Prima casa (first home) is the tax relief that cuts the cost of buying a home in Italy, and it is the single biggest saving most buyers will see on the notary’s bill. It is not the same as your abitazione principale (main home), which decides whether you pay the annual property tax, IMU. This guide separates the two and was checked against the Agenzia delle Entrate guide to buying with prima casa relief in October 2026.
What prima casa saves you
The relief changes the purchase taxes. Buying from a private seller (or a company selling without VAT), you pay, according to the Agenzia delle Entrate:
| Tax | With prima casa | Without |
|---|---|---|
| Registration tax (imposta di registro) | 2%, minimum €1,000 | 9%, minimum €1,000 |
| Mortgage tax (ipotecaria) | €50 | €50 |
| Cadastral tax (catastale) | €50 | €50 |
Buying from a builder or company that charges VAT, prima casa means VAT at 4% instead of 10% (22% for luxury categories), plus fixed registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes of €200 each.
For a private sale to an individual buyer, you can ask the notary to apply the prezzo-valore rule: the registration tax is calculated on the property’s cadastral value, not the price. For a prima casa, that value is the rendita catastale (cadastral income) increased by 5% and multiplied by 110. It is usually far below the market price.
A worked example
A two-bedroom flat in a Salento town at €150,000, with a rendita catastale of €600. The cadastral value for prima casa is €600 x 1.05 x 110 = €69,300, so the registration tax is 2% of that, €1,386, plus €100 for the two fixed taxes. Without prima casa the value is €600 x 1.05 x 120 = €75,600, and 9% of it is €6,804, plus €100. Notary fees and agency commission come on top in both cases.
Who qualifies
All of these must be true, and you declare them in the deed:
- the home is not in the luxury cadastral categories A/1, A/8 or A/9;
- it is in the comune where you have your registered residence, or you move your residence there within 18 months of the purchase, or it is the comune where you work or study (see our guide to residence and domicile);
- you do not own, alone or with your spouse, another home in the same comune;
- you do not own anywhere in Italy another home bought with prima casa relief, unless you sell it within two years of the new purchase (the period was one year until the 2025 budget law).
Prima casa is about the comune, not the front door. You do not have to live in the property itself, and it can be rented out, as long as the residence condition is met. That is the practical difference from the main-home rules for IMU below.
When we bought, the notary read the whole deed aloud at the signing, including each prima casa declaration, and asked us to confirm them one by one. It takes a while, and it is the moment to speak up if anything in the preliminary agreement or the deposit terms has changed since.
Keeping the relief, and losing it
If you sell or give away a prima casa within five years of buying it, you lose the relief, unless you buy another home to use as your main home within one year. Losing it means paying the difference in tax, interest and a 30% penalty. The same applies if you promised to move your residence within 18 months and did not.
If you sell a prima casa and buy another with the relief within one year, you get a tax credit equal to the registration tax or VAT paid on the first purchase, up to the tax due on the new one. You can also buy the new home first, as long as you sell the old one within two years.
The extra relief for buyers under 36, which removed the purchase taxes entirely, ended on 31 December 2024 and has not been renewed.
Main home and IMU
IMU, the annual municipal property tax, is not due on your abitazione principale, unless it is in categories A/1, A/8 or A/9. A property counts as your main home when you both live there habitually and have your registered residence there, recorded in the national resident register. TASI, the old services tax, was folded into IMU in 2020 and no longer exists separately.
Since a Constitutional Court ruling in 2022 (no. 209), each spouse can claim the IMU exemption on the home where he or she actually lives and is registered, even if the other spouse lives elsewhere, in the same comune or another. The comune can check that each really lives there.
Renting out a room in your main home does not by itself make you lose the IMU exemption, according to a 2014 Ministry of Economy FAQ. Holiday lets of the whole property are a different matter, so ask your commercialista before you list it.
Inheritance and the family home
Under article 540 of the Civil Code, a surviving spouse has the right to live in the family home (diritto di abitazione). For IMU, the spouse with that right is the one who pays, and the home stays exempt if it is his or her main home.
Before you sign
Tell your notary at the preliminary stage that you want prima casa and the prezzo-valore rule, check the rendita on the cadastral record, and plan your change of residence if you are not already registered in that comune. For the full purchase process, see our guide to buying a home in Puglia.
