Italian car tax (bollo auto): calculation, deadlines and exemptions

What you need to do if you own a car in Italy

If you own a vehicle registered on the PRA (Pubblico Registro Automobilistico), you must pay the vehicle tax, known as the bollo auto, every year. According to ACI it is an ownership tax: it must be paid regardless of how you use the vehicle, except in specific cases of exemption. So a car sitting in a garage still pays.

In practice you need to do 3 things:

• know the month your bollo expires, which you cannot choose;
• calculate the amount using the ACI online service, which also shows the superbollo if due;
• pay via PagoPA by the end of the month following expiry.

According to the Agenzia delle Entrate, the tax is owed by whoever is recorded on the PRA at the relevant date as the vehicle’s owner, or as its user, usufructuary or buyer under retention of title in the case of leasing, usufruct or purchase with retention of title.

Who manages the bollo: the Regions and the Agenzia delle Entrate

Since 1 January 1999 responsibility for vehicle tax has rested with the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces of Bolzano and Trento, which can entrust checks and collection to third parties. According to ACI, in the Special Statute Regions of Sardinia and Friuli Venezia Giulia these functions are carried out by the Agenzia delle Entrate.

The official sources do not fully agree on this point: the Agenzia delle Entrate page on vehicle tax lists only Friuli Venezia Giulia as a region where the tax is managed by the Agenzia, while its page on exemptions names both Friuli Venezia Giulia and Sardinia as regions without regional tax offices. If you live in Sardinia, it is worth checking with the relevant office who you should contact.

One final point: the vehicle tax archive run by the Agenzia delle Entrate has been closed in favour of the PRA managed by ACI (art. 51 of Dl n. 124/2019). That is why the calculation and payment checking services are on the ACI website.

How the bollo auto is calculated

According to ACI, the calculation and expiry depend on the type of vehicle. For cars, mixed-use vehicles, buses, special-use vehicles and motorcycles the tax is calculated on the vehicle’s actual power in kilowatts.

You will find the kW on the registration certificate or on the Documento unico di circolazione e proprietà. If the figure has decimals, only the whole number counts: 47,80 kW becomes 47 kW.

The ACI online calculator

The most reliable way to find the exact amount is the Calcola online il Bollo e il Superbollo service. You need just 3 pieces of information:

• the vehicle type;
• the payment type (renewal, first registration and so on);
• the number plate.

The result shows the vehicle details, the expiry date and the amount, plus the superbollo if due. The service, which is freely accessible according to the Agenzia delle Entrate, also fills in the F24 form for the superbollo.

Two details worth knowing. First: the calculator only works out the amount from the first day of the month following the expiry of the last bollo paid. If it expires in August, you can only pay from 1 September. Second: if your plate’s details are not in the archives, you can still proceed by entering the tax data as shown on the registration certificate, but the amount will be calculated solely on the data you type in. A typing error means a wrong amount.

The superbollo for powerful cars

Since 2011 cars and mixed-use vehicles have paid an additional state tax, the superbollo, of 10 euros for every kW of power above 225 kW (Decreto Legge n. 98 of 6 July 2011, converted into Legge n. 111 of 15 July 2011).

According to ACI, the amount falls as the vehicle ages:

• to 60% after 5 years from the date of manufacture;
• to 30% after 10 years;
• to 15% after 15 years;
• it is no longer due after 20 years.

These periods run from 1 January of the year after manufacture. If the date of manufacture is missing, the earlier of any foreign registration and the Italian registration is used.

The superbollo is paid with form F24 within the same deadlines as the bollo, but not together with it: the bollo goes to the Region or Autonomous Province, the superbollo to the Treasury. ACI gives this example: with a bollo expiring in April and payable in May 2022, the superbollo also had to be paid by May 2022. If the vehicle is exempt from the bollo or the bollo is suspended, the superbollo is not due.

When the bollo is paid

You cannot choose the expiry date: according to ACI it depends on the registration date, the vehicle’s technical characteristics and sometimes regional rules. There are two cases to distinguish.

Renewal

The bollo must be paid by the end of the month after the previous one expired. ACI’s example: bollo expiring in April, payment by May.

First payment after registration

The bollo is normally due by the last day of the month of registration. If registration took place in the last 10 days of the month, you also have the whole of the following month. Be careful, though: payment runs from the month of registration and the first month counts in full, even if the car was registered on the last day of the month.

Some Regions have rules on minimum periods for the first payment. The ACI page for Valle d’Aosta states, for instance, that for petrol, petrol and LPG, petrol and methane or ecodiesel cars up to 35 kW the first payment covers at least 7 months, up to the following January or July expiry, for a maximum of 12 months; from 36 kW upwards at least 9 months, up to the April, August or December expiry, again for a maximum of 12 months. The same page warns, however, that since 19 December 2024 the site is no longer updated: check with the ACI calculator.

To avoid forgetting the deadline, some Regions and the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano offer the free Ricorda la Scadenza reminder service, run by ACI.

How to pay

According to the Agenzia delle Entrate, the bollo is paid through the PagoPA platform. Online you can use:

• pagoBollo, the ACI online service integrated with PagoPA;
• online banking or the online services of your payment service provider, recognisable by the CBILL or PagoPA logos.

In person you can pay at:

• enabled cash machines;
• retailers that are part of PagoPA, such as SISAL, Lottomatica or Banca 5;
• post offices;
• ACI and authorised vehicle paperwork agencies connected to PagoPA.

The ACI Calcola e paga il bollo online service requires SPID or CIE and also lets you view your last 4 payments. The transaction cost depends on the payment service provider you choose on PagoPA.

For arrears, the Agenzia delle Entrate page on Friuli Venezia Giulia states that past years can only be paid online through the Poste Italiane website, using the Voglio pagare un’annualità pregressa function after logging in.

Checks, assessments and penalties

Anyone who does not pay receives an assessment notice. For the superbollo, ACI states that when it is recovered through an assessment notice a penalty of 30% applies, plus late-payment interest of 3,5% a year. For the regional bollo, the official sources consulted do not give a single national penalty: the rules depend on the Region managing the tax.

For Friuli Venezia Giulia the Agenzia delle Entrate specifies that:

• the assessment notice is paid using the attached F23 form, at banks, post offices or collection agents, within 60 days of notification;
• the notice can be appealed within 60 days of notification;
• if the notice is unfounded you can request its cancellation under self-correction, attaching an identity document and the payment receipt or a certificate of sale or scrapping.

If you have paid twice, too much or without owing it, you can claim a refund by 31 December of the third year after the year of the undue payment.

For help, the Agenzia delle Entrate gives the freephone number 800.90.96.96 from landlines, Monday to Friday from 9 to 17:00, the number 06.97617689 from mobiles and, from abroad, the number 0039 0645470468, a service in Italian charged to the caller. To book an appointment from a mobile, the number given is 06.9666.8907, option 3.

Who is exempt

Disabled people

Vehicles used for the mobility of disabled or invalid people are exempt: cars, mixed-use and specific-transport vehicles, motorcycle combinations and specific-transport motorcycles. According to the Agenzia delle Entrate:

• the car can be registered to the disabled person or to a relative who claims them as a tax dependant;
• the exemption applies to one vehicle only, identified by its plate in the application;
• documents need only be submitted in the first year, within 90 days of the payment deadline, to the Region’s tax office or by recorded delivery with return receipt;
• the exemption remains valid in later years, but if the conditions cease to apply, for example when the car is sold, you must report it.

Vehicles registered to local authorities, cooperatives, transport companies or taxis are excluded. Regions may extend the benefit to other categories: ask the relevant office.

Other permanent exemptions

Article 17 of DPR 39/1953 exempts, among others, the vehicles of the President of the Republic, those of the State armed forces with special plates, the fire service lorries of municipalities or humanitarian associations, the vehicles of diplomats accredited on a reciprocal basis and light vehicles used for the mobility of amputees and invalids.

LPG or methane vehicles

Cars and mixed-use vehicles approved to run exclusively on LPG or methane are exempt if they comply with directives 91/441/CEE or 91/542/CEE (art. 17 c. 5 legge n. 449/1997). According to the Agenzia delle Entrate, however, the exemption for dual-fuel vehicles (D.L. 262/2006) does not apply in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Checklist before the deadline

• Check the kW and the expiry month on the registration certificate.
• Do the calculation on the ACI website with your plate, from the first day of the month after expiry.
• Check whether, above 225 kW, you also owe the superbollo, paid separately with F24.
• Pay via PagoPA by the end of the month after expiry.
• Keep the receipt.
• If you are entitled to an exemption, apply within 90 days.
• Sign up for Ricorda la Scadenza if your Region offers it.