Italy IVA Calculator (22%, 10%, 5% and 4%)

Italian IVA has four rates, set by DPR 633/1972. The ordinary 22% applies unless a supply appears in Tabella A. The three reduced rates are 10% (Part III), 5% (Part II-bis) and 4% (Part II).

Which rate applies is a matter of law rather than choice: the goods and services are enumerated in the Tabella. Broadly, 4% covers staple foods, books and newspapers and prima casa purchases; 5% covers certain social and health services and some foodstuffs; 10% covers many other foods, tourism and building works.

The operation Italians call the scorporo -- extracting the IVA from a tax-inclusive price -- is where most arithmetic errors happen.

Adding IVA:

Scorporo, removing IVA from a gross total:

At 22% that fraction is 22/122, which simplifies to 11/61. At 10% it is 10/110, at 5% it is 5/105 and at 4% it is 4/104.

Adding 22% to €1,000: €220.00 of IVA, €1,220.00 total.

Scorporo from €1,000: €1,000 × 22/122 = €180.33, leaving an imponibile of €819.67. Simply deducting 22% of the gross would give €780, understating the imponibile by €39.67.

Reduced rates on €1,000 net: €100.00 at 10%, €50.00 at 5%, €40.00 at 4%.

Against its neighbours: on a €100 net purchase, Italy charges €22 of IVA, against €21 in the Netherlands and Spain and €20 in France.

• Which rate applies to which supply. That is determined by Tabella A of DPR 633/72 and is genuinely intricate; the Agenzia delle Entrate publishes rulings on borderline cases.
• The regime forfettario, under which qualifying small businesses and professionals do not charge IVA at all.
• Reverse charge (inversione contabile) in construction, certain electronics and cross-border business supplies.
• Split payment, under which public bodies pay the IVA directly to the Treasury.
• Exempt (esenti) and excluded (escluse) operations, which differ from zero-rating in their effect on input IVA recovery.
• The One Stop Shop and EU distance selling.
• Electronic invoicing and the esterometro, which are compliance mechanics rather than rate questions.
• IVA on property, which has its own regime interacting with registration tax.

• Deducting 22% from the gross instead of doing the scorporo. €1,000 minus 22% is €780, which is wrong by €39.67. The correct imponibile is €819.67.
• Assuming all food is 4%. Only staples get the minimum rate; many foodstuffs sit at 10%.
• Treating the rate as a choice. It is fixed by Tabella A, and applying a reduced rate to a supply that does not qualify is an assessment risk.
• Forgetting the regime forfettario. A business in that regime issues invoices without IVA entirely, so an IVA calculation does not apply to it.
• Confusing esenti with escluse. Both mean no IVA is charged, but they have different consequences for the right to deduct input IVA.
• Applying split payment logic to private customers. It applies to supplies to public administrations, not to ordinary B2C sales.

• DPR 26 ottobre 1972 n. 633, article 16 and Tabella A -- the ordinary 22% rate and the reduced rates of 4%, 5% and 10% in Parts II, II-bis and III
• Agenzia delle Entrate: "Iva -- regole generali, aliquote, esenzioni, pagamento: norme generali e aliquote"
• All figures verified on 30 August 2026