Taxes
Whatever your source of income, you can calculate the taxes and contributions you will owe and compare the options to find the best one for you.
Tired of never knowing how much tax you have to pay?
Add up salary, self-employment, rentals, RSUs and dividends in a single calculation, with every step verifiable. Free, no email.
Working out how much tax you pay shouldn't require an accountant
Most online calculators do just one thing: net salary, or flat-rate scheme tax, or the flat-rate rental tax (cedolare secca). But IRPEF is progressive on the total of your income: if besides your salary you have rental income, a VAT number or some RSUs, a partial calculation gives you a wrong number. And you only notice once your return is filed, when the reconciliation lands.
TaxDemocracy adds up all your income in a single calculation: employment, self-employment under the flat-rate or standard scheme, rentals, capital gains, RSUs, dividends. It applies brackets, surtaxes, contributions and tax credits in the right order and shows you the full breakdown, step by step, so you can check every figure. Free and without leaving your email.
How the simulation works
- 1
Enter your income
Gross salary, self-employment turnover, rental income, RSUs, dividends: add all the sources, even more than one.
- 2
Add tax credits and family
Medical expenses, renovations, pension fund, dependent children: the tool applies them wherever the law allows.
- 3
Read the result, line by line
You get taxes, contributions and net pay with the calculation verifiable step by step. Change one detail and compare the scenarios.
What you can do with Tax Democracy
How tax is calculated in Italy in 2026
The main tax on individuals is personal income tax (IRPEF), which is applied by brackets. From 2026 there are three rates, with the second bracket reduced from 35% to 33% by the Budget Law:
- 23% up to 28,000 € of taxable income
- 33% from 28,000 to 50,000 €
- 43% above 50,000 €
The rates apply only to the part of income that falls within each bracket. An example: with 32,000 € of taxable income you pay 23% on the first 28,000 € (6,440 €) and 33% on the remaining 4,000 € (1,320 €), for gross IRPEF of 7,760 €. From this you subtract the tax credits (employment, dependent children over 21, medical expenses at 19% above the 129.11 € deductible, renovations at 50% on the main home and 36% on others) and add the regional surtax (from 1.23% to 3.33% depending on the region) and the municipal one (up to 0.9%).
There is also a no-tax area: for employees and pensioners, below around 8,500 € of income the tax credits cancel out the tax. And even before IRPEF come the pension contributions, which for an employee are 9.19% of gross and reduce the taxable base.
A single calculation for all your income
Each category of income follows its own rules, and this is where partial calculators get it wrong:
- Employment: it enters IRPEF, with contributions withheld on the payslip and an employment tax credit.
- VAT number under the flat-rate scheme: substitute tax at 15% (5% for the first 5 years) on income calculated with the profitability coefficient. It stays outside IRPEF, but social security contributions (INPS) are paid all the same.
- VAT number under the standard scheme: the income is added to the rest and climbs through the income tax brackets.
- Rentals: flat-rate rental tax (cedolare secca) at 21% (10% for agreed rent) or the standard scheme, where the rent is added to the rest.
- Capital gains and dividends: substitute tax at 26%, separate from IRPEF.
- RSUs: at vesting they're employment income and add to your salary; the later sale generates a capital gain at 26%.
The critical point is the stacking: a second IRPEF income doesn't start from zero, it starts from your marginal rate. 10,000 € of rent under the standard scheme, added to a salary of 35,000 €, is taxed at 33%, not 23%. TaxDemocracy does this piecing-together for you and shows you where every euro ends up.
Where you can recover: the main tax credits and deductions
The difference between gross tax and effective tax is made by tax credits and deductions. The most relevant in 2026:
- Employment or pension tax credit: applied automatically, it decreases as income rises.
- Dependent children: a tax credit of 950 € for children aged 21 to 30; under 21 there's the single allowance, outside IRPEF.
- Medical expenses: 19% on the part above 129.11 €.
- Renovations: 50% on the main home, 36% on others, in 10 annual instalments on a maximum of 96,000 €.
- Supplementary pension: payments to a pension fund are deductible up to 5,164.57 € a year, and lower your taxable base at your marginal rate.
In the tool you can enter these items and see straight away how much the result changes: sometimes a payment to a pension fund made in December is worth more than you'd imagine.
Frequently asked questions
How much tax do I pay on 30,000 € gross as an employee?
Roughly: around 2,760 € of social security contributions (INPS) (9.19%), then IRPEF and surtaxes of around 4,700-4,900 € depending on region, municipality and tax credits. The annual net comes to about 22,500 €. These are estimates: with dependent children, deductible expenses or a different municipal surtax the number changes by hundreds of euros, which is why it pays to run the calculation on your real data.
Why does my employer withhold more (or less) than what's due?
The withholdings on your payslip are an advance calculated month by month on an annual projection: in December the reconciliation settles the differences. But if you have other income the employer doesn't know about (a rental, a second job, a collaboration), the withholdings turn out too low and the balance arrives with your tax return. It's the most common reason people find themselves paying unexpected amounts in June.
I have a salary and a VAT number (or a rental): how does the tax add up?
It depends on the scheme. Under the flat-rate scheme the VAT number pays its substitute tax and stays outside IRPEF; under the standard scheme the income is added to your salary and taxed starting from your marginal rate, so at 33% or 43% and not at 23%. The same goes for rentals without the cedolare secca. To see the combined effect on your numbers, run a simulation: the stacking is exactly the case where single-income calculators get it wrong.
How can I pay less tax, legally?
There are three concrete levers. First, use the tax credits you're already entitled to: medical, renovations, dependent children. Second, the deductions: a pension fund takes up to 5,164.57 € off the taxable base, with a saving equal to your marginal rate. Third, choose the right scheme when the law gives you alternatives: flat-rate versus standard for the VAT number, flat-rate rental tax (cedolare secca) versus IRPEF for rentals. Comparing the scenarios before deciding is the quickest way to work out which one wins.
Is the tool really free? Do I have to register?
Yes, it's free and asks for no email or registration. And it's not a black box: every result includes the full breakdown, that is the verifiable sequence of brackets, tax credits, surtaxes and contributions applied to your data. If you want to check a figure, you can do it line by line: run a simulation and open the breakdown.