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Cedolare secca: it applies to the full booking price, on Airbnb too

Oskar Golde
5 min read
Sicily Vacation Rentals Portal Network
Cedolare secca: it applies to the full booking price, on Airbnb too
Illustrative image, AI-generated

Dear hosts,

Since October 1, guests have paid the full rental price directly to you, and Terra Mia Immobiliare invoices you for the commission. Some of you have asked me whether this means you pay more tax. It does not. The cedolare secca was and is due on the full price of the booking, commission included. How the payment flows and what amount ends up in your account make no difference.

There is also good news about the commission: when the new portal network launched on October 1, it went down from 20 to 16 percent for all hosts. If you rent privately without a partita IVA (an Italian VAT number), 22 percent IVA is still added to it for now. On November 3, 2026, I applied for that IVA to go away. Once the Italian tax authority approves, private hosts will pay 160 euros in commission on a 1,000 euro booking instead of 195.20. More on that below.

This post applies to hosts who rent as private individuals without a partita IVA and have chosen the cedolare secca. If you rent as a business with a partita IVA, different tax rules apply. For these hosts, too, the commission is 16 percent. Terra Mia Immobiliare invoices it without IVA, and they account for the tax themselves under the reverse charge.

The tax is based on the full price the guest pays

The cedolare secca is charged on the gross rent, the corrispettivo lordo. The Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy's tax agency, puts it this way in its April 2026 guide to short-term rentals: the 21 percent rate applies to the entire amount the guest owes the landlord, including any commission the landlord pays the intermediary [1]. Under the cedolare secca nothing can be deducted from this base, the commission included. The 5 percent flat deduction that private landlords may take from the rent under ordinary income tax (IRPEF) does not exist under the cedolare secca [1].

It makes no difference whether the intermediary invoices the commission or keeps it back from the rent. Circolare 24/E of 2017 works through both cases, and in both the commission counts toward the tax base [2].

The amount in your account is not the tax base

If you pay tax only on what is left after the commission, you declare too little. This happens easily when a portal takes its fee straight out of the payout. On a 1,000 euro booking, noticeably less than 1,000 euros then arrives. The amount to be taxed is still 1,000 euros.

Every portal and every intermediary works the same way

The Agenzia's rule applies to every intermediary, not to one particular portal [1]. Whether you rent through Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Holidu, e-domizil, Interhome, a local agency or Terra Mia Immobiliare, the cedolare secca always falls on the full price the guest pays. How high the commission is, and whether the portal invoices it or deducts it from the payout, makes no difference.

Take Airbnb as an example. Airbnb is moving all hosts to a single service fee that is deducted in full from the host's payout. Most hosts pay 15.5 percent [3]. Without a verified VAT number, Airbnb also charges EU hosts VAT on that fee [4]; in Italy that is 22 percent IVA. The cedolare secca is still charged on the full booking price. Booking.com invoices the landlord for its commission, and the full price is the base there as well [1].

What is left of 1,000 euros

A 1,000 euro booking, cedolare secca at 21 percent, rented privately without a partita IVA:

Booked throughCommission and IVACedolare seccaLeft for you
Terra Mia Immobiliare after approval, 16% without IVA | €160.00 | €210.00 | €630.00 
Booking.com, typically 15% [5] plus 22% IVA [6] | €183.00 | €210.00 | €607.00 
Airbnb, 15.5% plus 22% IVA | €189.10 | €210.00 | €600.90 
Terra Mia Immobiliare today, 16% plus 22% IVA | €195.20 | €210.00 | €594.80

The cedolare secca is the same in every case, because it always falls on the full 1,000 euros. Only the commission and the IVA make the difference. Booking.com sets its commission per contract, so its row is an example calculation at the typical rate. After approval, Terra Mia Immobiliare would leave you the most in this comparison.

The difference at Terra Mia Immobiliare

The commission is 16 percent and is due only when a booking goes through. On November 3, 2026, I applied to use the EU small business scheme for Italy. Once the Italian tax authority approves, Terra Mia Immobiliare will issue commission invoices without IVA from the approval date. If you rent privately, a 1,000 euro booking will then cost you exactly 160 euros in commission; on Airbnb it would be 189.10 euros. Until the approval, invoices carry 22 percent IVA for everyone without a confirmed VAT number.

You don't need to do anything for this. Italy has up to 35 working days to review the application, and I expect an answer between mid-December and February. From the approval date your invoices will come without IVA; the scheme does not apply retroactively.

What you can do

In your tax return, declare the full price your guests paid. If in earlier years you declared only the amount that reached you after a commission, talk to your commercialista (accountant). Italy has a procedure for such corrections, the ravvedimento operoso, with reduced penalties. Your commercialista can tell you whether and how it applies to you.

The guide Net income from a Sicilian vacation home works out step by step what is left after commission and tax. Rates, limits and deadlines of the cedolare secca for 2026 are in the guide Cedolare secca 2026 in Sicily.

I am happy to answer your questions personally: by email at info@terra-mia.immo, by phone at +49 171 12 73 74 9 (Germany) or +39 366 14 19 47 2 (Italy), and on WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram.

Sources

  1. Agenzia delle Entrate: Locazioni brevi: la disciplina fiscale e le regole per gli intermediari, April 2026, p. 11
  2. Agenzia delle Entrate: Circolare n. 24/E of October 12, 2017, section on the ritenuta (withholding)
  3. Airbnb Help Center: Airbnb service fees, accessed November 4, 2026
  4. Airbnb Help Center: Add your VAT ID number, accessed November 4, 2026
  5. Holidu Magazine: Commissioni dei principali portali di prenotazione, February 2026 (Booking.com: "di solito del 15 % del totale della prenotazione")
  6. Council Directive 2006/112/EC (EU VAT Directive), Art. 46: intermediary services for non-business customers are taxed where the underlying service is supplied

This post summarizes the rules of the Agenzia delle Entrate in general terms. It is not tax advice for your individual case.

Warm regards,
Oskar Golde
Founder, Terra Mia Immobiliare