + saldo)

Forfettario doesn't file IVA — only annual Modello Redditi + INPS.