Buying your first home: what you get back through your tax return

Taxes on the purchase are paid at the deed: registration, mortgage and cadastral taxes, or VAT if the seller is a company. Afterwards, over the years, some costs linked to a first home can be partly recovered through the income tax return. There are three, each with its own conditions.

Mortgage interest

Anyone who buys the home they will live in with a mortgage secured on the property can deduct from income tax (IRPEF) 19% of the interest and related charges, up to 4,000 euros a year: at most 760 euros less tax each year, for as long as the mortgage is being paid.

The conditions are precise. The purchase must take place in the year before or the year after the mortgage is signed, and the home must become the main residence within one year of the purchase. By main residence the law means the home where you or your family habitually live.

If the mortgage is in joint names, each holder deducts their own share of the interest; if one spouse is a tax dependant of the other, the latter also deducts the spouse's share. If the mortgage is higher than the cost of the home, meaning the price plus notary and related costs, the deduction applies only to the interest corresponding to that cost.

The estate agent's fee

The fee paid to an estate agent for buying the main home is deductible at 19%, up to 1,000 euros: at most 190 euros, in the year you pay it. It must be paid by a traceable method, bank transfer or card, and in the deed the notary records the agency fee and how it was paid.

If you sell and buy again: the tax credit

Anyone who sells a home bought with first-home relief and buys another with the same relief within one year has a tax credit equal to the registration tax or VAT paid on the first purchase. It also applies to those who buy first and sell afterwards: in that case the old home must be sold within two years of the new purchase.

The credit cannot exceed the tax due on the new purchase and is not refunded. It can be used to pay less registration tax on the new deed, by requesting it in the deed itself with the details of the first purchase; to pay less tax on later deeds; to reduce income tax in the first return after the new purchase; or to offset other taxes with the F24 form.

With an income above 75,000 euros

Since 2025, anyone with total income above 75,000 euros has a cap on their deductions as a whole: the starting figure is 14,000 euros up to 100,000 euros of income and 8,000 euros above that, and the amount changes with the number of dependent children.

Interest on mortgages signed up to 31 December 2024 stays outside the cap; interest on mortgages signed from 2025 falls within it. Anyone in this bracket would do well to run the numbers with an accountant before choosing a mortgage.

Before you sign

These deductions come on top of the relief on the taxes paid at the deed, which we cover in our article on the taxes of buying a home. These are the rules in force in November 2026: for a specific case, the notary and the accountant are the people to ask.