The taxes to be paid for those who want to sell a house

First home sales tax before 5 years of purchase

The first hypothesis to consider is that of the owner who decides to resell the property purchased as a first home, before 5 years have passed. In this case, he is required to pay the direct taxes on the house sale, i.e., the IRPEF.

Specifically, in the event that the sale has generated a capital gain, i.e., if the property has been resold at a higher price than the one at which it was purchased, the seller is required to pay IRPEF on the greater value generated by the negotiation.

Subjects exempt from paying first home sales taxes

However, there are exceptions. The seller is not required to pay direct taxes on the sale of the house, even if less than 5 years have passed, in one of the following cases:

• if the property was inherited and acquired by succession;

• if the property was acquired as a result of a donation;

• if the seller proves that the property was the seller's place of residence for more than half of the period between the date of purchase and that of the subsequent resale.

First home sales tax after 5 years of purchase

The second hypothesis sees the case in which more than 5 years have passed since the purchase of the property chosen as the first home. In this case, there are no taxes on the sale of the house and the seller is not required to pay personal income tax, nor any other taxes, nor any penalties for having benefited from bonuses and concessions for the purchase of the first home.

The principle underlying this difference in treatment is that the legislator tries to bring out any speculative intentions of those who bought a home as a first home, benefiting from the related concessions, with the sole intention of reselling it after a short time at a higher price.

Second home sales tax

So far, we have only talked about the hypothesis of sales taxes on the first home and direct taxes. But what happens when the property being negotiated does not constitute a first home? We will then speak of indirect taxes, that are taxes on the sale of a second home or a third home. Also, in this case there are two possibilities:

• if the property is resold after 5 years of purchase, the seller is not required to make any payment;

• if the property is resold before 5 years of purchase, the capital gain generated by the sale will be subject to taxation.

In this case, the taxes on the sale of a house are calculated on this higher value generated by the negotiation in two possible ways:

• through ordinary taxation, in the tax return, making them appear as "different income", with different rates depending on the income tax brackets;

• through separate taxation which provides for the application of a flat rate of 26%.

Notary fees and other house sale taxes

Generally, when we talk about taxes on the sale of a house, we also refer to other taxes and ancillary costs, mostly related to the activities of the notary and the registration of the contract. Under Article 1475 of the Civil Code, unless otherwise stipulated in the contract, notary fees are charged to the buyer. They include:

• cadastral tax;

• mortgage tax;

• the registration tax, equal to 9% of the cadastral value of the property;

• VAT, with a rate ranging from 4% for the purchase of a first home up to 22% for the purchase of a luxury property.