What do your expenses give back?
In Italy it depends on how you work. Employees can only claim personal expenses, like medical bills or mortgage interest. Freelancers in the ordinary regime and SRL owners also deduct work expenses and get VAT back. The flat-rate regime gets almost nothing. Pick your case, enter a year of expenses and see how much comes back under the 2026 rules. Everything runs in your browser: no data leaves your device.
How you work
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Income
Yearly gross pay, as in your contract. The income that sets the caps is worked out from this.
Gross, before VAT. The expenses below come off this to give the income that sets the caps.
Gross, per year. Your personal tax credits apply to the IRPEF on this.
Deductible expenses lower your contributions too.
Used for the cap on tax credits above €75,000 of income, and for kids' sports.
For the regional surtax, which changes what each deducted euro is worth.
Milan charges 0.8%. Your comune's website has yours.
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Work expenses
Amounts paid, VAT included. These are deductions: they come off the income you pay tax and contributions on.
[[ costRule('meals') ]] Restaurants, hotels, business trips. Since 2025 they only count if paid by card or bank transfer. Professionals: together with meal vouchers, up to 2% of revenue.
[[ costRule('mealVouchers') ]] Electronic ones: on paper vouchers the VAT can't be recovered. Professionals: together with meals and hotels, up to 2% of revenue.
[[ costRule('carRunning') ]] For a car you also use for work.
[[ costRule('carRental') ]] Yearly fee, counted up to €3,615.20 (sales agents €5,164.57).
[[ costRule('carBuy') ]] Deducted over 4 years: you see one year here. Price counted up to €18,075.99 (sales agents €25,822.84).
[[ costRule('phone') ]] Contracts in the name of your partita IVA.
[[ costRule('training') ]] Professionals: up to €10,000 a year.
[[ costRule('office') ]] Items up to €516.46. Pricier ones are deducted over several years.
[[ costRule('workwear') ]] Uniforms, safety gear, technical clothing. Ordinary clothes aren't deductible, even if you only wear them for work.
[[ costRule('homeRent') ]] The home you live and work in, if you have no other office in the same town. If you own it, the cadastral income counts, not the mortgage.
[[ costRule('homeBills') ]] Electricity, gas, water, home internet.
[[ costRule('homeCleaning') ]] A cleaning company that invoices you.
[[ costRule('other') ]] Accountant, coworking, professional insurance.
Personal expenses
Paid by card or transfer (medicines can be cash). These are tax credits: a share comes straight off your IRPEF.
19% above the first €129.11. No cap, not even for high incomes.
Interest only, not the principal. 19% on up to €4,000 a year.
From nursery to high school. 19% on up to €800 per child.
Ages 5 to 18. 19% on up to €210 per child.
19% on the part between €129.11 and €750.
19% on up to €530 of premiums.
19% on up to €250.
Third-sector bodies (ETS, onlus). 30% on up to €30,000.
Claimed in 10 yearly instalments, on up to €96,000 per property: you see one instalment here.
Deductions from income
Anyone who pays IRPEF gets these, employees included.
Up to €5,300 a year from 2026. For employees, the employer's share counts toward it too.
Cleaners and carers (colf, badanti): up to €1,549.37 a year.
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| [[ t.col_item ]] | [[ t.col_deductible ]] | [[ t.col_vat ]] | [[ t.col_saving ]] |
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| [[ t.row_total ]] | [[ money(result.business.deductible) ]] | [[ money(result.business.vatRecovered) ]] | [[ money(result.business.saving) ]] |
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| [[ t.row_total ]] | [[ money(result.credits.amount) ]] | [[ money(result.credits.total) ]] |
| [[ t.credits_used ]] | [[ money(result.credits.used) ]] |
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| [[ t.labels[l.k] ]] [[ money(l.amount) ]] | [[ money(l.deductible) ]] | [[ money(l.saving) ]] |
How it works
Italian has three words that get mixed up all the time, and they work very differently.
- Detrazione (tax credit): a percentage of the expense comes off the IRPEF you owe. €1,000 of medical bills above the threshold is €190 less tax, whatever you earn. You need enough IRPEF to take it from, though: if you pay little (incapienza), the rest is lost.
- Deduzione (deduction): the expense comes off the income your tax is worked out on. It's worth your marginal rate, so the more you earn, the more it saves. For a freelancer in the ordinary regime it also lowers INPS contributions, and with them a little of your future pension.
- IVA (VAT): freelancers in the ordinary regime and SRLs charge VAT on their invoices, consulting included, and subtract the VAT they paid on work purchases from what they hand over. On a car you get 40% back (sales agents 100%), on phones and the home office 50%. The flat-rate regime charges no VAT and gets none back; neither do VAT-exempt services like healthcare.
Who can claim what
| Profile | IRPEF tax credits | Pension fund, domestic worker | Work expenses | VAT on purchases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Flat-rate (forfettario) | No | No | No | No |
| Freelance professional | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sole trader | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sales agent | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SRL (company) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- In the flat-rate regime expenses don't matter: your income is revenue times a fixed coefficient (78% for many professionals), and the rest is treated as expenses automatically. The flat tax has no credits. Only mandatory pension contributions are deductible. If you also have income taxed under IRPEF, say a part-time job, the credits apply to that.
- Sales agents (agenti di commercio) deduct 80% of car costs, with higher limits, and recover all the VAT.
- In an SRL the company pays the work expenses: it saves IRES (24%) and IRAP (3.9%), and you save the 26% dividend tax on what's left. Your personal credits apply to the IRPEF on your director's fee.
Caps for high incomes
- Above €75,000 of income, expenses that give a tax credit only count up to €14,000 (up to €100,000 of income) or €8,000 (above), times a coefficient: 0.5 with no children, 0.7 with one, 0.85 with two, 1 with three or a child with a disability. Medical bills, interest on mortgages taken out until 2024 and instalments of work paid until 2024 stay outside. The calculator fills the cap with the highest rates first (renovations, then donations, then the 19% ones).
- Above €120,000 the 19% credits shrink, down to zero at €240,000. Medical bills and mortgage interest don't.
- Above €200,000, from 2026, the 19% credits (medical bills excepted) lose another €440.
- The income that matters is reddito complessivo: gross salary minus your contributions, or revenue minus deductible expenses (contributions not subtracted).
How the saving is worked out
The calculator runs your taxes four times: with no expenses, with work expenses, with personal deductions, with tax credits. Each time it adds up everything that goes to the state: IRPEF with the surtaxes, contributions, and for an SRL also IRES, IRAP and dividend tax. The difference between two steps is what that group of expenses saves. That way tax brackets, work credits that fade with income and the no-tax area are all accounted for. IRPEF, contributions and the SRL use the same rules as the Employee or freelancer calculator.
The real cost of an expense is what you pay minus what comes back. €1,000 of software, for a professional in the ordinary regime earning €40,000, costs around €380: €180 of VAT comes back, and the €820 that's deductible saves about 54% in IRPEF, surtaxes and contributions.
What it leaves out
- Credits for dependants (children from 21, a spouse) and for renting the home you live in: they don't depend on expenses.
- The trattamento integrativo between €15,000 and €28,000 of income, which in some cases also counts mortgage and renovation credits: here only the work credit counts.
- Client entertainment (gifts, dinners with clients) has its own rules: the calculator treats it like meals and hotels.
- In an SRL the non-deductible part of an expense (say 80% of the car) doesn't change the tax. Enasarco for sales agents is not included.
- Percentages are the general 2026 ones. For your exact case, ask your commercialista.