Not filing your tax return in Italy can have different consequences, depending on your situation. The impact isn’t the same for everyone. If you owe money to the tax authorities, you may face financial penalties. If you’re entitled to a refund, the risk is losing money that would otherwise have been paid back to you.
If your tax return in Italy is filed within 90 days after that deadline, it is still accepted but treated as a late return. In this case, a fixed penalty of €250 applies, although this amount can be reduced through voluntary disclosure procedures.
What are the risks if you don't file the 730?
If you don't submit the 730 form by the deadline of September 30th 2026, your tax return may be late or omitted. A late return is one filed within 90 days of the deadline, while filing after this deadline will be considered omitted.
In both cases, the Revenue Agency imposes penalties, which are more moderate when the tax return is late, but much more severe for an omitted declaration. The amount of the penalties depends proportionally on whether or not taxes are due.
In addition to administrative penalties, there are criminal penalties, including imprisonment for 2 to 5 years, for the crime of failure to file a tax return.
- Failure to file a tax return occurs when the amount of unpaid taxes exceeds €50,000, provided that the failure to file the return is intended to evade income or value-added taxes.
What happens if I don't file the 730 and I'm in debt?
Failure to declare a tax debt is effectively equivalent to failing to pay the taxes due. The penalties for failure to declare range from 120% to 240% of the unpaid tax, with a minimum of 250 euros, rising to 500 euros for those required to file a VAT return. This penalty also includes late payment interest, which increases over time.
What happens if you don’t file the 730 and you’re due a refund?
If you’re entitled to a tax refund and don’t file the 730 form, the refund is not paid automatically. The Italian tax authorities do not return money unless a tax return is submitted.
This means that any tax deductions or credits you’re entitled to — such as those for medical expenses, home renovations, energy-efficiency works or other tax bonuses — are effectively lost if you fail to submit the 730 (or another appropriate tax return).
In addition to missing out on the refund, administrative penalties may apply if you were required to file. These generally range between €250 and €1,000. For individuals who are obliged to keep accounting records, such as self-employed professionals, the fine can be doubled.
If the return is submitted late but within the following year, the penalty is reduced to between €150 and €500.
Who is not required to file the 730 form?
Not everyone in Italy has to submit a 730 tax return. In general, you are exempt if you earned income from just one employer or one pension provider, had no other sources of income, and the correct taxes were already withheld at source.
You are typically not required to file a 730 if you fall into one of the following categories:
- You earned income of up to €3,000 that does not require you to keep accounting records.
- You received employment income or a pension paid by a single tax withholding agent who applied the correct withholdings.
- You worked for more than one employer during the year, but the last employer carried out the final tax adjustment (conguaglio), taking previous earnings into account.
- You earned income from coordinated and continuous collaborations (including project-based contracts), even with more than one tax withholding agent, as long as everything was properly balanced.
- Your total income did not exceed €7,500, excluding your main residence.
- Your total income, excluding your main home and related appurtenances, did not exceed €7,000, you received a pension for at least one year, and no tax withholdings were applied.
- You had employment income together with income solely from your main residence and its appurtenances.
- You received only pension income up to €7,500 in total, possibly alongside land income not exceeding €185.92 and income from your main residence and its appurtenances.
- You had only real estate income deriving exclusively from your main residence and its appurtenances.
- You received only exempt income, such as certain INAIL pensions for disability or death.
- You had only income that was already subject to withholding tax.
- You had only income subject to a substitute tax, such as interest on Italian government bonds.
What to do if you haven't filed the 730 form?
If you missed the deadline to submit your 730, the first step is to check how late you are.
If you are less than 90 days late, you can still file the 730 as a late return.
- In this case, you’ll need to pay a reduced penalty, but it’s usually the simplest and least costly way to sort things out. Even if you rely on an accountant, it’s worth confirming that the return has actually been submitted, as the responsibility ultimately sits with you as the taxpayer.
If more than 90 days have passed, you can no longer use the 730 form.
- You’ll need to submit the Personal Income Tax return (Modello Redditi PF), formerly known as Unico. This allows you to regularise your tax position, although different penalties may apply depending on how late the filing is.
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