Car registration

Car registration in Italy

In Italy a car is on two registers. The Motorizzazione, the transport ministry's office, records the vehicle and its technical data. The Pubblico Registro Automobilistico (PRA), kept by ACI, records who owns it. Since 2020 both are on one document, the Documento Unico (DU), which replaced the old carta di circolazione and certificato di proprietà; every operation since 1 October 2021 issues a DU. The plates, in the format AA 000 AA, stay with the car when it changes hands.

Buying a new car

The dealer usually registers the car for you. You pay the provincial registration tax (IPT) and the fixed costs of the first registration:

  • IPT: set by the car's power and your province, covered in the car tax guide
  • ACI fee: €27.00
  • Motorizzazione fee: €10.20
  • Stamp duty: €32.00 on the application and €16.00 for issuing the DU
  • Plates: €41.78

Worked out from these, the fixed costs come to €126.98, plus IPT and the payment charges.

Buying a used car in Italy

A change of owner is a passaggio di proprietà. The seller signs a sale deed, and the signature has to be authenticated, usually in digital form at an STA (Sportello Telematico dell'Automobilista): an ACI office, the Motorizzazione or an authorised agency. The transfer must then be recorded in the PRA within 60 days, and a new DU is issued in the buyer's name.

The buyer pays:

  • IPT: at the tariff of the buyer's province, or of a company's registered office
  • ACI fee: €27.00
  • Motorizzazione fee: €10.20
  • Stamp duty: €32.00 on the application and €16.00 for issuing the DU
  • Stamp duty on the deed: €16.00, whether the deed is digital or on paper

Without IPT that is €101.20, plus the payment charges. A 100 kW car bought by someone living in Milan adds €456 of IPT, so about €557 in all. Late payment of IPT costs a 30% penalty plus interest.

Two cases cost differently:

  • Selling to a dealer: when a private owner sells to a dealer who trades in used cars, the minivoltura, no IPT is due and the ACI fee drops to €13.50
  • A seller who was never registered as the owner: the buyer pays twice the IPT tariff

Bringing a car in from the EU

Registering a foreign car in Italy is a nazionalizzazione.

  1. Settle the VAT. A car counts as new for VAT if it has covered no more than 6,000 km, or was sold within six months of its first registration abroad. A new car pays Italian VAT at 22%, even when a private person buys it, with form F24 "IVA immatricolazione auto UE". A car bought under the margin scheme is outside this check.
  2. Pass the document and tax check. The Motorizzazione and the PRA check the papers and the taxes before they register the car.
  3. Register it within 60 days. You pay IPT, the €27.00 ACI fee, €16.00 of stamp duty on the application and €16.00 for the DU, and for the new Italian registration the €10.20 Motorizzazione fee, €32.00 of stamp duty and €41.78 for the plates.

A used car first registered in Germany up to 31 May 2004 needs its original Fahrzeugbrief. A car from outside the EU always counts as used for VAT, and clears customs first.

What you will need

  • An identity document and your codice fiscale, the 16-character tax code
  • For a used car: the DU, or the old carta di circolazione and certificato di proprietà, and the authenticated sale deed
  • For an import: the foreign registration certificate, the invoice and proof of the VAT position
  • Compulsory third-party insurance (RC auto) before the car goes on the road

Periodic inspection (revisione)

An Italian car takes a periodic roadworthiness test, the revisione:

  • The first is due 4 years after first registration
  • Then every 2 years
  • Taxis, hire cars with a driver and vehicles over 3,500 kg are tested every year

You can take the car to the Motorizzazione, where the test costs €45.00, or to a workshop authorised by the province. There the tariff is €54.95 plus 22% VAT, €67.04, and with the €10.20 Motorizzazione fee the total is €77.24 before payment charges.

References