The deadline for the payment of the first installment (June 18) is approaching and finally the clouds around the Imu are starting to clear. The Department of Finance of the Treasury has brought order to the chaos of the new tax, which has issued a circular in which various doubts so far unresolved are answered. One certainty above all: the real sting will come not so much to the first houses, but to the second ones.
HOW TO DISTINGUISH FIRST AND SECOND HOME
The ministry confirms that "compared to the provisions of the ICI, the definition of main residence presents new profiles". In the Bocconi revolution, the criterion on the basis of which a distinction is made between a first and second home is much more rigid than in the past: the reform considers the "main residence" only the property in which the owner "habits habitually and resides by birth". This means that tax residency is no longer a sufficient requirement: whoever owns the house must also live there. This is a novelty that has serious consequences: in the past, for example, even the one granted on loan for use to children was considered a first home. Not anymore and the difference will be felt.
RATES AND DEDUCTIONS
The standard rates (which apply to cadastral income revalued by 60%) are set at 0,4% for the first house and 0,76% for the second, with possible fluctuations at the discretion of the mayors of 0,2% and by 0,3%. On the second home, however, 0,38% will still go to the state. It is therefore widely foreseeable that local administrations will raise the rate instead of lowering it, in order to obtain a substantial revenue to keep in cash. An all the heavier sting for taxpayers considering that no deductions are provided for second homes. As regards the first home, however, the Imu is much more generous than the ICI: the deductions go from 103,29 to 200 euros, plus another 50 euros for each dependent child up to 26 years of age.
Municipalities will be able to increase the subsidy by 200 euros, but they will not be able to touch that on children, which in any case cannot exceed the total threshold of 400 euros. Subsidized rates are recognized on the former marital home and, if the Municipalities provide for it, on the unrented home owned by the elderly or disabled who reside in healthcare institutions or hospitalizations, as well as on the homes of Italian citizens residing abroad. Finally, for buildings of historical or artistic interest and for those declared uninhabitable, the tax base is cut by 50%.
FIRST HOME: WHO PAYS AND WHO DOESN'T
According to the government, the IMU will not be paid on 24% of the first homes (but not more than two weeks ago the executive spoke of 30%), i.e. 4,6 million out of 19,2 million. By maneuvering on rates and deductions, the municipalities can in effect cancel the tax for families who live in modest houses, therefore with low cadastral income. However, the scope for action of local administrators is less extensive than one might think, given the widespread budgetary problems and the constraint imposed by the internal stability pact.
TWO OR THREE INSTALLMENTS?
The advance of 18 June is paid in any case by calculating the Imu with the basic rates and the established deductions (by 30 September the municipalities will have to fix the definitive rates and deductions according to the revenue obtained from the advances). If the taxpayer chooses the solution in two installments, next month he will pay half of the amount obtained by applying these criteria, while the second installment must be paid by December 17, as the balance of the tax for the entire year and with a lot of adjustment For those who choose to pay in three installments, however, the first and second (deadline on 17 September) will each be equal to one third of the tax calculated by applying the basic rate and the deduction.
