IMU Property Tax in Rome: Primary Residence Exempt, Second Home Taxed — How to Calculate It

In a nutshell

IMU (Imposta Municipale Propria — Italy's municipal property tax) is an annual levy on real estate paid to the Comune (city hall / municipality). In Rome, if the property is your primary residence and is not classified as a luxury home, you pay nothing. If you own a second home, a rental property, or any property you don't use as your main residence, IMU applies. It is paid in two instalments: by 16 June and by 16 December.

At a glance

Primary residence (non-luxury)	€0 — exempt
Average second home in Rome	~€867/year (cadastral income €600, rate 0.86%)
Deadlines	First instalment: 16 June. Balance: 16 December.
Rome office	Roma Capitale — Dipartimento Risorse Economiche, Via Ostiense 131/L. Tel. 06 0606.
How to pay	F24 (the universal Italian payment form for taxes and contributions) — at your bank, at the post office, or via home banking. Rome municipality code: H501.

Primary residence: when you're exempt

You are exempt from IMU if your property satisfies two conditions simultaneously: your Anagrafe (civil-registry office at the Comune, which handles residency) registration is recorded at a Rome address, and you actually live there as your habitual home.

The exemption applies to standard cadastral categories: A/2, A/3, A/4, A/5, A/6, A/7, and A/11. If your primary home falls into categories A/1 (upscale residential), A/8 (villa), or A/9 (historic/castle), you are not exempt — but you pay a reduced rate of 0.5% with a fixed €200 annual deduction.

An important update: since 2022, following Constitutional Court ruling n. 209/2022, married couples or civil partners who maintain separate registered residences in different municipalities — or even in the same municipality — can both benefit from the primary-residence exemption, provided each person genuinely lives in their own property.

How to calculate IMU on a second home

The formula is: IMU = Cadastral value × Rome rate

The cadastral value for residential properties is: Cadastral income × 168 (the base coefficient of 160 multiplied up by 5%).

You'll find the cadastral income (rendita catastale) on a visura catastale (property registry extract), downloadable for free from Agenzia delle Entrate (Italy's tax-revenue agency) using SPID or CIE.

Example — second home, cadastral income €600:

• Cadastral value: 600 × 168 = €100,800
• Rome rate 0.86% = €867/year
• June instalment: €433.50
• December balance: €433.50

Example — luxury primary home A/8, cadastral income €2,500:

• Cadastral value: 2,500 × 168 = €420,000
• Rate 0.5% = €2,100 → minus €200 deduction
• IMU due: €1,900

Rome's IMU rates

Roma Capitale sets its rates each year by resolution of the Assemblea Capitolina (Rome's city council). For the June advance payment, the previous year's rates apply; for the December balance, the current year's rates are used.

Property type	Rome rate
Non-luxury primary residence (A/2–A/7)	0% — EXEMPT
Luxury primary residence (A/1, A/8, A/9)	0.5% with €200 deduction
Second home	0.86%
Agreed-rent tenancy (canone concordato)	0.6% with 25% IMU reduction
Free loan (comodato gratuito) to parents/children	0.43% on a 50%-reduced tax base
Uninhabitable property (with official certification)	Standard rate on 50% of base

Always check the current rates at comune.roma.it — aliquote IMU.

How to reduce your IMU bill

Free loan to a parent or child (comodato): if you lend your property rent-free to a child or parent who uses it as their primary home, the taxable base drops by 50% and the preferential rate (0.43%) applies. The conditions are strict: the loan agreement must be registered with Agenzia delle Entrate (registration fee ~€200), you must not own any other property in Italy except your own primary residence in the same municipality, and the property must not be a luxury category.

Agreed-rent contract: if you rent out on a fixed-term 3+2 year contract under Legge 431/98 art. 2 c.3 (the Italian agreed-rent framework), IMU is cut by 25%. As a bonus, the flat-rate cedolare secca (substitute income tax on rent) drops to 10%.

Uninhabitable property: if the property is certified as uninhabitable — with a technical report filed with the Comune — the taxable base is halved for the documented period of uninhabitability.

AIRE pensioners: if you are an Italian pensioner registered with AIRE (the registry of Italians living abroad) and receiving a foreign pension, you can get a 50% reduction on the one property you own in Italy.

How to pay: the F24 form

IMU is paid using the F24 form. You can fill it in and pay online via home banking with SPID, at your bank's counter, or at the post office.

Tax codes for Rome:

Code	Use it for
3912	Luxury primary residence (A/1, A/8, A/9) + annexes
3918	Second home and all other buildings
3914	Agricultural land
3916	Building land

Rome's municipality code is always H501. Forgetting or entering the wrong municipality code when completing the form manually is the single most common mistake.

You do not need to file an IMU declaration every year. A declaration is required only when you buy or sell a property, when your situation changes (e.g. you start a comodato, you obtain an uninhabitability certificate), or when you begin claiming a new exemption. Download the form from finanze.gov.it and submit it to Roma Capitale by 30 June of the year following the change.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Paying IMU on a non-luxury primary residence. If the home is your registered and habitual residence in category A/2–A/7, you owe nothing. If you receive a payment notice, challenge it within 60 days by filing a self-correction request (istanza di autotutela) with the Comune.
2. Using the wrong tax code. Annexes of a luxury primary residence (cellar, garage) go under code 3912, not 3918. And Rome's municipality code is H501 — don't leave that field blank.
3. Skipping the registration of a comodato agreement. To get the 50% base reduction, the free-loan contract must be formally registered with Agenzia delle Entrate. Without registration the benefit does not apply, even if you genuinely are not charging rent.

Special cases

Bought or sold mid-year? You pay IMU proportionally to the months of ownership. The 15-day rule applies: if ownership starts or ends on or before the 15th of the month, that month counts in full; from the 16th onward, that month does not count.

Inherited a property? IMU starts from the date the estate opens (the date of death). If you inherit on 1 July, you owe 6 months of IMU for that year.

Two homes in the same municipality? Only one can be your exempt primary residence; the other is taxed as a second home. Exception: couples with genuinely separate residences (Constitutional Court ruling 209/2022).

Property under construction? No IMU on the building until it is registered with a cadastral value. IMU on the building land starts from the moment the urban planning classification designates it as buildable.

Paying late? Use the ravvedimento operoso (voluntary self-correction) mechanism: pay before the Comune issues an assessment notice and the penalties are much lower. Up to 14 days late: 0.1% per day; 15–30 days late: 1.5%; 31–90 days late: 1.67%. Wait for a formal assessment and the penalty jumps to 30%.

Official sources

• MEF — IMU main page
• Roma Capitale — IMU
• Roma Capitale — Current IMU rates
• Agenzia delle Entrate — IMU
• Agenzia delle Entrate — Cadastral extracts
• Agenzia Entrate Riscossione

Legal references: L 27/12/2019 n. 160 art. 1 cc. 738-783 (IMU reform), DL 6/12/2011 n. 201 art. 13 (IMU introduction), L 28/12/2015 n. 208 art. 1 c.10 (primary residence exemption), Sentenza Corte Costituzionale n. 209/2022 (spouses with separate residences), DLgs 472/1997 (penalties and voluntary correction), L 431/1998 art. 2 c.3 (agreed-rent tenancy), Delibera Assemblea Capitolina annuale (Rome rates).