Studio PonchioSTPFirm Guides · Deadlines and late-payment regularization (ravvedimento)
Tax deadlines and late-payment regularization (ravvedimento operoso): practical guide
Properly managing tax deadlines means avoiding penalties, interest and disputes, while also planning the liquidity of the business and the professional practice. This guide neatly compiles the calendar of recurring compliance obligations, how advance payments and the final balance of taxes work, the use of the F24 form with offsetting and, above all, the ravvedimento operoso: the tool that allows you to voluntarily regularise omitted or late payments by paying greatly reduced penalties.
Update warning. Penalty percentages and the rules on ravvedimento reflect the reform of the tax penalty system (D.Lgs. 87/2024) in force for violations committed from 1 September 2024. The calendar dates and the statutory interest rate must be checked year by year against the official measures: the 2026 statutory rate is set at 1.60% by the MEF decree of 10 December 2025 (Official Gazette no. 289 of 13 December 2025).
Related tool: the ravvedimento operoso calculator works out the reduced penalty and the interest at the actual payment date, following the deadlines set out in this guide.
The tax calendar for businesses and professionals
Obligations are grouped into three categories: recurring monthly deadlines (payments via F24 linked to VAT (IVA), withholdings and social security contributions), periodic deadlines (quarterly and advances/balances) and annual tax return filing obligations. When a deadline falls on a Saturday or public holiday, it is postponed to the first subsequent working day: this follows from art. 7, comma 1, letter h), D.L. 70/2011, converted by L. 106/2011, under which payments and compliance obligations, including purely electronic ones, laid down by rules concerning the economic and financial administration and falling due on a Saturday or on a public holiday are always postponed to the first subsequent working day. The August window must be kept separate: tax compliance obligations and the payments under artt. 17 and 20, comma 4, D.Lgs. 241/1997 falling due between 1 and 20 August may be made by 20 August with no surcharge whatsoever (art. 37, comma 11-bis, D.L. 223/2006). For unified payments the same postponement rule is already laid down by art. 18, comma 1, D.Lgs. 241/1997.
Monthly deadlines (normally on the 16th)
- Monthly VAT: payment of VAT payable for the previous month by the 16th.
- Withholding taxes: the withholding agent (sostituto d’imposta) pays, by the 16th of the following month, the withholdings on employment income, self-employment income and commissions.
- Employees’ INPS contributions: by the 16th of the following month, in coordination with the UniEmens filing.
Periodic and annual deadlines
- Quarterly VAT (by option): 16 May, 20 August, 16 November and adjustment for the fourth quarter in the annual return; the 1% surcharge applies to the first three quarters. In 2026 16 May falls on a Saturday: payment for the first quarter moves to Monday 18 May 2026.
- Annual VAT balance: by 16 March, with instalments or deferral to the income tax return deadline applying 0.40% per month.
- INPS contributions for artisans and traders (fixed portion): 16 May, 20 August, 16 November, 16 February; the portion exceeding the minimum threshold follows the income-tax advances and balance. Here too, in 2026 the 16 May instalment moves to Monday 18 May 2026, while the other three dates fall on working days.
- Balance and first advance payment of IRPEF/IRES and IRAP: by 30 June, or by 30 July with the 0.40% surcharge.
- Second advance payment: by 30 November.
- IMU: advance payment by 16 June, balance by 16 December.
- Certificazione Unica (Italian annual withholding tax statement): delivery to the recipient by 16 March; filing by 16 March, but by 30 April for certifications covering only income from habitual self-employment and commissions (art. 4, comma 6-quinquies, DPR 322/1998, as amended by D.Lgs. 81/2025).
- Modello 770 (Italian withholding tax return): by 31 October (in 2026 it moves to Monday 2 November, because 31 October falls on a Saturday and 1 November, a public holiday, falls on a Sunday).
- Annual VAT return (Dichiarazione IVA annuale): between 1 February and 30 April.
- Redditi and IRAP returns (Modelli Redditi e IRAP): by 31 October (in 2026 the deadline moves to Monday 2 November, because 31 October falls on a Saturday).
| Requirement | Typical deadline | Taxpayers |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly VAT (IVA) | 16th of each month | VAT-registered taxpayers under the monthly scheme |
| Withholding taxes (ritenute d’acconto) | 16th of the following month | Withholding agents (sostituti d’imposta) |
| INPS employee contributions | 16th of the following month | Employers |
| Quarterly VAT (IVA) | 16/5 – 20/8 – 16/11 (in 2026 16/5 moves to 18/5) | Quarterly taxpayers |
| Annual VAT balance | 16 March | VAT-registered taxpayers (partite IVA) |
| INPS contributions for artisans/traders (artigiani/commercianti) | 16/5 – 20/8 – 16/11 – 16/2 (in 2026 16/5 moves to 18/5) | Artisans and traders |
| Balance + 1st advance payment on income taxes and IRAP | 30 June (or 30/7 +0.40%) | Businesses and self-employed professionals |
| 2nd advance payment of income taxes and IRAP | 30 November | Businesses and self-employed professionals |
| IMU advance payment / balance | 16 June / 16 December | Property owners |
| Certificazione Unica (Single Certification) | 16 March | Sostituti d’imposta (withholding agents) |
| Modello 770 | 31 October (in 2026: 2 November) | Sostituti d’imposta (withholding agents) |
| Annual VAT return | 30 April | Partite IVA (VAT-registered taxpayers) |
How advance payments and the balance work
Income taxes and IRAP are paid in two stages: the balance for the closed tax year and the advance payments for the current year. The balance covers the difference between tax due and what has already been paid as advance payments; the advance payments anticipate the tax for the current period in two instalments.
Historical method and forecast method
- Historical method: the advance payment is calculated based on the tax due for the previous year. It is the safest because it is based on a certain figure.
- Forecast method: it is calculated based on the tax that is expected to be due for the current year. It is worthwhile if lower income is expected, but if the forecast is too low, penalties and interest apply on the underpayment, which can be remedied through ravvedimento.
The F24 form and offsetting
The F24 is the single form used to pay taxes, social security contributions and insurance premiums and to offset debits and credits.
- Vertical offsetting: between debits and credits relating to the same tax.
- Horizontal offsetting: between different taxes. Visto di conformità (certificate of tax compliance) required above 5,000 euros per year; from 1 January 2026 it is barred where debts entrusted to the collection agent, past due and not suspended, exceed 50,000 euros (threshold reduced from 100,000 by L. 199/2025); the bar covers the entire credit and does not apply where an instalment plan is being duly complied with.
If the F24 includes offsetting (compensazioni), it must be filed via the Agenzia delle Entrate’s online channels; an F24 with a zero balance must still be transmitted, and any omission can be remedied through ravvedimento.
Ravvedimento operoso (voluntary correction)
Ravvedimento (art. 13 D.Lgs. 472/1997) allows those who did not pay, or paid late or in an insufficient amount, to voluntarily regularise their position by paying the reduced penalty, in addition to statutory interest and the tax. The reduction is greater the more promptly the regularisation is made. For taxes administered by the Italian Revenue Agency it remains available even after findings have been recorded in an official report (processo verbale) and after notification of the draft assessment notice (schema di atto): the bar applies only upon service of liquidation or assessment notices, of the irregularity notices under artt. 36-bis and 36-ter of DPR 600/1973 and 54-bis of DPR 633/1972, and of recovery acts (art. 13, comma 1-ter, D.Lgs. 472/1997).
The reform of penalties from 1 September 2024
For breaches committed from 1 September 2024, the base penalty for failure to pay or late payment has decreased from 30% to 25%. Based on this, two automatic reductions apply:
- Payment within 90 days: penalty reduced by half, therefore to 12.5%.
- Payment within 15 days: the 12.5% is further reduced to 1/15 for each day of delay (about 0.8333% per day).
Mind the temporal scope. Art. 5, comma 1, D.Lgs. 87/2024 provides that the rules laid down in articles 2, 3 (save for comma 1, letter o)) and 4 of that decree “apply to violations committed from 1 September 2024”. This is a special commencement rule, which derogates from the favor rei principle of art. 3, comma 3, D.Lgs. 472/1997: a taxpayer who committed the violation on or before 31 August 2024 cannot rely on the new, milder amounts, not even by making the correction today. What counts is the date of the violation, not the date of the regularisation.
Consequently the 25% base and all the effective penalties in the table below (about 0.0833% per day, 1.25%, about 1.39%, 3.125%, about 3.57%, about 4.17%, 5.00% and 6.25%) apply only to violations committed from 1 September 2024. For earlier violations the 30% base penalty stands, and the ravvedimento fractions must be computed on that base, while earlier filing violations follow the statutory ranges then in force, expressed as a minimum and a maximum. When correcting older tax periods the previous regime must therefore be applied, not the one shown in the table.
Reductions by time brackets
| Type | When | Fraction | Actual penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint | within 15 days | 1/10 of 1/15 of 12.5% for each day of delay | about 0.0833% per day |
| Short | from the 16th to the 30th day | 1/10 of 12.5% | 1.25% |
| Intermediate | from the 31st to the 90th day | 1/9 of 12.5% | about 1.39% |
| By the return filing | within the filing deadline | 1/8 of 25% | 3.125% |
| After the return filing | after that deadline | 1/7 of 25% | about 3.57% |
| After the draft assessment notice (schema di atto) | after notification of the draft assessment notice not preceded by an official report, without a settlement application | 1/6 of 25% | about 4.17% |
| After assessment | after an official report of findings (processo verbale) | 1/5 of 25% | 5.00% |
| After the draft assessment notice following an official report | after notification of the draft assessment notice relating to the recorded violation, without a settlement application | 1/4 of 25% | 6.25% |
The ninety-day limit for tax returns
The fractions in the table do not operate without limit where the violation consists in the late filing of a tax return. Art. 13, comma 2-ter, D.Lgs. 472/1997, inserted by D.Lgs. 87/2024, provides that “the reduction of the penalty is, in any event, excluded where the return is filed more than ninety days late”.
The rule dovetails with art. 2, comma 7, DPR 322/1998: a return filed within ninety days of the deadline is valid, albeit late, subject to the penalties for the delay; a return filed more than ninety days late is treated as omitted, that is as never filed, although it still provides a basis for collecting the taxes resulting from it. The dividing line is therefore a sharp one.
- Within ninety days: the late filing carries a fixed penalty (from 250 to 1,000 euros for income taxes and IRAP, art. 1, comma 1, second sentence, D.Lgs. 471/1997; from 250 to 2,000 euros for VAT, art. 5, comma 3, of the same decree) and is corrected at one tenth of the minimum under art. 13, comma 1, letter c), D.Lgs. 472/1997, that is 25 euros in both cases (Agenzia delle Entrate, circular no. 42/E of 12 October 2016). In addition, and under separate tax codes, the tax, the interest and the penalty for the failure to pay remain due, the latter being separately correctable: circular 42/E makes completion of the ravvedimento conditional on the payments being regularised as well.
- More than ninety days: ravvedimento of the filing violation is no longer available. The return must still be transmitted, but the penalty for an omitted return will be imposed by the tax office, in the reduced amount set out below where the statutory conditions are met.
Comma 2-ter catches only the violation consisting in late filing. Errors and omissions contained in a return filed on time remain correctable well beyond ninety days, with the fractions in the table above: one eighth by the filing deadline of the return for the year in which the violation was committed, one seventh thereafter, and so on. Payment violations, which stand on their own footing and are separate from the filing violation, likewise remain correctable.
Counting the ninety days. For the Redditi, IRAP and 770 forms the period runs from the filing deadline; for the annual VAT return it runs from 30 April, so that in 2026 the wall falls on 29 July 2026. For the 2026 returns, whose 31 October deadline moves to Monday 2 November, the period ends on 29 January 2027 if computed from 31 October, or on 31 January 2027 which, falling on a Sunday, moves to Monday 1 February 2027, if computed from the deadline as already postponed. Official practice does not settle the point. The stricter reading starts from the deadline actually in force, that is 2 November; but the asymmetry of the risk is plain, because overshooting turns a 25-euro penalty into an omitted return, and it calls for taking the shorter term: closing the matter by Friday 29 January 2027.
Statutory interest (interessi legali)
Ravvedimento also requires the statutory interest (interessi legali), calculated day by day: tax × statutory rate × days / 365. The rate is set each year by an MEF decree; if the delay spans multiple years, the rate in force applies to each period.
| Year | Statutory interest rate (tasso di interesse legale) |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 5% |
| 2024 | 2.5% |
| 2025 | 2% |
| 2026 | 1.60% |
Numerical example
VAT liability of 10,000 euro not paid by the 16 March 2026 deadline and regularised on the 10 April 2026, with 25 days late: ravvedimento breve, base penalty halved to 12.5% reduced to 1/10.
- Tax: 10,000.00 euro
- Reduced penalty: 10,000 × 1.25% = 125.00 euro
- Statutory interest (at 1.60%): 10,000 × 1.60% × 25/365 = 10.96 euro
- Total: 10,135.96 euro
The same debt regularized within 5 days would cost about 41.67 euro in penalties: acting promptly is very worthwhile. Tax, penalty and interest are paid with the same F24 form, each with its own tax code.
Mistakes to avoid
- Paying the tax and forgetting the penalty and interest: ravvedimento is completed only with all three components.
- Incorrect tax (tributo) codes or incorrect reference year in the F24.
- Getting the date of the infringement wrong and therefore the applicable regime (25% from 1 September 2024, 30% before).
- Confusing the recording of findings with service of a notice: after an official report (processo verbale) ravvedimento is still possible (at 1/5), whereas after service of a tax assessment notice, an automated-control notice (avviso bonario) or a recovery act it is no longer allowed for that infringement.
- Applying the wrong statutory interest rate when the delay spans a change of year.
Penalties on tax returns: omitted (omessa) and inaccurate (infedele)
Ravvedimento reduces a penalty that must first be correctly identified. For filing violations the amounts are those of artt. 1 (income taxes and IRAP) and 5 (VAT) of D.Lgs. 471/1997, as rewritten by D.Lgs. 87/2024 and applicable only to violations committed from 1 September 2024.
| Violation | Provision | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Omitted income tax or IRAP return, with tax due | art. 1, c. 1 | 120% of the taxes due, minimum 250 euros |
| Omitted income tax or IRAP return, with no tax due | art. 1, c. 1 | from 250 to 1,000 euros, which may be raised up to double for persons required to keep accounting records |
| Return filed more than 90 days late, within the time limits of art. 43 DPR 600/1973 and before any access, inspection, audit or other assessment activity | art. 1, c. 1-bis | the penalty under art. 13, c. 1, D.Lgs. 471/1997 increased threefold, that is 75% of the tax due; where no tax is due, c. 1, second and third sentences apply (from 250 to 1,000 euros, which may be raised up to double) |
| Inaccurate return (dichiarazione infedele), income taxes or IRAP | art. 1, c. 2 | 70% of the additional tax due or of the difference in the credit used, minimum 150 euros |
| Inaccuracy by means of false documentation, non-existent transactions, artifices or deception | art. 1, c. 3 | increase from one half to double |
| Minor inaccuracy: additional tax below 3% of the amount declared and in any event below 30,000 euros | art. 1, c. 4 | reduction by one third |
| Omitted annual VAT return | art. 5, c. 1 | 120% of the tax due for the tax period, minimum 250 euros |
| VAT return filed more than 90 days late, within the time limits of art. 57 DPR 633/1972 and before any control | art. 5, c. 1-bis | the penalty under art. 13, c. 1, D.Lgs. 471/1997 increased threefold, that is 75% of the tax due; where no tax is due, the minimum penalty under c. 1, first sentence, that is 250 euros |
| Inaccurate annual VAT return | art. 5, c. 4 | 70% of the additional tax due or of the difference in the credit used, minimum 150 euros |
| Fraudulent VAT inaccuracy, or inaccuracy of minor amount | art. 5, cc. 4-bis and 4-ter | increase from one half to double, or reduction by one third |
Two operational warnings. First: the amounts under comma 1-bis of artt. 1 and 5 are not a ravvedimento, but a statutory reduction which the tax office applies when it imposes the penalty; the taxpayer does not self-assess it in the F24 and does not have to pay any reduced penalty when filing the return out of time. Part of the specialist press argues instead that this 75% is itself open to ravvedimento at one quarter (18.75%): the argument finds no foothold in art. 13, comma 2-ter, D.Lgs. 472/1997, which excludes the reduction “in any event”, and is to be treated as unsettled. Second: the application of comma 1-bis presupposes that the return is transmitted before the taxpayer has become formally aware of accesses, inspections, audits or of any assessment activity: the electronic filing receipt must therefore be kept, since it is the only means of proving that priority in time in the event of a control.
For violations committed up to 31 August 2024 the amounts in this table do not apply: the statutory ranges then in force apply, and favor rei does not operate, by effect of art. 5 D.Lgs. 87/2024.
Checks for 2026
Before payments and ravvedimenti in 2026, it is advisable to confirm: the statutory interest rate set by the MEF decree; the filing deadline for the Redditi and IRAP returns; any extensions for ISA taxpayers; postponements of deadlines that fall on Saturdays or public holidays. Studio Ponchio is available for the precise calculation of penalties and interest and for the correct completion of the F24.