Italian Tax & Platform Reporting

Sassi Villas is a marketplace, not a hotel. The owner of each villa is the principal accommodation supplier; Sassi Villas Ltd is the platform that lists the property, takes payment under regulated payment rails, handles the parts of Italian tax that the law obliges a platform to handle on the owner’s behalf, and pays out the net amount. This page exists to set out, transparently and with full statutory citation, exactly what Sassi Villas does on the Italian tax side and exactly what stays with the owner. It is intentionally citation-rich because the Italian short-term-let regime has been amended repeatedly over recent years and because owners (and their commercialisti or accountants) need to be able to verify the legal basis for every figure that appears on their owner statement. None of this content is tax advice; an owner’s personal tax position is a matter for the owner’s own commercialista or accountant. This page covers five things the platform handles directly (VAT on commission, cedolare secca withholding, the Certificazione Unica, platform reporting to HMRC under the UK rules and DAC7 in the EU, and the safety and identification standards enforced at onboarding) and four things the owner handles directly (the CIN application with the comune, Alloggiati Web filings within 24 or 6 hours of check-in, the imposta di soggiorno collected from the guest at check-in and remitted to the comune, and the owner’s own annual income tax return). Where this page restates a rule from primary legislation, the article, paragraph, and decree are cited inline so that the source can be checked. Where the position is reviewed regularly with the Sassi Villas tax advisers, that is stated explicitly. For any specific question, write to support@sassivillas.com.

Sassi Villas Ltd is incorporated in England and Wales and is therefore established outside the European Union. The villas listed on the platform are physically located in the Italian region of Puglia. The Italian tax regime for short-term lets applies to the rental income generated by those villas regardless of the residence of the owner or of the platform: Italian law follows the location of the property. Italian law also treats certain non-Italian platforms as having Italian tax obligations in connection with that rental income, and Sassi Villas Ltd is registered, configured, and operated to meet those obligations directly. Specifically, Sassi Villas Ltd holds an Italian VAT number obtained through direct identification under Article 35-ter of Presidential Decree 633/1972, files Italian VAT returns in its own name, withholds cedolare secca where the Italian short-term-let regime applies, issues the regulated Certificazione Unica to each affected owner, and reports annually to HM Revenue & Customs under the UK Platform Operators (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2023, with downstream automatic exchange to the Agenzia delle Entrate. Sassi Villas does not hold guest funds in its own bank account. Guest payments are processed by Stripe Technology Europe, Limited, an electronic money institution authorised and supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland (reference C187865), to PCI DSS Level 1 standards, with Stripe Connect operating the split between the platform commission, the cedolare withholding, and the owner’s net payout. The Italian tax position set out below is reviewed regularly with the Sassi Villas tax advisers, and is correct as at the date of this statement.

Sassi Villas’ commission is a service supplied in connection with immovable property located in Italy. Under Article 47 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC (the EU VAT Directive), the place of supply of a service connected with immovable property is the place where the property is located. The commission is therefore subject to Italian VAT. The standard Italian VAT rate is 22%, and Sassi Villas charges 22% Italian VAT on its commission to non-business owners (typically private individuals letting their own villa or villas, who do not hold a Partita IVA). The VAT is remitted to the Agenzia delle Entrate by Sassi Villas under its Italian VAT number and reported on Sassi Villas’ own VAT returns. Sassi Villas obtained its Italian VAT number by direct identification at the Agenzia delle Entrate’s Pescara office (identificazione diretta) under Article 35-ter of Presidential Decree 633/1972. The Pescara office is the centralised competent office for direct identification by non-resident taxable persons; the route is available to companies established in third countries with which Italy has an adequate exchange-of-information framework. For UK-established companies specifically, the Agenzia delle Entrate confirmed in Risoluzione 7/E/2021 that direct identification under Article 35-ter remains available after the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, on the basis of the administrative-cooperation framework established by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. For owners who hold a valid Partita IVA, the Italian B2B reverse-charge mechanism applies: Sassi Villas does not add 22% VAT to its commission, the invoice is issued under the reverse-charge rule, and the owner self-accounts for the VAT on the owner’s own Italian VAT return. Owners are required to notify Sassi Villas on issue or surrender of a Partita IVA so that the VAT treatment of the commission is updated accordingly, with the change taking effect from the following billing cycle.

Where the owner is a private individual letting Italian property under the locazioni brevi regime, Italian law requires the platform that collects or intervenes in payment to act as a withholding agent on the rental consideration. The obligation derives from Article 4 of Decree-Law 50/2017, converted with amendments into Law 96/2017 (the original locazioni brevi regime), and has since been amended significantly by Article 1, paragraph 63, of Law 213/2023 (the 2024 Italian Budget Law). Under the regime as currently in force, the platform must withhold 21% on the entire rental consideration on account (a titolo d’acconto). The percentage is fixed at 21% regardless of which cedolare rate ultimately applies to the owner; the phrase “on account” is the legally important point, because it means the withholding is provisional and is reconciled to the owner’s final tax liability through the annual return. The 21% applies to the rental consideration in full, which Italian practice treats as including the cleaning fee where it is bundled into the booking price; a cleaning charge re-billed separately at documented cost, or paid by the guest directly, falls outside the base. Sassi Villas withholds 21% on each booking that falls within the regime, deducts the withholding from the owner’s payout, and remits it monthly to the Agenzia delle Entrate via F24 in the calendar window required by the regime. Where the owner has elected cedolare secca and the 21% rate applies to the property (typically the single property nominated by the owner each tax year), the on-account withholding equals the final liability and the owner has nothing further to pay on that income. Where the 26% rate applies to a second short-term-let unit, Sassi Villas still withholds only 21%; the 5% balance is settled by the owner’s commercialista on the owner’s annual return, against the Certificazione Unica issued by Sassi Villas. Where the owner has not elected cedolare and remains on the IRPEF regime, the 21% withholding is offset against the owner’s ordinary income tax position on the annual return in the normal way.

The Certificazione Unica is the regulated document by which an Italian withholding agent reports to the recipient, and to the Agenzia delle Entrate, the amounts paid and the amounts withheld during a fiscal year. Sassi Villas issues the Certificazione Unica to every owner whose Italian short-term-let income has been subject to cedolare secca withholding by the platform in the relevant year. The document is produced in the format expected by the Agenzia delle Entrate (the modello Certificazione Unica) and contains: the owner’s identifying tax data (codice fiscale, Partita IVA where applicable, full legal name, residential address), the gross rental consideration collected on each booking, the cedolare withheld and remitted in the owner’s name, the period to which each line relates, and the catastale reference of the property. The Certificazione Unica is the document that allows the owner’s commercialista to reconcile the 21% on-account withholding to the final rate that applies to the owner (21% on the nominated unit, 26% on the second short-term-let unit, or the IRPEF rate where cedolare has not been elected). It is also the document on which a non-Italian-resident owner relies when claiming a foreign tax credit on the Italian withholding in the owner’s home jurisdiction. The Certificazione Unica is published in the owner dashboard each year as soon as the relevant fiscal-year data is finalised and reconciled with the F24 remittances, and is downloadable as a PDF. Owners receive a notification through the dashboard and by email when the Certificazione Unica for a given year is available.

Article 1, paragraph 595, of Law 178/2020 (the 2021 Italian Budget Law) introduced a presumption of entrepreneurial activity for individuals letting more than a defined number of short-term-let units in a calendar year. That paragraph has been amended by Article 1, paragraph 17, of Law 199/2025, which from 1 January 2026 sets the threshold at three Italian short-term-let units. An owner who lets three or more Italian short-term-let units from that date is presumed by Italian law to be carrying out entrepreneurial activity (attività d’impresa) in respect of those lets. The consequences are material. The owner must hold a Partita IVA, must register as a business (impresa) for VAT and IRPEF purposes, and exits the locazioni brevi regime; cedolare secca ceases to be available on those lets. The owner accounts for VAT on the rental income on the owner’s own returns (subject to the rules on VAT exemption for short-term lets of residential property in the locazione regime, which are a matter for the owner’s commercialista) and for IRPEF on the ordinary income basis, or, where eligible by reference to the turnover threshold and other conditions, sits within the regime forfettario at the substitute-tax rate of 15%. Separately, and regardless of the number of units, an owner who provides hotel-like services with the let (for example breakfast, or daily cleaning during the stay) is treated as carrying on an activity outside the locazioni brevi regime: that owner needs a Partita IVA, accounts for VAT on the rental on its own returns, and is not subject to cedolare withholding by Sassi Villas. Sassi Villas does not apply cedolare withholding to bookings of properties that fall under this presumption, because the regime no longer applies; the 5% Sassi Villas platform commission is still charged on Plan 01 in the normal way, and the platform’s VAT, CIN-display, safety-equipment, and reporting obligations are unchanged. Owners who anticipate crossing the three-unit threshold are strongly encouraged to engage their commercialista in advance of 1 January 2026 and to notify Sassi Villas of any Partita IVA issued so that the commission VAT treatment and the absence of cedolare withholding are reflected from the correct date.

The imposta di soggiorno is a municipal tax levied by individual comuni on overnight stays in tourist accommodation. The applicable rate, the chargeable categories of guest (with common exemptions for children below a defined age, persons on medical visits, and other locally defined categories), the maximum chargeable nights per stay, and the remittance calendar are each set by the comune. The tax is owed by the guest. On Sassi Villas it is collected by the owner, as host, directly from the guest, usually in person at check-in. It does not run through the platform: Sassi Villas does not collect it at checkout, it does not form part of the total the guest pays online, and it does not enter the owner’s payout. The owner remits the tax to the comune in line with the comune’s rate and remittance calendar, sized to the number of paying guests and the chargeable nights and subject to local exemptions, and files the annual dichiarazione di imposta di soggiorno for the property where one is required. Where the property sits in a comune that does not apply an imposta di soggiorno, none is due; the small number of Puglia comuni in this category are flagged in the owner dashboard. Sassi Villas supports the owner by confirming the comune at onboarding and displaying the applicable position, but the collection, remittance, and declaration are the owner’s responsibility as the host.

The Codice Identificativo Nazionale (CIN) is the national identifier for short-term-let units in Italy. It has been mandatory for every Italian short-term tourist rental, on every channel, since 1 January 2025. The CIN is issued by the comune in which the property is located, on application by the owner, on the basis of the comunal SCIA or equivalent local authorisation and proof of compliance with the relevant local rules. The CIN must be displayed on every listing of the property, in every advertisement, and in the property’s pre-stay communication with the guest, and must be quoted in tax filings that touch the property. Without a CIN, the property cannot be listed on Sassi Villas, on Airbnb, on Booking.com, on VRBO, or on any other channel that operates in Italy. Sassi Villas does not apply for the CIN on the owner’s behalf: the CIN application is made by the property holder, often supported by the owner’s commercialista or by the property manager that holds the local relationship with the comune. Sassi Villas displays the CIN prominently on the listing in line with the disclosure rule, retains the CIN in the owner dashboard, and notifies the owner before any CIN renewal or revision deadline of which the platform becomes aware. Owners are responsible for renewing and updating the CIN if the property changes hands, if the comune requires reissue, or if the operating model changes in a way that requires a new authorisation.

Italian law requires the host of any accommodation to report every guest to the local public-security authority (Questura) within a defined window of check-in, through the dedicated Alloggiati Web portal operated by the Italian Ministry of the Interior’s Polizia di Stato. The headline duty is to file within 24 hours of check-in. For stays of 24 hours or less, the filing must instead be made within 6 hours of the guest’s arrival. The duty falls on the host. In a short-term-let arrangement the host is the owner (or, where the management agreement so provides, the owner’s appointed property manager): it is not the platform. Sassi Villas does not submit Alloggiati Web filings on the owner’s behalf. Sassi Villas does, however, collect the guest’s identity-document data at the point of booking (full legal name, date of birth, place of birth, nationality, document type, document number, and document issuing authority) and shares the data with the owner through the owner dashboard immediately after check-in so that the owner can complete the Alloggiati Web filing within the legal window. The dashboard reminds the owner before the filing deadline and provides a copy-friendly format aligned to the Alloggiati Web fields. Persistent failure to file with the Questura is an offence on the host and is taken seriously by the platform: repeated failure to file, where evidenced, may result in delisting under the property-standards process described in the owner terms.

Every short-term-let unit in Italy is subject to a defined minimum safety baseline. The duty to equip the property is set by Article 13-ter, paragraph 7, of Decree-Law 145/2023, converted with amendments into Law 191/2023 (the so-called Decreto Anticipi 2023); the detailed specification it points to is fixed by the Ministerial Decree of 3 September 2021 (Annex I, point 4.4). The baseline requires three things in particular. First, working detectors for combustible gas and for carbon monoxide, in every property in which gas appliances are present (which includes most Puglia villas with a gas hob, a gas boiler, or a gas-fired heating system). The detectors must be commercially available domestic units of appropriate certification and must be tested and maintained at the intervals specified in the manufacturer’s instructions. Second, at least one portable fire extinguisher of minimum 13A capacity, with one extinguisher per 200 square metres of floor area, or fraction thereof, and at least one extinguisher per floor of the property. “13A” refers to the European fire-rating standard for portable extinguishers tested against Class A (solid combustible) fires; the appropriate extinguishers in the Italian residential market are typically 6 kg ABC powder units or 6 litre water-additive units rated 13A or higher. Third, the extinguishers must be maintained in accordance with UNI 9994-1:2024, the Italian standard for portable-extinguisher maintenance, which requires a documented inspection every six months by a qualified maintainer. The Sassi Villas onboarding inspection verifies the presence of compliant equipment, the maintenance log, and the position of the extinguishers (which must be accessible and clearly signed). Continuing maintenance is the owner’s responsibility, with annual evidence supplied to Sassi Villas as part of the annual property-standards cycle. A property that does not meet the baseline at inspection cannot go live, and a property that loses the baseline mid-relationship may be delisted on safety grounds.

Sassi Villas Ltd, as a UK-established platform operator, reports annually to HM Revenue & Customs under the UK Platform Operators (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2023, the United Kingdom’s transposition of the OECD Model Reporting Rules for Digital Platforms. The Regulations require platform operators to perform due-diligence procedures on each reportable seller (in this context, each property owner generating consideration through the platform), to collect a defined set of data points, and to file an annual return with HMRC by 31 January following the end of each reportable calendar year. The data points reported in respect of each owner include: the legal name of the owner (or the registered name of the owner’s company), the owner’s primary residential or registered-office address, tax identification numbers (codice fiscale, Partita IVA where applicable, UK tax reference where applicable, and the equivalent identifier in any other relevant jurisdiction), the address and identifying reference of each let property, total consideration received by the owner through the platform across the reporting year, total platform fees, and the total number of nights let. In parallel, Sassi Villas discharges its obligations under DAC7, the European Union’s equivalent regime introduced by Council Directive (EU) 2021/514, amending Council Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation, where DAC7 applies to its EU-relevant activity. Data filed under the UK Regulations is automatically exchanged with the Agenzia delle Entrate (the relevant Italian competent authority) under the OECD framework and the underlying bilateral and EU-UK exchange agreements, and is, where different, exchanged with the tax authority of the owner’s country of residence. Sassi Villas provides each owner, at or before the date of filing, with a copy of the data filed in respect of the owner’s account, allowing the owner to reconcile the figures before exchange. The platform reporting position is reviewed regularly with the Sassi Villas tax advisers, and the regulatory framework on both sides of the Channel is monitored for amendment.

Italian rules apply to the Italian property regardless of where the owner is resident. A non-Italian-resident owner is taxable in Italy on Italian short-term-let income and may elect cedolare secca at the same 21% and 26% rates that apply to Italian residents. Sassi Villas applies the 21% on-account withholding under Article 4 of Decree-Law 50/2017 in exactly the same way regardless of the owner’s residence; the Certificazione Unica is issued in the same form. For UK-resident owners, Italian rental income must also be declared on the annual UK self-assessment return as foreign income from real property. UK self-assessment then allows a credit, under the unilateral relief rules and (where they overlap) under the UK-Italy Convention for the avoidance of double taxation, for Italian tax already withheld at source on that income. The credit is claimed in the Foreign Tax Credit Relief section of the UK return, and the Certificazione Unica is the supporting document. UK self-assessment also requires reporting of capital allowances, foreign property losses, and the underlying expenses against the Italian rental income, which are a matter for the owner’s UK accountant. Equivalent treaty mechanisms exist for owners resident in other jurisdictions; Sassi Villas displays Italian withholding totals in both EUR and a GBP-equivalent in the owner dashboard for ease of UK reporting, on the calendar-average ECB reference rate, and is happy to supply additional reports in support of an owner’s home-jurisdiction filing on request to support@sassivillas.com. None of this is tax advice; the owner’s home-jurisdiction position is for the owner’s own adviser.

Accurate Italian tax processing depends on accurate owner data. Sassi Villas collects the following at onboarding and updates them as required:

• full legal name as it appears on the owner’s identity documents;
• date of birth;
• country of tax residence, and any change in tax residence;
• codice fiscale (every owner of Italian property holds one; where the owner does not yet hold one, the commercialista or a Consolato Italiano abroad can apply);
• Partita IVA, where the owner is VAT-registered, with the date of issue or surrender;
• the number of Italian short-term-let units the owner currently lets (1, 2, or 3+; this determines the cedolare bracket or the entrepreneurial-activity presumption from 1 January 2026);
• the EUR IBAN to which payouts should be settled;
• the catastale reference of the property (foglio, particella, and subalterno), confirmed against the visura catastale;
• the CIN issued by the comune, with renewal date;
• the comune in which the property sits, which sets the local tourist-tax position the owner collects and remits;
• the address of the property, for guest-facing display;
• for UK-resident owners, the UK self-assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference where the owner is willing to share it (used to streamline the data the platform reports under the UK Regulations).

Owners are responsible for keeping these current in the owner dashboard. Any change in tax residence, Partita IVA status, beneficial-ownership structure, or property identifier must be notified to Sassi Villas without undue delay, and in any event before the next billing cycle, so that the VAT treatment, the cedolare withholding, and the platform reporting are applied correctly from the date of change.

Italian short-term-let law has changed substantially in each of the last three calendar years (the codification in the 2024 Budget Law, the CIN regime, the 2026 entrepreneurial-activity threshold, the Decreto Anticipi safety baseline, and successive amendments to the platform-reporting framework on both sides of the Channel). The Sassi Villas tax position is reviewed regularly with the platform’s Italian and UK tax advisers, and the statutory citations on this page are correct as at the date of last update shown at the top. Owners are notified in writing of any material change that affects what the platform withholds, collects, or reports in their respect, with reasonable notice and, where the change has a measurable effect on owner payouts, with worked examples. Nothing on this page constitutes tax advice to any individual owner. For decisions on cedolare election, Partita IVA registration, the regime forfettario, double-taxation relief in the owner’s home jurisdiction, the optimal allocation of two or more short-term-let units across cedolare brackets, and any related question of personal Italian or UK tax filing, owners should consult their own commercialista or accountant. Sassi Villas is happy to share the platform’s data on the owner’s account in any format the owner’s adviser requires; requests should be sent to support@sassivillas.com, and standard data extracts are made available in the owner dashboard at no charge.