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Form 770/2026: file by Monday 2 November, and what you risk if you miss it

The Italian withholding agents’ return for 2025 must be filed by 2 November 2026, because 31 October falls on a Saturday. Who must file it, what it contains, how to remedy late filing and why the offence of failing to pay over withholding tax no longer becomes complete at the Form 770 deadline.

Form 770 for 2025 must be filed electronically by Monday 2 November 2026. The ordinary deadline is 31 October (Article 4(3-bis) and (4-bis) of Presidential Decree No. 322 of 22 July 1998), but this year it falls on a Saturday and moves to the next working day (Article 2(9) of the same decree and Article 7(1)(h) of Decree-Law No. 70 of 13 May 2011). At the date of publication no extension has been granted. The form and its instructions were approved by Decision No. 72221 of 27 February 2026 issued by the Director of the Agenzia delle entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency); the Agency has since published a version updated to 22 September 2026, and the filing software should be aligned with that version.

Who must file

Form 770 must be filed by anyone who paid amounts subject to withholding tax in 2025: companies and entities, partnerships and professional associations, sole traders and self-employed professionals, and condominiums. A professional who pays a colleague’s fees and withholds tax on account is also a withholding agent, and so is a condominium that withholds 4 per cent from payments to contractors or withholds tax on professionals’ fees (Articles 23, 25 and 25-ter of Presidential Decree No. 600 of 29 September 1973). For a condominium, the return is signed by the condominium administrator in office.

Two cases often cause confusion. A taxpayer under the flat-rate regime (regime forfetario) does not withhold tax on the fees they pay, but remains a withholding agent for employment income and income treated as employment income (Article 1(69) of Law No. 190 of 23 December 2014): if they have an employee or a coordinated and continuous collaborator, they must issue the Single Certification (Certificazione Unica, CU) and file Form 770. A private individual who employs a domestic worker or a carer, by contrast, is not a withholding agent and does not file Form 770.

The obligation does not end when the business ceases. During liquidation the return remains due (Article 5(5) of Presidential Decree No. 322 of 1998); in insolvency proceedings it is filed by the insolvency practitioner (the curatore or the commissario) on behalf of the party that withheld the tax. According to the form instructions, after a merger or an absorption the successor company files a single return that also includes, in separate schedules, the data of the company that has ceased to exist.

What it contains

Form 770 summarises the tax withheld in 2025, the payments made, the offsets and the credits. For income certified in the Single Certification, the form does not contain the data of individual payees, that is, the persons who received the amounts: by law, filing the CU counts as reporting those data in Form 770 (Article 4(6-quinquies) of Presidential Decree No. 322 of 1998). Some information must still be reported in the form, for example on investment income and on amounts paid in garnishment proceedings. Most withholding agents deal with three schedules: ST for tax withheld and paid over, SV for municipal surcharges, and SX for the summary of credits and offsets. The withholding agent may also split the return by type of income, for example employment income on one side and self-employment income on the other, and have each part filed by a different intermediary, such as the payroll consultant and the accountant.

For 2025 the simplified system of Article 16 of Legislative Decree No. 1 of 8 January 2024 applies for the first time. It is optional and reserved for withholding agents that had no more than five employees at 31 December 2024; the option is exercised implicitly, by conduct, and is binding for the whole year. The data reported with the monthly F24 payment forms are treated for all purposes as reported in Form 770. Those who have opted for it should check with their adviser which data must still be reported.

In Form 770 every amount withheld must be matched by a payment. A difference between tax withheld and tax paid over, an offset not consistent with the credits or a missing F24 will surface in the Agency’s automated check: it is advisable to reconcile before filing, while corrections are still inexpensive.

The link with the Single Certification

Single Certifications have their own deadlines: 16 March 2026 for employment income and income treated as employment income and for most other CUs, 30 April for those containing only income from self-employment carried on habitually or non-occasional commissions, and the Form 770 deadline for those containing only exempt income or income not reportable through the pre-filled return. The penalty for each certification that is omitted, late or incorrect is 100 euro, up to a maximum of 50,000 euro per withholding agent. It is reduced to one third, with a cap of 20,000 euro, if the correct certification is filed within 60 days of the deadline. No penalty applies if an incorrect CU is corrected and refiled within five days of the deadline.

If the deadline has passed: late filing and failure to file

A return filed within 90 days of the deadline is valid, although penalties still apply (Article 2(7) of Presidential Decree No. 322 of 1998). Until the Agency clarifies how the 90 days are counted for Form 770, it is prudent to file by Friday 29 January 2027. For income tax returns, the Agency counts the 90 days from the deferred deadline of 2 November and gives Monday 1 February 2027 as the last day, because the ninetieth day falls on Sunday 31 January. There is no specific guidance for Form 770: the same reading would lead to 1 February, but counting from the ordinary deadline of 31 October the period ends on 29 January. If all withholding tax has been paid over, late filing is regularised through voluntary correction (ravvedimento operoso) by paying 25 euro, one tenth of the minimum penalty of 250 euro (Article 13(1)(c) of Legislative Decree No. 472 of 18 December 1997). Any unpaid withholding tax must be regularised separately, as explained below.

After 90 days the return is treated as not filed and voluntary correction is no longer available. For violations committed on or after 1 September 2024, Article 2 of Legislative Decree No. 471 of 18 December 1997, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 87 of 14 June 2024, provides for:

• where withholding tax has not been paid over, 120 per cent of the unpaid amount, with a minimum of 250 euro;
• where all withholding tax has been paid over, a penalty of 250 to 2,000 euro;
• where the return is filed after 90 days, but within the assessment period and before the withholding agent has been formally notified of any audit, 75 per cent of the unpaid withholding tax (250 to 2,000 euro if all of it had been paid over).

An inaccurate return carries a penalty of 70 per cent of the unpaid withholding tax relating to the fees not reported, with a minimum of 250 euro. The penalty falls to 50 per cent of the unpaid withholding tax if the error is corrected with a supplementary return (dichiarazione integrativa) filed within the assessment period and before the withholding agent has been formally notified of any audit, and can be further reduced through voluntary correction.

Unpaid withholding tax: penalty, voluntary correction and tax codes

Failure to pay over withholding tax, or late payment, carries a penalty of 25 per cent of the amount (Article 13 of Legislative Decree No. 471 of 1997). The penalty is halved if the delay does not exceed 90 days and, for delays of up to 15 days, further reduced to one fifteenth for each day of delay. Voluntary correction reduces the penalty further: on 10,000 euro of withholding tax paid 25 days late, the penalty is 125 euro, plus statutory interest; with a 60-day delay, 138.89 euro. Penalties under voluntary correction on withholding tax are paid with the tax codes established by Resolution No. 18/E of 28 April 2023: 8947 for employment income and income treated as employment income, 8948 for self-employment income, commissions, miscellaneous income and short-term rentals, 8949 for investment income. For the regional surcharge, codes 8950 and 8951 apply, entered in the Regions section with the region code; for the municipal surcharge, codes 8952 and 8953, entered in the section for IMU (the municipal property tax) and other local taxes with the municipality’s cadastral code. Interest is added to the withholding tax and paid under the same tax code, stating the reference month and year. The old code 8906 was discontinued with effect from 3 July 2023, although the form instructions still mention it.

Criminal liability: the threshold and the new deadline

Failure to pay over withholding tax is a criminal offence only where the unpaid amount exceeds 150,000 euro per tax year. The offence covers only the tax shown in the certifications issued to the payees (Article 10-bis of Legislative Decree No. 74 of 10 March 2000, as rewritten by Legislative Decree No. 87 of 2024, which gives statutory effect to Constitutional Court judgment No. 175 of 2022). The relevant date is no longer the Form 770 deadline: the offence is complete if payment has not been made by 31 December of the year following the year in which the return is filed. For 2025 withholding tax reported in Form 770 filed in 2026, the deadline is therefore 31 December 2027. There is no offence if the debt is being paid in instalments under the scheme for amounts due following the automated check (Article 3-bis of Legislative Decree No. 462 of 18 December 1997). The withholding agent may also start the plan on its own initiative, before receiving the Agency’s notice of irregularities, by paying at least one twentieth per quarter, with the first instalment by the same 31 December; if the instalment plan lapses, the agent is punishable only if the remaining debt exceeds 50,000 euro.

Payment of the debt in full, including penalties and interest, before the declaration opening the first-instance trial rules out criminal liability (Article 13(1) of Legislative Decree No. 74 of 2000). Criminal liability is also ruled out where the failure to pay results from causes that are not attributable to the withholding agent and arose after the tax was withheld (Article 13(3-bis)): the court considers in particular a lasting liquidity crisis caused by receivables that have become uncollectable because of the established insolvency of customers, or by public authorities’ failure to pay receivables that are certain and due, and the absence of any practicable remedy to overcome it. This is assessed case by case, and the withholding agent must be able to document it.

Correcting a Form 770 already filed

Until 2 November, a corrected return filed within the deadline (correttiva nei termini) replaces the one already filed. After that date, errors are corrected with a supplementary return, in the withholding agent’s favour or against it, by 31 December of the fifth year following the year of filing (Article 2(8) of Presidential Decree No. 322 of 1998); any resulting credit is reported in schedule DI and used for offsetting under the rules of Article 2(8-bis).

From 2027

From 1 January 2027 the penalties now laid down in Legislative Decrees No. 471 and No. 472 of 1997 and the offence of Article 10-bis will be brought together in the consolidated act on tax penalties (Legislative Decree No. 173 of 5 November 2024). Its entry into application was postponed by one year by Article 4(1) of Decree-Law No. 200 of 31 December 2025, converted into Law No. 26 of 27 February 2026. The numbering changes: voluntary correction becomes Article 14, the penalties on the withholding agent’s return Article 28, those for failure to pay Article 38 and the offence Article 82. The substance does not change. Violations committed up to 31 December 2026 remain governed by the provisions cited above; later events, such as a voluntary correction made from 1 January 2027 or the offence that becomes complete on 31 December 2027, fall under the consolidated act.

In practice

• Check by the end of October whether you are a withholding agent: a flat-rate taxpayer with employees is one too; an employer of domestic workers is not.
• Reconcile the 2025 tax withheld, F24 payments and offsets before filing, and use the version of the form updated to 22 September 2026.
• File by Monday 2 November 2026; if you make a mistake, file a corrected return by the same deadline.
• If you miss the deadline, file by 29 January 2027 to be safe; if all withholding tax has been paid over, the penalty under voluntary correction is 25 euro.
• For unpaid withholding tax, use voluntary correction and pay the penalty with codes 8947 to 8949 and, for the surcharges, 8950 to 8953, never with 8906; interest is added to the withholding tax and paid under the same tax code.
• If certified withholding tax unpaid for the tax year exceeds 150,000 euro, pay it or start the instalment plan under Article 3-bis of Legislative Decree No. 462 of 1997 preferably well before 31 December 2027: the sooner you regularise, the lower the penalties and interest.
• Keep the Form 770 filing receipt, the F24 forms for payments and voluntary correction, and the reconciliation between tax withheld and tax paid over: these are the documents to produce if you receive a notice of irregularities.

Frequently asked questions

I employ only one domestic worker: do I have to file Form 770?

No. An employer of domestic workers is not a withholding agent: they do not withhold tax and file neither the Single Certification nor Form 770. Social security obligations towards INPS (the National Social Security Institute) still apply.

I am under the flat-rate regime and have one employee: does Form 770 apply to me?

Yes. The flat-rate regime relieves you of the obligation to withhold tax on self-employment fees, but not on employment income and income treated as employment income. If you have an employee or a coordinated and continuous collaborator, you must issue and file the Single Certification and file Form 770.

I paid over all withholding tax but forgot to file Form 770: what do I risk?

If you file within 90 days of the deadline (to be safe, by 29 January 2027), the return is valid and, with voluntary correction, the penalty is 25 euro. After 90 days the return is treated as not filed: the penalty ranges from 250 to 2,000 euro and voluntary correction is no longer available.

Sources

Article 2(7), (8), (8-bis) and (9), Article 4(1), (3-bis), (4-bis) and (6-quinquies), and Article 5(5) of Presidential Decree No. 322 of 22 July 1998.

Articles 23, 25 and 25-ter of Presidential Decree No. 600 of 29 September 1973; Article 1(69) of Law No. 190 of 23 December 2014; Article 7(1)(h) of Decree-Law No. 70 of 13 May 2011.

Articles 2 and 13 of Legislative Decree No. 471 of 18 December 1997; Article 13 of Legislative Decree No. 472 of 18 December 1997; Legislative Decree No. 87 of 14 June 2024.

Articles 10-bis and 13 of Legislative Decree No. 74 of 10 March 2000; Constitutional Court, judgment No. 175 of 2022; Article 16 of Legislative Decree No. 1 of 8 January 2024; Article 3-bis of Legislative Decree No. 462 of 18 December 1997.

Legislative Decree No. 173 of 5 November 2024 (Articles 14, 28, 38, 82 and 89); Article 4(1) of Decree-Law No. 200 of 31 December 2025, converted into Law No. 26 of 27 February 2026.

Agenzia delle entrate: Decision No. 72221 of 27 February 2026 and instructions for Form 770/2026; Decision No. 15707 of 15 January 2026 (Single Certification 2026); Resolution No. 18/E of 28 April 2023.