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Inheritance and gift tax after the reform: what changes from 2025

Tax self-assessed by heirs, businesses and shares passed to children, family pacts and indirect gifts: the rules in force from 2025, with worked examples.

For successions opened on or after 1 January 2025, inheritance tax is no longer calculated by the tax office: the heirs determine it in the return and pay it within 90 days of the deadline for filing it. Rates and tax-free allowances remain the same; what changes are the rules on passing businesses and shareholdings to children, on gifts made without a deed of gift, and on the aggregation of earlier gifts.

The framework

The reform is contained in Legislative Decree no. 139 of 18 September 2024 (Official Gazette no. 231 of 2 October 2024), which amends the Consolidated Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, Legislative Decree no. 346 of 31 October 1990 (TUS, Testo unico sulle successioni). Under Article 9, paragraph 3, of the reform decree, the new rules apply to successions opened and to gratuitous transfers made from 1 January 2025. The Agenzia delle entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency) commented on it in Circular no. 3/E of 16 April 2025.

The changes: self-assessment of inheritance tax (Articles 27, 33, 37 and 38 TUS); rates and allowances moved to Articles 7 and 56 TUS; the exemption for businesses and shareholdings rewritten (Article 3, paragraph 4-ter); a new regime for indirect gifts (liberalità indirette) (Article 56-bis); aggregation of earlier gifts confined to the allowances for gifts (Article 57) and abolished for inheritance (Article 8, paragraph 4). For breaches committed on or after 1 September 2024, Legislative Decree 87/2024 reduced the penalties: failure to file, 120% of the tax; filing up to 30 days late, 45%; inaccurate return, 80% (Articles 50 and 51 TUS). The Consolidated Tax Penalties Act (Legislative Decree 173/2024) will apply only from 1 January 2027. From the same date, the rules on this tax move into the Consolidated Act on Registration Tax and Other Indirect Taxes (Legislative Decree no. 123 of 1 August 2025, whose application was deferred to that date by Decree-Law no. 200 of 31 December 2025): the TUS articles cited here will be renumbered.

What changes in practice

Inheritance tax is paid without waiting for the tax office. The rates are 4% for the spouse and direct-line relatives on the amount exceeding 1,000,000 euro each; 6% for brothers and sisters above 100,000 euro; 6% with no allowance for other relatives up to the fourth degree and the in-laws specified by law; and 8% for everyone else. Example: a person dies on 20 January 2026 and leaves their brother a net share of 300,000 euro. The return is due by 20 January 2027; the tax, (300,000 − 100,000) × 6% = 12,000 euro, must be paid by 20 April 2027: the 90 days run from the deadline, not from the date of filing. If payment in instalments is elected in the return, at least 20% (2,400 euro) is paid by that date and the balance in eight quarterly instalments with interest; twelve instalments are allowed only where the tax exceeds 20,000 euro; below 1,000 euro no deferral is permitted. If the office finds additional tax due, it serves an avviso di liquidazione (notice of tax due) within two years of filing; those who pay within 60 days have the penalty reduced to one third.

Businesses and shareholdings to children: for corporations, control is required. A transfer to descendants and the spouse, including by means of a patto di famiglia (family business pact), is exempt if the recipient continues the business (for businesses), retains control (for shares in corporations) or keeps ownership of the interests (for partnerships) for five years, and undertakes in writing to do so. For corporations, what counts is a majority of the votes at the ordinary shareholders’ meeting (Article 2359, paragraph 1, no. 1, of the Civil Code, c.c.); it is also sufficient to supplement control already held. Example: a father owns 100% of an srl (limited liability company) with net equity of 2,400,000 euro in the latest financial statements. For unlisted shares, the taxable base is net equity, excluding goodwill (Articles 8, paragraph 1-bis, 16, paragraph 1, letter b), and 56, paragraph 3, TUS). He gives 51% to his son A and 49% to his daughter B. A’s shares are exempt; B’s shares, worth 1,176,000 euro, attract tax of (1,176,000 − 1,000,000) × 4% = 7,040 euro, provided the father had not already given her anything else. In a patto di famiglia, the sums the assignee pays to the other legittimari (heirs entitled to a reserved share) are taxed as gifts from the parent, not between siblings (Resolution no. 12/E of 14 February 2025): if the assignee pays his sister 600,000 euro, the sum falls within the father–daughter allowance of 1,000,000 euro; under the previous interpretation it would have cost (600,000 − 100,000) × 6% = 30,000 euro.

Gifts without a deed of gift. Gifts other than formal gifts by deed, such as paying off a child’s debt, can be assessed only if the person concerned discloses them in the course of a tax audit (Article 56-bis); in that case 8% applies to the portion exceeding the allowance, which for a child remains 1,000,000 euro. They may also be registered voluntarily, at the ordinary rates and allowances. No tax is due on a gift linked to the purchase of a property or a business subject to proportional registration tax or VAT, for example where a parent pays the price of a child’s home (Article 1, paragraph 4-bis); customary gifts (liberalità d’uso) are also excluded.

Practical steps

• Heirs or their adviser: from the date of death, diarise the twelve-month deadline and the following 90-day deadline. The calculation schedule, valuations, evidence of liabilities and receipts should be kept at least until the time limits for review and adjustment expire: two years from filing for the settlement of the tax due (liquidazione, Article 33, paragraph 3), two years from payment of the main tax for the adjustment of values, five years if no return was filed (Article 27, paragraphs 3 and 4). Where the tax is paid in instalments, the point from which the adjustment period runs has not been clarified: as a precaution, keep everything until two years after the last instalment. For exempt businesses and shareholdings, the documents are needed for the entire duration of the undertaking and beyond, for as long as the office can challenge the loss of the benefit.
• Payment by F24 form, tax code 1539, while interest on instalments has its own code (Resolution no. 2/E of 10 January 2025); instalments must be requested in the return, not afterwards.
• Transfer of businesses or shareholdings: before the deed, check, for corporations, who will hold the majority of the votes and put the five-year undertaking in writing; during the five years, every sale, contribution or reorganisation must be checked in advance.
• Gifts: the deed must state any earlier gifts by the same donor, which reduce the allowance (Article 57 TUS); failing to do so is penalised (Article 57, paragraph 2).
• Sums given to children without a deed: keep the bank transfers and payment references; for significant amounts, the appropriate form should be discussed with a notary, because a direct gift requires a notarial deed (atto pubblico) (Article 782 c.c.).

Mistakes to avoid

• Waiting for a notice before paying: the deadline expires on its own and late payment is penalised (Article 13 of Legislative Decree 471/1997), at a reduced rate for those who remedy the breach voluntarily.
• Splitting the shares of an srl or an spa (joint-stock company) so that no child holds a majority of the votes, while counting on the exemption.
• Forgetting the declaration of undertaking, which must be made at the same time as the deed of gift or the inheritance tax return.
• Adding gifts received during the deceased’s lifetime to the inherited share: aggregation for inheritance purposes no longer exists.

References

Legislative Decree no. 139 of 18 September 2024, Articles 1 and 9, paragraph 3

Legislative Decree no. 346 of 31 October 1990, Articles 1, paragraphs 4 and 4-bis, 3, paragraph 4-ter, 7, 8, paragraph 1-bis, 16, 27, 33, 37, 38, 50, 51, 56, 56-bis, 57

Legislative Decree no. 87 of 14 June 2024, Article 4

Legislative Decree no. 471 of 18 December 1997, Article 13

Civil Code, Articles 782, 2352, 2359, 2471-bis

Agenzia delle entrate, Circular no. 3/E of 16 April 2025, Resolutions no. 2/E of 10 January 2025 and no. 12/E of 14 February 2025

Legislative Decree no. 123 of 1 August 2025

Decree-Law no. 200 of 31 December 2025, converted into law by Law no. 26 of 27 February 2026, Article 4