How much it costs to open a partita IVA in Italy, and how to do it

How much it costs to open a partita IVA (Italian VAT number) depends on who you are. If you’re a freelance professional (libero professionista), you open it with the Agenzia delle Entrate (the Italian Revenue Agency) and pay nothing: form AA9/12 and the software to fill it in are free. If you open a sole proprietorship (ditta individuale) as a trader or an artisan, you go through the Registro delle imprese (the business register) and pay the stamp duty (imposta di bollo), the filing fees (diritti di segreteria) and the Chamber of Commerce’s annual fee (diritto annuale). Here you’ll find the steps in the order you take them, the 2026 figures and, above all, what it costs to keep it open year after year, which is the part that really weighs.

Freelance professional or sole proprietorship: everything depends on this

The route to opening a partita IVA changes with the type of activity, and the costs change with it.

The Agenzia delle Entrate says so itself in the form’s instructions: form AA9/12 is for anyone who carries out a professional activity or another activity for which registering with the Registro delle imprese is not compulsory. Anyone who must register uses the Comunicazione Unica instead, which also counts as the request for the partita IVA.

An unregulated intellectual profession, such as consulting or market research, isn’t required to register with the Registro delle imprese, but may choose to. The Rome Chamber of Commerce explains this on its page about registering sole proprietorships. If you don’t need it, the AA9/12 route is the one that costs less.

Before filling in: ATECO code and tax regime

Two choices have to be made before you open, because both go into the form.

The ATECO code

The ATECO code (the activity classification) describes the activity you mainly carry out. Since 1 January 2025 the ATECO 2025 classification has been in force, adopted in practice from 1 April 2025, as ISTAT states. The code isn’t a bureaucratic detail: under the regime forfettario (Italy’s flat-rate tax regime) it decides the profitability coefficient (coefficiente di redditività), that is, the share of your takings on which you pay the tax. If you’re torn between two codes, compare the coefficients in the guide to the profitability coefficient by ATECO code.

The tax regime

Form AA9/12 has a box for regimi fiscali agevolati (favourable tax regimes): the value 2 means you’re joining the regime forfettario (art. 1, comma 54, L. 190/2014) because you believe you meet its requirements. Anyone starting an activity can join it by stating in this very declaration that they presume they meet the requirements, the Agenzia confirms.

The main requirements, for 2026, are revenue or fees for the previous year of no more than €85,000 and none of the exclusion criteria. If you’re opening for the first time and the activity doesn’t continue a previous job, the substitute tax (imposta sostitutiva) drops from 15% to 5% for the first five years. The whole regime is explained in the guide to the regime forfettario; if you exceed the limits or prefer to deduct your real costs, read the one on the simplified and ordinary regimes.

If you also have a salary, check the limit on employment income before ticking the forfettario: it’s explained in the guide on partita IVA and employment.

How to open a partita IVA, step by step

If you’re a freelance professional: form AA9/12

Form AA9/12 is the dichiarazione di inizio attività, variazione dati o cessazione attività ai fini IVA (declaration of start of activity, change of details or end of activity for VAT purposes) for sole proprietorships and the self-employed. You tick box 1 of section A (quadro A) (start of activity) and enter the start date, the ATECO code, the place where you work and the regime.

The Agenzia’s instructions list three ways to submit it:

1. Online, on your own or through an authorised intermediary: with the Agenzia’s free software you prepare the file and send it from your reserved area. The declaration counts as submitted on the day the Agenzia finishes receiving the data.
2. At the counter, in two copies, at any Agenzia delle Entrate office, even far from where you live. You can send someone with a proxy.
3. By registered post, in a single copy, with a photocopy of an identity document, to any Agenzia office. The day of posting is what counts.

The office assigns you the partita IVA number, which stays the same even if you change your tax domicile, until you close.

If you’re a trader or an artisan: ComUnica

For a sole proprietorship the filing is the Comunicazione Unica (ComUnica, the one-stop business filing), sent online to the Registro delle imprese of your Chamber of Commerce. With a single application you register with the Registro, request the partita IVA from the Agenzia delle Entrate and complete the formalities with INPS and INAIL. If the activity requires a certified notice of start of activity (SCIA) or a licence, you send it together with the ComUnica.

The filing can be sent by the owner or by a professional they appoint, for example a commercialista (accountant).

A sole proprietorship’s activity must start together with or after the first ComUnica, not before. Anyone who starts selling and registers afterwards risks the penalty for late registration.

Registering with INPS

You don’t choose your INPS fund: it depends on the activity.

• Freelance professional without a pension fund: you apply online to INPS (Italy’s social security institute), with the Domanda Iscrizione Parasubordinati service, to register with the INPS Gestione Separata (the separate fund for professionals).
• Trader or artisan: registration with the fund goes through the ComUnica, in the social security section of the filing. For the traders’ fund, INPS requires you to take part personally in the business’s work on a habitual and predominant basis.
• Professional with a professional register and a professional pension fund (cassa professionale) (lawyer, engineer, architect…): you register with your pension fund, not with INPS.

All the rules, deadlines and reductions are in the guide to INPS contributions with a partita IVA.

How much it costs to open a partita IVA

Here are the costs of opening a partita IVA, item by item.

The sole proprietorship figures are the ones published by the Rome Chamber of Commerce. The annual fee has a base of €44 for the special section (artisans and small entrepreneurs) and €100 for the ordinary section, after the 50% reduction set by law; many Chambers, such as Rome and Bergamo, raise it by 20% for 2026, which is where €53 and €120 come from. Anyone who registers during the year pays it with the registration or within the following 30 days, with the F24 (the unified payment form). Check the amount on your Chamber’s website.

So the real cost of opening is zero for a professional; for a sole proprietorship in Rome, in 2026, it’s €88.50 in the special section or €155.50 in the ordinary section, plus the costs of any SCIA for the activity and those of a professional, if you appoint one.

How much it costs to have a partita IVA each year

Opening it costs little. Keeping it is another story, and it pays to know the fixed items before you start.

The biggest difference is INPS. In the Gestione Separata you pay a percentage of what you earn: if you take in little one year, you pay little. Traders and artisans instead pay a fixed contribution on the minimum base (minimale) even on a low income, in four instalments (in 2026: 18 May, 20 August, 16 November and 16 February 2027, according to INPS circular n. 14/2026). It’s the item that makes a sole proprietorship a choice to weigh carefully.

A commercialista isn’t compulsory. Under the forfettario the bookkeeping is light and many self-employed people with a partita IVA prepare their invoices and return on their own; under the simplified regime or with a complex activity a professional often pays for themselves. The price is unregulated and varies a lot from firm to firm.

Even under the forfettario every invoice is an e-invoice and goes through the SdI (Sistema di Interscambio, the state’s e-invoicing exchange system). You need a program or the Agenzia’s free service, Fatture e Corrispettivi.

When it must be opened, and what happens if you’re late

The rule is art. 35 of D.P.R. 633/1972: the declaration of start of activity is submitted within 30 days of starting the activity. The form’s instructions add that the start date can’t be later than the day you submit the form: you can’t open “in advance” for a future date.

Anyone who must submit the declaration of start of activity and doesn’t risks a penalty from €500 to €2,000, under art. 5, comma 6, of D.Lgs. 471/1997 in the text in force in 2026. For the Registro delle imprese, registration applications submitted more than 30 days after the event lead to an administrative penalty from the Chamber of Commerce.

From 1 January 2027 art. 35 of D.P.R. 633/1972 is repealed and the matter moves into the new Testo unico IVA (D.Lgs. 19 gennaio 2026, n. 10). Throughout 2026 the rules described here apply; if you open from 2027, check the updated reference on the Agenzia’s page for form AA9/12.

In short

• Freelance professional: form AA9/12 to the Agenzia delle Entrate, online, at the counter or by registered post. Cost €0. Then registration with the INPS Gestione Separata.
• Trader or artisan: ComUnica to the Chamber of Commerce, which covers the Registro delle imprese, the partita IVA and INPS. In Rome, in 2026, €18 in fees, €17.50 in stamp duty and the annual fee.
• Choose the ATECO code and the regime first: under the forfettario the code decides how much you pay.
• Within 30 days of starting the activity.
• The cost that weighs is the annual one: INPS contributions, fixed for artisans and traders.

Opening your partita IVA is the first step of your business: take it calmly, already knowing what it will cost you each year.
💜💙 Your BravoLisa Team

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional tax, legal, or accounting advice. Every situation is different — consult a qualified professional (tax adviser, accountant, or lawyer) for advice specific to your circumstances. BravoLisa does not accept liability for decisions made based on this information.

Last updated: September 2026. Rates and thresholds can change: always check with the Agenzia delle Entrate, INPS or the relevant authority.

Sources (16)

Verified on 30 September 2026

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2. Agenzia delle Entrate — Modello AA9/12, istruzioni per la compilazione
3. Agenzia delle Entrate — Partita Iva Persone Fisiche (AA9/12), Software di compilazione
4. Agenzia delle Entrate — Regime forfetario, Che cos'è
5. Normattiva — D.P.R. 26 ottobre 1972, n. 633, art. 35
6. Normattiva — D.Lgs. 18 dicembre 1997, n. 471, art. 5
7. Gazzetta Ufficiale — D.Lgs. 19 gennaio 2026, n. 10 (Testo unico IVA)
8. ISTAT — ATECO 2025 e aggiornamenti
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10. INPS — Iscrizione Gestione Commercianti
11. INPS — Circolare n. 8 del 3 febbraio 2026, Gestione separata: aliquote 2026
12. INPS — Circolare n. 14 del 9 febbraio 2026, artigiani e commercianti: contribuzione 2026
13. Camera di Commercio di Roma — Diritti di segreteria e bolli imprese individuali
14. Camera di Commercio di Roma — Iscrizione con immediato avvio dell'attività
15. Camera di Commercio di Bergamo — Diritto annuale per l'anno 2026
16. Camera di Commercio di Roma — Sanzioni Registro Imprese