VAT in Italy in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

8 minutos de lectura

In Italy, VAT is called imposta sul valore aggiunto and is abbreviated the same way as here: IVA. It has four rates: the standard 22% rate and three reduced rates, 10%, 5% and 4%. They are set by article 16 of decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 633/1972, and the product lists are in its tabella A: part II is 4%, part II-bis is 5% and part III is 10%.

In 2026, no rate has changed, but the law has. The decreto legislativo 10/2026, of 19 January, approved the Italian VAT testo unico, which replaces the 1972 decree on 1 January 2027. It keeps the four rates, but renumbers the lists: 4% remains in part II, 5% moves from part II-bis to part III, and 10% from part III to part IV. If your invoices or product pages cite Italian articles, that is the day to review them.

Rate	Percentage	Applies to
Standard (aliquota ordinaria)	22%	Everything not included in the three lists of tabella A: clothing, footwear, electronics, cosmetics, furniture, toys and household goods. Also wine, which does not appear in any of the three lists, and beer, bottled mineral water and prepared food for dogs and cats, which the law expressly excludes from the reduced rates. And tickets for sporting events above €12.91 net
Reduced (aliquota ridotta)	10%	Meat, cured meats and fish, eggs, honey, yogurt and preserved milk, sugar, sweets and chocolate — these two only if the packaging is not luxury — pastries and confectionery, preserves, jams, sauces and prepared soups; medicines, including class C; sanitary pads, tampons and menstrual cups; baby diapers; cut flowers and live plants; passenger transport; accommodation and catering; domestic electricity and domestic methane gas up to 480 m³ per year; all cinema tickets and sporting event tickets up to €12.91 net
Reduced (aliquota ridotta)	5%	Works of art, antiques and collectibles from 1 July 2025, unless you apply the margin scheme; fresh or refrigerated truffles; fresh basil, rosemary, sage and oregano; FFP2 and FFP3 masks, thermometers and intensive-care medical supplies; urban passenger transport by sea, lake, river or lagoon; winter sports and mountaineering courses taught by instructors registered in official registers
Super-reduced (aliquota ridotta al 4 per cento)	4%	Bread, pasta, crackers, flours and semolina, packaged fresh milk, butter and cheese, fruit and vegetables, legumes, olive oil and margarine, canned tomatoes and olives in brine; books, newspapers and magazines, including digital ones if they have ISBN or ISSN; prostheses, wheelchairs, hearing aids and technical aids for people with disabilities; subscriptions; school and company canteens

Rates verified on 12 September 2026 against the “Iva – norme generali e aliquote” sheet of the Agenzia delle Entrate, the Italian tax authority (agenziaentrate.gov.it).

Livigno and Campione d’Italia are in Italy, but not in VAT

Article 7 of decree 633/1972 defines “territory of the State” as the territory of the Italian Republic minus the municipalities of Livigno and Campione d’Italia and the Italian waters of Lake Lugano. The 2026 testo unico repeats the exclusion word for word in article 2, so in 2027 it will remain the same. This is not a historical curiosity: if you ship to a customer in Livigno (postcode 23041) or Campione d’Italia (postcode 22061), that is not an intra-EU distance sale, it does not carry Italian VAT and it is not reported through the one-stop shop. For VAT purposes, those two municipalities are third-country territory.

The two cases do not work the same. Livigno is outside the EU customs territory and outside VAT: the parcel goes through customs. Campione d’Italia entered the EU customs territory on 1 January 2020, but remained outside VAT; instead, the imposta locale sul consumo di Campione d’Italia (ILCC) applies there, with the same rates as Swiss VAT, generally lower than the Italian ones. The municipality is an enclave surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino.

The practical problem is that almost no store distinguishes it: the country is IT, the address looks Italian, and the store charges 22%. If you have sold to those two postcodes, check those orders: you charged VAT when you should not have, and you reported it through the one-stop shop. The same happens in reverse with a supplier invoicing you from there.

Which VAT you charge customers in Italy if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 22% as the standard rate in Italy, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes country-based rates, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class, nor does it monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to have in place:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT number validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once in all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points where stores selling to the rest of the European Union break.

Two quick checks: check the customer’s VAT number in VIES before invoicing without VAT, and use the EU VAT calculator to see which rate to charge on each sale.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard VAT in Italy in 2026?

22%, set by article 16 of decree 633/1972. Below it there are three reduced rates: 10% for processed food, medicines, accommodation, catering and passenger transport; 5% for works of art, truffles and medical supplies; and 4% for bread, pasta, milk, books and the press. Legislative decree 10/2026 keeps the four rates when it replaces the 1972 decree on 1 January 2027.

What is taxed at 4% in Italy and what is not?

At 4% are basic foods and printed culture: bread, pasta, flour, packaged fresh milk, butter and cheese, fruit, vegetables and legumes, olive oil, canned tomatoes, and books, newspapers and magazines, including digital ones if they have ISBN or ISSN. Also prostheses, wheelchairs, hearing aids and subscriptions. Meat, fish, sugar and chocolate do not go down to 4%; they go to 10%; and bottled mineral water, beer, wine and food for dogs and cats remain at 22%.

I sell to Italy from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (22% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in Italy?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.