If you sold bitcoin or any other crypto-asset while living in Italy in 2025, the gain is taxed at 26%, and the return that declares it, the Redditi Persone Fisiche 2026, must reach the Agenzia delle Entrate online by Monday 2 November 2026. Anything you sell from 1 January 2026 onwards is taxed at 33%, with one exception for euro stablecoins. That is the short version of crypto tax in Italy as of October 2026.
The longer version matters because two other duties apply to people who never sold a single coin. Every Italian resident who holds crypto has to list it in the monitoring section of the return (quadro RW, or quadro W in the 730), and most of them owe a small yearly tax of 0.2% on the value of their holdings. Fines for a missing RW are a percentage of the amount left out, not a flat fee.
This lesson explains the Italian rules for any reader: which rate applies to which year, what counts as a taxable event, what goes in each part of the return, what the tax office already receives about you, and what changes when exchanges start reporting under the EU’s DAC8 rules. The general principles (why a blockchain, where users swap tokens directly from their own wallets without handing custody of their funds to a company.">swap can be a disposal, why records matter) are in our introduction to how crypto is taxed, and the French system was the subject of the previous lesson in this path. Nothing here is tax advice: the rules below are general, and a commercialista or tax adviser should check your own case.
How crypto tax in Italy works: a separate category with its own rate
Since the 2023 budget law (Law 197/2022), Italy has a specific rule for crypto-assets. Gains from selling, swapping or otherwise disposing of them, and income from holding them, are redditi diversi (“miscellaneous income”) under article 67, paragraph 1, letter c-sexies of the income tax code, the TUIR (as in force for 2025 and 2026 income). They are not added to your salary and taxed at your marginal IRPEF rate. They carry a flat imposta sostitutiva, a substitute tax charged on the net gain alone.
The rule covers crypto-assets in the broad sense used by the EU’s MiCA regulation: cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether, utility tokens, stablecoins and NFTs. The Agenzia delle Entrate set out its reading of the law in a 118-page circular, n. 30/E of 27 October 2023, which is still the reference for how the tax office applies it.
Who has to follow these rules is decided by tax residence, not nationality. Article 2 of the TUIR, as rewritten from 2024, treats as resident anyone who, for most of the tax year, has their civil-law residence or their domicile in Italy, or is physically present there. Domicile now means the place where your personal and family relationships are mainly based. People registered in the Italian population register (anagrafe) for most of the year are presumed resident unless they prove otherwise. An Italian resident is taxed on crypto gains wherever the exchange or wallet is located.
Holding coins does not trigger the tax on gains (the separate 0.2% tax on value is explained below), and neither does moving coins between two wallets that are both yours. The tax is triggered when you realise a gain: selling for euros or another fiat currency, paying for goods or services with crypto, or swapping into an asset that does not have the same characteristics and functions (see below). Income from holding, such as staking rewards or lending interest, is taxed too, on the gross amount: the instructions to the return say this income is taxed “senza alcuna deduzione”, without any deduction.
26% for sales made in 2025, 33% for sales from 1 January 2026
Italy changed the price of selling crypto twice in two years. The 2025 budget law (Law 207 of 30 December 2024) did two things. Paragraph 25 of its article 1 removed the 2,000 euro yearly exemption for sales made from 1 January 2025, so every euro of gain is now taxable. Paragraph 24 set the rate at 33% for gains “realizzati a decorrere dal 1° gennaio 2026”, realised from 1 January 2026.
The 2026 budget law (Law 199 of 30 December 2025, article 1, paragraph 28) kept the 33% but carved out euro-denominated e-money tokens, which stay at 26%. A proposal by the Lega party in January 2026 to push the 33% back to 2027 was filed as an amendment to the annual Milleproroghe decree; we found no sign that it was adopted, and the official texts still show 33% for 2026.
| When the gain is realised | Rate | 2,000 euro exemption | Declared in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 and 2024 | 26% | Yes, gains above 2,000 euro a year only | Returns filed in 2024 and 2025 |
| 1 January to 31 December 2025 | 26% | No (abolished) | Redditi PF 2026, due 2 November 2026 |
| From 1 January 2026, crypto in general | 33% | No | Return filed in 2027 |
| From 1 January 2026, euro e-money tokens | 26% | No | Return filed in 2027 |
Sources: Law 197/2022, Law 207/2024 article 1 paragraphs 24 and 25, Law 199/2025 article 1 paragraph 28, Redditi PF 2026 instructions (updated 13 May 2026). On a 10,000 euro gain, the difference is 700 euro: 2,600 euro of tax on a sale made in December 2025, 3,300 euro on the same sale made in January 2026.
Euro stablecoins kept the 26% rate
The exception added for 2026 is narrow. It applies to income from holding, selling or using e-money tokens denominated in euros, as defined by MiCA. The law defines them as tokens whose value is steadily pegged to the euro and whose reserves are held entirely in euro assets at institutions authorised in the EU. For these tokens the rate stays at 26%. The same paragraph says that simply converting euros into euro e-money tokens, or redeeming them in euros at face value, is not a disposal at all.
Dollar stablecoins are not covered, even when they are authorised e-money tokens in the EU. For more on the difference between token types, see our guide to what stablecoins are and how they hold their peg.
Why Italian law databases show the 33% clause as repealed
Readers who open Law 207/2024 on Normattiva, the official Italian law portal, may find paragraph 24 marked “abrogato” (repealed) by Legislative Decree 117 of 19 June 2026. That decree is a new consolidated income tax code (Testo unico delle imposte sui redditi), published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 3 July 2026, which gathers scattered tax provisions into one text and applies from 1 January 2027. We checked the portal’s version history: paragraph 24, with the 33% rate and the euro-token exception, is shown as in force on 31 December 2026 and as repealed only from 1 January 2027, when the new code takes over.
In practice, the 33% applies to crypto gains realised during 2026, under the old article numbers. From the 2027 tax year the rules sit in the new code under different article numbers. Commentators describe the new code as a compilation that does not change rates, but we could not read its crypto articles in full and did not verify where the 33% now sits, so treat any new article number you see quoted as unconfirmed until the Agenzia publishes updated instructions.
Which operations are taxed, and which crypto-to-crypto swaps are not
Italy is more generous than many countries on swaps. The law says a swap between crypto-assets with “eguali caratteristiche e funzioni” (equal characteristics and functions) is not a taxable event. In circular 30/E the Agenzia gives two examples: buying ether with bitcoin is not a disposal, and neither is swapping one NFT for another. The coin you receive takes over the euro cost of the coin you gave up, so the gain is only postponed until a taxable disposal.
The line is drawn by function, not by the simple fact that both sides are tokens. That is a real difference with France, where, as our lesson on crypto taxes in France explains, a swap between crypto-assets with no cash top-up is deferred whatever the tokens, stablecoins included under the law in force in October 2026. In Italy the same move into a stablecoin can already be a taxable event.
Other swaps are taxable because the two assets do different jobs:
- Buying an NFT with a cryptocurrency is a taxable exchange, according to the circular.
- Swapping a cryptocurrency for an e-money token (a stablecoin that gives a claim at face value on a fiat currency, such as USDC or EURC) is taxable, because the token counts as electronic money.
- Swapping a cryptocurrency for an asset-referenced token (a token backed by a basket of assets) is not taxable, according to the same circular.
- Spending crypto on goods or services is a disposal at the value of what you received.
One question the law leaves open: when you swap bitcoin into a euro e-money token in 2026, is the gain taxed at 33% (the gain arose on bitcoin) or at 26% (the operation involves a euro token)? The 2026 budget law does not say. Until the Agenzia publishes guidance, ask your adviser or intermediary which rate they apply.
Losses are treated asymmetrically too. The circular says the loss or theft of private keys is not a fiscally relevant loss, so coins lost to a forgotten seed phrase or a hack cannot be deducted.
How the taxable gain is measured
The gain is the difference between what you received (the price in euros, or the normal value of what you got in a taxable swap) and what the asset cost you. Three points catch beginners:
- The cost must be documented “with certain and precise elements”, in the words of the instructions; if you cannot prove it, the cost is zero and the whole sale price is taxed.
- Unlike shares, crypto fees and commissions cannot be added to the cost under article 68, paragraph 9-bis of the TUIR.
- Coins received by inheritance take the value declared for inheritance tax; coins received as a gift keep the donor’s cost.
Gains and losses of the same year are netted. A net loss can be carried forward against crypto gains of the next four tax years, provided it is declared in the return for the year it occurred. For losses realised from 2025 the old 2,000 euro floor no longer applies. The worked calculation method, with numbers for Italy, France, the US and the UK, is the subject of a later lesson in this path.
Declaration or an Italian intermediary: who pays the substitute tax
By default you declare and pay the tax yourself through your return. Italian residents who keep crypto with an Italian intermediary can instead opt for the risparmio amministrato regime, in which the intermediary applies the substitute tax on each sale and pays it for you. The circular says intermediaries in that regime use the weighted average cost of the coins. When the intermediary has withheld the tax, the holdings it manages also drop out of the monitoring duty described below, under article 4, paragraph 3 of Decree-Law 167/1990.
Foreign exchanges do not act as Italian withholding agents, and nobody withholds anything on a hardware wallet. For coins held that way, the return is the only route. Our guide to how centralised exchanges work explains the difference between custody on a platform and keeping your own keys.
Quadro RW: reporting your crypto holdings even when you sold nothing
Quadro RW is the part of the Redditi return used for monitoraggio fiscale, the tax monitoring of foreign investments. Since 1 January 2023, article 4 of Decree-Law 167/1990 explicitly includes crypto-assets: residents who hold them must list them in their return, and so must beneficial owners who do not hold them directly. The Agenzia’s position, confirmed in circular 30/E, is that the duty applies whatever the storage method and whether the coins are held in Italy or abroad.
What this means in practice, according to the Redditi PF 2026 instructions and the circular:
- One row per wallet or digital account, with the value at the start and the end of the year (or at the date you got rid of it).
- Each row uses investment code 21 (“cripto-attività”) in the current instructions, which replaced the code 14 mentioned in the 2023 circular; the country code is optional for crypto, so coins on a USB key, phone or computer are declared too and self-custody is not a way out of RW.
- The duty applies even if you sold everything during the year: you still report what you held and for how many days.
- The 15,000 euro exemption in the law applies only to bank deposits and current accounts held abroad, not to crypto. There is no minimum amount for crypto.
- A wallet at an Italian intermediary that did not withhold tax still goes in RW.
People who file the simplified 730 instead of the Redditi PF can declare the same holdings in quadro W, which the Agenzia describes as covering crypto-assets held through wallets, digital accounts or other storage systems, and the value tax below. The data to enter follows the RW instructions.
RW reports what you hold, not what you earned. A resident who bought 3,000 euro of bitcoin in 2025 and did nothing else still has to fill it in. Our guide to crypto wallets explains the difference between custodial accounts and wallets you control, which is how you decide how many rows you need.
The 0.2% tax on the value of crypto holdings
RW is also where most holders pay the imposta sul valore delle cripto-attività, a tax on the value of crypto-assets, often shortened to IVCA in Italian guides (the Agenzia does not use the acronym). It was created by the 2023 budget law, which amended article 19 of Decree-Law 201/2011. It is not the IVAFE, the older tax on financial assets held abroad: circular 30/E notes that crypto was outside the IVAFE before 2023, and this tax fills that gap.
Tax is charged at 2 per thousand (0.2%) of the value on 31 December. The instructions set out the rules:
- The value is the one shown by the exchange where you bought the coins; failing that, a comparable platform or a market-data site; failing that, the purchase cost.
- The amount is proportional to the days you held the coins and your share if they are jointly held.
- Every resident holding crypto owes it, unless an intermediary has already charged the equivalent stamp duty, also at 2 per thousand, so there is no double charge.
- Payment goes through an F24 form under tax code 1727, on the same dates as income tax, advance payments included (codes 1728 and 1729), with a credit for any equivalent wealth tax paid abroad on the same coins.
- The total worked out in row RW8, for all your crypto together, is not paid when it does not exceed 12 euro.
Some examples of the arithmetic: 20,000 euro held all year on your own costs 40 euro; the same wallet held jointly at 50% costs 20 euro. If your only crypto is a wallet worth 5,000 euro, the tax is 10 euro, below the 12 euro limit, so nothing is paid, although the wallet still has to be reported. This tax is due whether or not you made a gain.
Some blogs mix this tax up with Italy’s financial transaction tax on shares, which the 2026 budget law doubled from 0.2% to 0.4%. That change does not concern crypto.
Monitoraggio fiscale: what the Agenzia delle Entrate already sees
Monitoring is a two-sided system. On your side, quadro RW. On the other side, banks, payment firms, crypto exchangers and custodial wallet providers registered in Italy must report to the Agenzia the transfers to and from abroad they handle for clients, including in virtual currency, from 5,000 euro upwards (the threshold was cut from 15,000 euro in June 2022, as circular 30/E notes). Before MiCA licences took over, crypto service providers active in Italy had to be listed in a register kept by the OAM, the body that also supervises financial agents; they now need a MiCA authorisation.
The penalties for the taxpayer are set by article 5 of Decree-Law 167/1990, in the version in force on 24 October 2026:
- From 3% to 15% of the amounts not declared, for a missing or incomplete RW.
- From 6% to 30% when the assets are held in a country on Italy’s list of privileged tax regimes.
- A fixed 258 euro if the return is filed within 90 days of the deadline.
- For intermediaries that fail to report transfers, from 10% to 25% of the amount not reported.
To give an idea of scale: leaving a 50,000 euro wallet out of RW exposes you to a fine of 1,500 to 7,500 euro, before any tax due on gains or on value. Italian law also allows a late correction with reduced penalties (ravvedimento operoso) as long as the tax office has not yet served a formal notice; a commercialista can work out the amount.
DAC8: from 2026, exchanges report your crypto activity to the tax office
The monitoring gets much wider from 2026. The EU directive known as DAC8 (Directive 2023/2226) obliges crypto-asset service providers to collect and report data on their EU-resident clients. Italy transposed it with Legislative Decree 194 of 10 December 2025, in force since 6 January 2026.
Article 13 of the Italian decree says that, starting with the reporting period that began on 1 January 2026, providers must send the Agenzia their data by 30 June of the following year, so the first Italian reports are due by 30 June 2027. For each client they report identity, tax residence and tax number, and for each crypto-asset the yearly totals of purchases and sales against fiat, swaps against other crypto, retail payments and transfers, including transfers to wallet addresses not linked to a known provider. The European Commission says the first exchanges between EU tax authorities will take place by 30 September 2027 (see our DAC8 first exchange event page).
Existing clients must give their provider a tax self-certification by 1 January 2027; under article 14, a client who still has not done so after two reminders and 60 days is blocked from making reportable transactions. And DAC8 creates no new filing duty for you: RW, the value tax and the gains in RT stay exactly as they were. What changes is that the Agenzia will be able to compare your return with what your exchange says.
Where and when to file: Redditi PF 2026 by 2 November 2026
For gains and holdings of 2025, the main form is the Redditi Persone Fisiche 2026. Gains go in quadro RT (section V-A, at 26%), holdings and the value tax in quadro RW. The online filing deadline is 2 November 2026, because 31 October falls on a Saturday; the paper route at a post office closed on 30 June 2026. Taxpayers who used the 730 can declare crypto gains in quadro T and holdings in quadro W.
The balance of tax was due by 30 June 2026, or by 30 July 2026 with a 0.40% surcharge. Both dates have passed, so anyone paying now is paying late and should look at ravvedimento operoso. For 2026 gains the return will be filed in 2027; the forms for it had not been published as of October 2026, and they are expected to separate the 33% and 26% gains.
US citizens and UK nationals living in Italy
Moving to Italy makes you subject to everything above once you become tax resident. Two extra layers apply to readers from the US and the UK. This is a description of the rules, not advice: anyone in this position needs advisers on both sides.
US citizens: two returns, one gain
The United States taxes its citizens on their worldwide income wherever they live. IRS Publication 54 says US treaties contain a “saving clause”, so US citizens cannot generally use a treaty to reduce their US tax, and that double taxation is usually relieved through a credit for the tax paid to the other country. For a US citizen living in Italy that means the gain on a bitcoin sale is reported in Italy (26% or 33%) and on the US return, where the IRS treats digital assets as property and sales go on Form 8949. The Italian tax paid can normally be claimed as a foreign tax credit against the US tax on the same gain. The foreign earned income exclusion covers income from personal services, not investment gains.
The reporting duties do not replace each other either: Italy’s RW and the 0.2% value tax are separate from the US foreign-account reports. The two systems also differ on holding periods, cost basis and the year a gain falls in, and the foreign tax credit has its own limits, so the result depends on your figures. Ask a US tax adviser with expat clients.
UK nationals: residence decides
A UK national who has become resident in Italy is taxed by Italy on crypto gains under the rules above. The UK and Italy have a double taxation convention of 1988, in force since 31 December 1990. HMRC’s temporary non-residence rules can still bring gains made while abroad into UK tax if you return to the UK within five years and meet the residence conditions, so a planned short stay in Italy needs checking on the UK side too.
Revaluation windows, ISEE and what is still unclear
Two past windows let holders replace their purchase cost with the market value at a given date in exchange for a flat tax: 14% on the value at 1 January 2023 (Law 197/2022), and 18% on the value at 1 January 2025 (Law 207/2024, paragraphs 26 to 29), payable by 30 November 2025 in up to three yearly instalments. Both are closed, and no new window appears in the laws in force as of 24 October 2026. Using a revalued figure never produces a deductible loss.
The 2026 budget law also says crypto holdings will count in the financial assets used for the ISEE, the means test for many Italian benefits, once an implementing decree is adopted. As of October 2026 we found no such decree.
Points we could not settle from official texts, and that you should raise with an adviser if they concern you:
- The rate on a gain made by swapping crypto into a euro e-money token in 2026.
- The rate on a sale made in late 2025 whose proceeds arrived in 2026: the instructions refer to the tax year in which the consideration is received, while the 33% applies to gains “realised” from 2026.
- The article numbers of the crypto rules in the new income tax code that applies from 2027.
- Whether the 2027 budget law will change the rates: no text was available as of October 2026.
The next dates to watch are 2 November 2026 for the Redditi PF, 1 January 2027 for the new tax code and the DAC8 self-certification deadline, and 30 June 2027 for the first DAC8 reports. For a beginner, the order of work is the same every year: keep a record of every purchase, sale and swap with dates and euro values, list each wallet in RW, check the 0.2% tax, then declare the gains at the rate of the year of sale.
