The numbers
Deadline for the 730 tax return
Official30 September 2026
For income earned in 2025. The date moves each year; check the Agenzia delle Entrate's page for the next one.
Occasional self-employed work, no return needed up to
Official€5,500 a year
Only when that is your only income of the kind. Mixed with a salary, check the exemption tables in the 730 instructions.
How it goes
Your employer already pays the tax for you
As an employee, your employer is your sostituto d'imposta: it takes income tax out of every payslip and pays it on your behalf. That is why your net pay is lower than the figure in the contract.
Keep the CU when it arrives
Each spring your employer gives you the Certificazione Unica (CU), a statement of what you earned and what was withheld. Keep it, even if you have changed jobs or left the city: it is the document everything else starts from.
Your employer's tax statement (CU):By 16 March of the next yearSay this at the counter
“Mi può mandare la Certificazione Unica?”
Could you send me my CU?
Most students do not have to file
You are exempt from filing if all you earned was employee pay from one employer, or from several where the last one adjusted the year's tax for all of them (the conguaglio), and the regional and municipal surcharges were withheld. Occasional self-employed work on its own is exempt up to a yearly limit.
Occasional self-employed work, no return needed up to:€5,500 a yearBut filing can get money back
Exempt is not the same as forbidden. A short job, a summer contract or a job that ended mid-year can leave you having paid more tax than you owed; filing a return is how you get it back. You may also file to claim expenses the law lets you deduct.
How: the pre-filled 730, online
The Agenzia delle Entrate prepares a pre-filled 730 from your CU. You open it online with or , check it, and send it yourself, or have a (tax assistance office) do it. If you were not resident in Italy for tax that year, the 730 is not for you: the form is Redditi PF.
Deadline for the 730 tax return:30 September 2026
What actually goes wrong
Collected from students who hit these. This section is the reason to read the page twice.
Working past your permit's hours
Tax is the smaller question. A study permit limits how many hours you may work, and the CU shows exactly what you earned. Stay inside the limit before you think about refunds.
A CU sent to an address you left
When you change job, flat or country, give your employer an email address that will still work next spring. Asking for a lost CU from abroad takes weeks.
Where this comes from
Reviewed every 180 days. Something changed? Tell us.