Question: What are the penalties for late Italian inheritance filing?
Answer: The beneficiaries of a deceased’s estate have 10 years after the death to claim their inheritance right. However, they have 12 months to file the succession paperwork, which is a tax deadline.
At the time of filing, some taxes are due, as detailed in this other article. If the succession paperwork is filed late, i.e., more than 12 months after the death, a penalty and some interest apply.
Italian Inheritance Late Payment Penalties
The penalty is a percentage of the taxes due at filing, as follows:
1) within the first 14 days: daily penalty equal to 0.1%;
2) from day 15 to day 30 after the deadline: 1.5% (total penalty, not per day);
3) from day 31 to day 90 after the deadline: 1.67%;
4) from day 91 to day 365 after the deadline: 3.75%;
5) from 1 to 2 years after the deadline: 4.29%;
6) after the second year after the deadline: 5%.
Italian Inheritance Late Payment Interest
Additionally, some interest are due for late filing. The interest rate is established by law and prorated by day. For 2023 the annual interest rate is 5%. Usually the rate is adjusted on January 1st each year based on inflation.
If you are filing succession paperwork with respect to an international inheritance, please take into consideration that usually it can take two to three months to prepare the documents necessary to internationally prepare and file the succession paperwork. Therefore, although penalties and interest rates are rather manageable, it is good to start working on an international succession as soon as possible to avoid them or reduce their impact.
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