Anyone buying a home for holidays or weekends often assumes that, using it little, the waste tax will be negligible. It is not automatic: TARI is not charged on the waste produced, but on the possibility of producing it.
What the law says
TARI is due on the possession or occupation of premises capable of producing municipal waste, whatever their use, and is paid by whoever owns or occupies them (Law 147/2013, article 1, paragraphs 641 and 642). Many municipal regulations, including Biella's, exclude only a home that is unfurnished and has no active electricity supply: a furnished home pays even if it stays closed for months.
If the home is let for periods that in total do not exceed six months in the same year, TARI remains payable by the owner and not by the tenant (paragraph 643). This is the typical case of holiday lets.
Reductions are decided by the municipality
The law allows municipalities to provide reductions or exemptions, among others, for homes kept available for seasonal or otherwise limited and occasional use, and for those of people living abroad for more than six months a year (paragraph 659). It is an option, not an obligation: each municipality decides in its regulation whether and to what extent to apply them, and they usually have to be requested with a declaration.
How it works in Biella
In Biella TARI is calculated on a pay-as-you-throw basis: a fixed part, linked to the number of occupants, and a variable part, linked to how many times the residual-waste bin is emptied. For a home kept available, or belonging to someone resident elsewhere or abroad, the occupants are set at two.
The variable part follows the emptyings, but with a minimum: for two occupants you pay in any case for the equivalent of 350 litres of residual waste a year, in proportion to the months. The regulation provides no reduction for seasonal use of homes: the 10% reduction applies to premises other than homes.
| Situation | How it is calculated |
|---|---|
| Home kept available, owner resident elsewhere or abroad | Occupants set at 2 |
| Variable part | Bin emptyings, with a minimum of 350 litres a year for 2 occupants |
| Empty home, unfurnished and with no active electricity | Not liable |
| Pensioner abroad under an international agreement, one home not let or lent | Reduced by two thirds |
| Occasional B&B or rooms to let, without a VAT number | Domestic user with 2 occupants |
| Seasonal use of the home | No reduction |
Source: Municipality of Biella, pay-as-you-throw TARI regulation, last amended by resolution no. 51 of 28 November 2023 (among others, articles 14, 17, 19 and 20).
Deadlines
Anyone who buys, sells or changes the use of the home must file the declaration within 90 days, and in any case no later than 30 June of the following year. In Biella the TARI desk is at SEAB, Via Galimberti 10/A.
Before you buy
Rules change from one municipality to another: anyone buying a holiday home in another town in the Biella area, or elsewhere, should read that municipality's TARI regulation. Before the deed it is also worth asking the seller for the latest payment notice: it is a good starting point for knowing what keeping that home really costs.
Sources
Where the data, rules and figures quoted here come from.
- 1.Legge 27 dicembre 2013, n. 147, articolo 1, commi 641-660, Normattiva · accessed on 1 November 2026
- 2.Regolamento per la disciplina della tassa sui rifiuti (TARI) con commisurazione puntuale, Comune di Biella · accessed on 1 November 2026
- 3.Tassa Rifiuti (TARI) con commisurazione puntuale, Comune di Biella · accessed on 1 November 2026
