How to Calculate Duties and Taxes on Imports to Italy

Italy charges IVA at 22% on most imports, with 10%, 5% and 4% for listed goods, on the customs value plus duty and other charges. Online orders from outside the EU up to EUR 150 also pay EUR 3 duty per item and every online order pays a EUR 2 EU fee per item. From 1 December 2026 Italy starts collecting a separate national contribution of EUR 2 per shipment on anything declared at EUR 150 or less, business shipments included.

• Valuation basis: CIF
• Tax base: Customs value plus duties and other charges due on import, plus incidental costs such as transport and insurance to the first place of destination. Under IOSS, VAT is on the sale price at checkout.
• VAT standard rate: 22%. 4% is a super-reduced rate for listed food, drinks and agricultural goods.
• Reduced rates: 10%, 5%, 4%

IOSS: non-EU sellers and marketplaces may register in one member state, through an EU intermediary unless their country has a qualifying recovery agreement, to charge destination VAT on consignments up to EUR 150, excluding excise goods. Without IOSS, Special Arrangements or standard import VAT apply. From 1 November 2026 product identifiers are mandatory on these distance sales. Italy's national EUR 2 per shipment is owed by the declarant on H1 and H7, tested on customs value on an H1 and intrinsic value on an H7. It is not a customs duty and stays out of the VAT base.

• The 5% rate is from Your Europe; the Agenzia page read names 22%, 10% and 4%.

The budget law for 2026 (Law 199 of 30 December 2025, article 1, paragraphs 126 to 128) created a contribution towards the administrative cost of clearing low-value shipments from outside the EU. Italian law then pushed the start back several times. ADM's notice of 23 September 2026 says accounting and collection begin on 1 December 2026, for low-value shipments imported from that date.

What ADM's circulars say about it:

• It is EUR 2 for each shipment with a declared value of EUR 150 or less, whatever the number of items.
• It applies to consumer sales, business purchases and parcels between private individuals, on H1 and H7 declarations. This is wider than the EU charges.
• The declarant owes it, along with the person they represent in an indirect representation.
• ADM says it is not a customs duty and doesn't go into the VAT base. The EU fee, by contrast, does.
• A shipment means goods sent at the same time by one sender to one consignee under one transport contract.
• The EUR 150 test uses the customs value on an H1, transport to the EU border included, and the intrinsic value of the goods on an H7.

Dates have moved before, so check ADM before you commit to a price.

There are up to four charges on an Italian parcel, and two of them are easy to confuse.

• Flat duty, EU: EUR 3 per item, for distance sales up to EUR 150, from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028. ADM counts by tariff classification: five T-shirts are one item.
• Union handling fee, EU: EUR 2 per item since 1 November 2026, on distance sales at any value. VAT is charged on it.
• National contribution, Italy: EUR 2 per shipment, not per item, on declared values up to EUR 150. Collection starts on 1 December 2026.
• IVA: at the rate for the goods, unless the seller collected it through IOSS.

Above EUR 150 the flat duty and the national contribution fall away and the tariff rate applies to the customs value, with transport and insurance to the EU border included. The EUR 2 EU fee still applies to a distance sale. The import duty calculator handles a specific parcel, and landed cost shows how to build these into a price.

1. Get the code: classify the product with the HS code classifier. ADM calculates the flat duty by item, using the tariff code.
2. Decide consumer or business: a sale to a consumer can use the flat duty and owes the EU fee. A business purchase pays normal tariff duty.
3. Check the value against EUR 150: use the goods value for the flat duty and for the national contribution on an H7. On an H1, the national contribution tests the customs value instead.
4. Add the duty and EU fee: up to EUR 150 on a consumer sale, EUR 3 + EUR 2 per item. Above it, the tariff rate plus EUR 2 per item.
5. Add the national EUR 2: one per shipment for values up to EUR 150, from 1 December 2026.
6. Calculate IVA: on customs value plus duty, EU fee and costs to the first destination. Leave the national contribution out of the base.
7. Check the data set: an H7 has no field for a VAT rate, so the system applies 22%. To get a reduced rate, you file on the standard data set.

Yoga mat and water bottle in one parcel, no IOSS, declared before 1 December 2026, two items.

The same parcel declared on or after 1 December 2026.

If it contained five different items, the EU charges would multiply, and the national EUR 2 wouldn’t.

Art books above EUR 150 on an H1 at 4%, one item, tariff rate assumed at 0%.

On an H7 at 22% the IVA would be far higher, but H7 isn’t available above EUR 150 anyway.

• Treating the two EUR 2 charges as one: the EU fee is per item and in the VAT base. The national contribution is per shipment and outside it.
• Forgetting business shipments owe the national EUR 2: from 1 December 2026 it applies to B2B and private parcels up to EUR 150 too, on H1 and H7.
• Filing an H7 for goods at 4% or 10%: the system charges 22%.
• Pricing to the old rule: the EUR 150 duty exemption ended on 1 July 2026, and there’s no relief left for commercial goods apart from gifts between individuals up to EUR 45.
• Relying on an old start date: the national contribution moved from 1 January to 1 July, then 1 October, then 1 December 2026.

H7 and the VAT rate. ADM's FAQ on the super-reduced H7 data set says there is no field for the rate, so the system applies 22% automatically to these low-value consignments. Circular 26/2021 says that to apply a specific rate from the VAT decree, you file on the standard data set. Excise goods and goods claiming a preference also need H1. If your goods qualify for 4%, H7 will overcharge, so raise it with your customs broker before shipping.

Who pays. The declarant owes the duty: the seller or importer, the IOSS holder, the user of the special arrangements, or an indirect representative. ADM says the buyer pays only in very rare cases, in member states offering a free online declaration for citizens. The deferred payment data element became compulsory on H7 and H1 from 1 July 2026, and an H7 triggers the flat duty automatically.

Reduced rates. The Agenzia delle Entrate lists 4% for certain food, drinks and agricultural products, and it also covers books and newspapers. 10% covers listed medicines and power uses. A 5% rate exists in the VAT tables, though we couldn't confirm a current list of goods from the page we read, so check the code first.

Product identifiers. They are compulsory on these distance sales from 1 November 2026.

The EU rule in full is in de minimis and IOSS and VAT. This is guidance, not legal advice.