Import VAT and Duty in Italy

VAT Rates in Italy

The standard VAT rate in Italy is 22% (IVA (Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto)). Reduced rates of 10%, 5% and 4%.

Import VAT and customs duty in Italy are administered by Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM), the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency.

The rate applying on import is the rate that applies to a supply of the same or similar goods on the Italy domestic market, which is why correct commodity classification matters at the classification stage and not only at invoicing.

The Taxable Amount in Italy

Import VAT is calculated on the Customs value on a CIF basis, plus customs duty and other charges payable at importation. Freight and insurance to the point of entry into the EU are included in the customs value, so a shipment budgeted on goods value alone will understate the VAT payable.

Customs Duty in Italy

EU Common Customs Tariff applied through TARIC; the rate is set by the commodity code and origin. Duty is set by the commodity code and origin at the date the declaration is accepted — there is no single national rate that applies across a consignment.

Low-Value Consignments in Italy

The EUR 22 import VAT exemption was abolished EU-wide on 1 July 2021. There is no value below which a commercial import escapes VAT. The EUR 150 threshold relieves customs duty only. From 1 July 2026 a temporary flat duty of EUR 3 per item category applies to consignments at or below EUR 150, running until 1 July 2028.

Postponed Accounting in Italy

VAT-registered Italian importers may account for import VAT through the VAT return rather than paying at the frontier. It is a cash-flow mechanism, not an exemption, and it does not apply to customs duty.

Planning Duty and VAT for Italy

Genoa is Italy's largest container port and the default gateway for the Po valley and the Lombardy industrial region. Trieste, on the northern Adriatic, is smaller by volume but has a decisive advantage for Central European distribution: direct rail access into Austria and southern Germany that avoids the Alpine road crossings. Gioia Tauro functions primarily as a Mediterranean transhipment hub rather than a domestic gateway. Choosing between them on inland distance rather than on ocean transit is the mistake most first-time importers make.

That routing, and the country-specific points below, are what turn a generic EU calculation into a Italy one. They belong in the landed-cost model from the outset rather than being discovered at clearance:

• Italian standard VAT is 22%, with reduced rates of 10%, 5% and 4%
• Trieste offers direct rail into Austria, southern Germany and Central Europe, avoiding Alpine road crossings
• ISPM 15 treatment and marking for all wood packaging