Cedolare secca at 10% and reduced ILIA: what landlords save with regulated rent (canone concordato) in Trieste

The benefits in a table

Why in Trieste

The State’s benefits apply in municipalities with “high housing pressure” (alta tensione abitativa); the 10% flat-rate tax also applies in some municipalities hit by disasters. Trieste is on the list of CIPE, the Interministerial Committee for Economic Planning (resolution 87 of 13 November 2003), together with Muggia and Duino Aurisina. We have not found any update to the list after 2003.

The flat-rate tax at 10%

The cedolare secca is a tax at a fixed rate on the rent that a landlord who is a private individual can choose instead of normal taxation. It replaces income tax (IRPEF), the local surcharges, registration tax and stamp duty on the lease, also on extensions. It cannot be chosen by those who let as part of a business or a profession.

The normal rate is 21%. For regulated-rent leases in high housing-pressure municipalities it falls to 10%. Since 2020 the 10% has been permanent, with no expiry date (Law 160 of 2019).

• 3+2: yes, it is the case written into the law.
• Transitional lease (up to 18 months): yes, if it is at regulated rent. This is stated by the Agenzia delle Entrate (circular 8/E of 7 April 2017), not by the letter of the law.
• University students: yes (circular 26/E of 2011).

Without the assistance of the associations you need the certificate of compliance, issued by an association that signed the chosen agreement, or has adhered to it. Two agreements are in force in Trieste, and we have found no position of the Agenzia delle Entrate on which one to use for a new lease: our reading, and the risks, are in 2022 or 2025. And whoever chooses the flat-rate tax gives up the ISTAT update, the adjustment of the rent to the prices measured by ISTAT, the Italian national statistics institute.

If you stay under ordinary taxation (IRPEF)

Without the flat-rate tax, the rent becomes part of your income and pays IRPEF, the personal income tax, with the local surcharges. The law first reduces it by a flat 5%, as for all lettings, and then, for regulated rent in Trieste, by a further 30% (art. 8 of Law 431/1998). 66.5% of the rent is taxed.

The registration tax also falls. Normally it is 2% of the annual rent, with a minimum of €67 for the first year; for regulated rent it is calculated on 70% of the rent, i.e. 1.4%. Landlord and tenant are jointly liable for it, and the 2025 agreement lists among the correct practices that the tenant pays half of it (article 12).

Which option pays off depends on your income and your situation: it is a calculation to do with your accountant.

An example in round numbers

An invented example: a rent of €800 a month, i.e. €9,600 a year, the same in both cases so as to see only the effect of the rules. In reality the two rents of a home may differ.

Under ordinary taxation, on the same rent:

ILIA: in Friuli Venezia Giulia instead of IMU

Since 1 January 2023 Friuli Venezia Giulia has had ILIA instead of IMU: the Region’s autonomous local property tax (imposta locale immobiliare autonoma, regional law 17 of 2022). For homes let at regulated rent, the tax calculated with the City’s rate “is reduced to 75 per cent” (article 10): you pay three quarters.

Trieste’s rates are in the explanatory note to the City’s 2026-2028 budget (December 2025): they are those of City Council resolution no. 63 of 9 December 2024, valid until the City changes them.

On regulated rent, then, you pay 0.4875% of the taxable value (0.65% × 75%): this is a calculation, not a rate set by resolution.

An invented example. Cadastral income of €600, category A/2. The taxable value is the cadastral income increased by 5% and multiplied by 160: €100,800. Let at regulated rent, ILIA is 100,800 × 0.65% × 75% = €491.40 a year. The same home among the “other homes”, at 1.06%, would pay €1,068.48.

Two City rules (ILIA regulation, article 17):

• the reduction applies to the 3+2, the transitional lease and student leases, only with the certificate of compliance, which must be attached to the ILIA declaration. The regulation makes no distinction between assisted and non-assisted leases: if yours is assisted, ask the association what to attach;
• it does not apply if only a portion of the home is let, for example a room.

Flat-rate tax and ISTAT

Whoever chooses the flat-rate tax cannot ask for the ISTAT update of the rent for as long as the option lasts, even if the lease provides for it (art. 3, paragraph 11, of Legislative Decree 23/2011; from 2027 art. 206, paragraph 3, of the Consolidated Act). First, the landlord must inform the tenant by registered letter, giving up the update. How ISTAT works without the flat-rate tax: renewal and ISTAT.

From 2027 the article numbers change

From 1 January 2027 the new Consolidated Income Tax Act (Testo unico delle imposte sui redditi, Legislative Decree 117 of 19 June 2026) applies. It replaces the TUIR (the 1986 consolidated income tax act), article 3 of the decree on the flat-rate tax and part of article 8 of Law 431/1998. The rules on this page move into the new text with the same content:

From the same date the new Consolidated Registration Tax Act (Legislative Decree 123 of 1 August 2025) replaces almost all of Presidential Decree 131 of 1986.

And the tenant?

With a 3+2 at regulated rent, if the home is their main home, the tenant deducts €495.80 with an income up to €15,493.71, and €247.90 up to €30,987.41 (art. 16 of the TUIR, from 2027 art. 16 of the Consolidated Act). The rest is in the article for tenants.