Renting out a home in Trieste from abroad: tax, signing, payments

If you live abroad and let your home in Trieste, as many Triestines who emigrated, heirs far away and families from across the border do, you pay the tax on the rent in Italy: income from a property located here is produced here. You can choose the flat-rate tax (cedolare secca) just like a resident: on a 3+2 regulated rent lease it is 10% of the rent, €780 a year on €650 a month.

Where do you pay tax if you live abroad?

In Italy. The consolidated income tax act (TUIR) taxes non-residents only on income produced in Italy (art. 3), and the first item on that list is income from land and buildings (art. 23). The Agenzia delle Entrate's instructions for non-residents say the same.

Double taxation treaties confirm it: in the treaty with Austria, article 6 says that income from immovable property, rent included, is taxed in the State where the property is. How the country where you live takes account of what you paid here depends on the double taxation treaty between Italy and that country.

From 2027 you find them in the new consolidated income tax act (d.lgs. 117/2026).

Does the cedolare secca apply to non-residents?

Yes. The Agenzia reserves it for individuals who own the property or hold a usufruct and do not let it as a business (circular 26/E of 2011, § 1.1): residence is not one of the conditions. What is excluded is property abroad, not owners who live abroad.

The rates are the same for everyone: 21% on a free-market rent, 10% on a regulated rent, because Trieste is a municipality with high housing pressure. A regulated rent lease signed without the landlords' and tenants' organisations needs their certificate (attestazione).

And if you choose IRPEF?

For non-residents IRPEF is stricter (art. 24 TUIR): no allowances for dependants and few deductible expenses; the tax credits for renovation work remain. But if you produce at least 75% of your income in Italy and have no similar relief in your own country, the rules for residents apply.

You pay the surcharges too: a non-resident's tax domicile is the municipality where the income is produced, so Trieste. The Friuli Venezia Giulia regional surcharge in 2026 is 0.70% up to €15,000 of income and 1.23% on the whole income above that threshold. The municipal surcharge comes on top.

How do you sign and register without coming to Trieste?

The codice fiscale (Italian tax code) is what you need to file and pay. If you do not have one, ask the Italian consulate in the country where you live, or the Agenzia, filing form AA4/8 through PEC (Italian certified email) or by appointment at its Trieste provincial office (Direzione provinciale).

Signing. A residential lease must be in writing, not signed in the same room:

• paper originals sent by post: the contract is concluded when the party who made the offer learns of the other party's acceptance (art. 1326 of the Italian Civil Code);
• digital signature, or another qualified electronic signature: the document counts as written (Digital Administration Code, art. 20);
• power of attorney: if someone signs for you, a written power of attorney is enough, because it takes the form of the contract (art. 1392 of the Civil Code).

Registration is due within 30 days of signing, by the landlord or the tenant: online, at an office, or through an authorised intermediary or a delegate. You choose the cedolare in the RLI form.

Regulated rent. The certificate under the 2025 territorial agreement is requested with the signed application, the lease and an identity document, and it is valid only with a digital signature: you do not need to be here.

ILIA is the regional tax that replaces IMU in Friuli Venezia Giulia: the halving for pensioners abroad with a treaty pension applies only to a home that is not let.

Tax return and payments from abroad

Non-residents cannot use the 730: they file the Redditi Persone fisiche form, with Agenzia credentials, with an eIDAS login if you have a codice fiscale, or by registered post.

From abroad you can pay by bank transfer to the State budget: the Redditi instructions explain how. The cedolare tax codes: 1840, 1841 and 1842.

Example: a two-room flat in Trieste, owner in Austria

Assumptions: owner resident in Austria, with no other income in Italy; two-room flat let on a certified 3+2 regulated rent lease at €650 a month from 1 January; cedolare chosen at registration.

1. Annual rent: 650 × 12 = €7,800.
2. Cedolare at 10%: €780 payable in Italy, instead of IRPEF, surcharges, registration tax and stamp duty.
3. When you pay. No advance payments in the first year: the €780 is paid as the balance by 30 June the year after, together with the first advance, 40%: €312. That June you pay €1,092; the second advance, €468, by 30 November.
4. With IRPEF the taxable income would be 7,800 × 95% × 70% = €5,187: at 23% that is €1,193.01, plus €36.31 of regional surcharge and €54.60 of registration tax, your half. Total €1,283.92 against 780, before the municipal surcharge.
5. In Austria. Under the treaty (art. 23) Austria deducts the tax paid in Italy from its own tax, up to the Austrian tax on that income. Whether anything is left to pay there, and whether the credit covers the cedolare, depends on Austrian law: ask your adviser.

Timeline: what, when, from where

• before signing

  What: Codice fiscale

  From where: Italian consulate, or PEC to the Agenzia

• within 30 days of signing

  What: Registration and choice of cedolare

  From where: online, authorised intermediary or delegate

• following year, by the deadlines given below

  What: Tax return (Redditi form)

  From where: online, or by registered post from abroad

• 30 June of the following year, or 30 July with 0.40% extra

  What: Balance and first advance (40%)

  From where: bank transfer to the State budget from abroad

• 30 November

  What: Second advance (60%)

  From where: as above

If you let in 2025, the online return is due by 2 November 2026; the instructions give those filing from abroad until 30 November 2026.