The opening of the succession is often the cause of doubts and concerns for the heirs, especially with regard to tax compliance.
An important deadline to be taken into account by the heirs is the one linked to the presentation of the declaration of inheritance, which must be sent to the Revenue Agency within 12 months of the death of the heir. whoseThe project will be carried out by means of a network of experts and exclusively by telematic means (from January 1, 2019).
The presentation of the declaration of inheritance is compulsory whenever the inheritance assets include real estate or rights in rem on real estate (e.g. usufruct), regardless of the value of the asset, and/or when the value of the asset is higher than € 100,000.00.
When the estate includes real estate, the heirs are required to pay, in addition to any inheritance tax (depending on the different rates / deductibles provided for by law based on the degree of kinship), a series of additional taxes paid by the tax authorities at the time of submission of the declaration of inheritance.
Specifically, the payment of mortgage taxes of 2% (for formalities in the real estate registers) and cadastral taxes of 1% (for cadastral transfers), both calculated on the cadastral value of the property, together with a series of fixed taxes and special taxes (mortgage tax, stamp duty, special taxes) of negligible value, will be required.
With Law no. 342 of 21 November 2000, art. 69, the so-called "first-home benefits" were introduced in the area of inheritance, which considerably reduced the tax levied described above, allowing, for properties that are not luxury properties (i.e. not belonging to the cadastral categories A/1, A/8, A/9), to pay mortgage and cadastral taxes in a fixed amount, equal to € 200.00 each.
In order to obtain this advantage, it is sufficient that even one of the heirs fulfils the requirements of the law and applies for it in the declaration of succession. The benefit will also be extended to heirs who do not meet these requirements.
In order to benefit from this facility, it is necessary that:
- The property is located in the territory of the municipality in which the beneficiary has or establishes, within one year from the date of opening of the succession, his residence;
- The beneficiary is not the owner, even for shares, throughout the country, of another home purchased with the so-called benefits "first home";
- The beneficiary is not the exclusive owner or joint owner of property rights, usufruct, use and dwelling rights of another dwelling house located in the municipality where the transferred property is located.
The intra-five-year sale of the property for which the "first home" benefits have been requested results in the forfeiture of the above benefit, with the consequent obligation to pay the amount previously not paid, unless the interested party, within one year of the aforementioned sale, proceeds to purchase another property to be used as a main residence.
