How are Stamp Duty and Interest Tax calculated?

Hey bunqers 🌈,

We’re all about making your life easy — and that includes handling local taxes. To help you comply with Italian law, without any extra effort, we take care of a couple Italian tax requirements for you.

If you have an account with an Italian IBAN, an annual tax called Stamp Duty of €34.20 for Personal users and €100 for Business users will be automatically deducted, as required by Italian law. Additionally, if you’re an Italian resident, we’ll automatically withhold interest tax from your weekly Payday.

Let’s break down the tax requirements and how we make managing them simple👇

What is Stamp Duty?

Stamp duty is a fixed annual government tax we must pay to the Italian tax authority, Agenzia delle Entrate, per Italian bank account. When Stamp Duty applies, we deduct the Stamp Duty from your Main Bank Account and transfer it directly to the Italian tax authorities. The fee is due annually — and is deducted every time your account overview is issued.

Stamp Duty applies to accounts with an Italian IBAN, regardless of your residency, and applies to International Bank Accounts. This means that if you have an Italian IBAN but don’t live in Italy, Stamp Duty still applies to each Italian bank account you hold.

How much is Stamp Duty for my Personal Account?

Stamp Duty depends on your account type and your average balance over the last year.

Stamp Duty applies to Personal Accounts when your average balance is above €5,000 in the past 12 months. Here’s how it’s applied per account type:

Regular Bank Accounts: €34,20 per year. It only applies to your Personal Account if your average annual balance across all your Italian IBAN accounts is above €5,000.
Savings Bank Accounts: 0.2% per year.

If your average annual balance is below €5,000, you don’t have to pay stamp duty for your Personal account 🎉

How is the average balance calculated?

We calculate daily balances for each day the account was open by adding your total daily balance and dividing it by the number of days your account was open for.

This results in your average annual balance:

If it’s over €5,000, stamp duty applies.
If it’s under €5,000, no stamp duty applies to you.

How much is Stamp Duty for my Business Account?

Stamp duty for Business Accounts is €100 per year. It always applies if you have a Business Account in Italy.

If your business account wasn’t open for the full year, we apply a pro-rata portion of the Stamp Duty — so you only pay for the time the account was active.

Who defines the Stamp Duty rates?

These rates are set by the Italian government — and we’re required to deduct Stamp Duty from all Italian bank accounts.

How much is the Interest Tax that I have to pay?

Interest income is taxed at 26% in Italy as of 2018. To make life easy for you, we deduct the 26% of your gross interest income and pay it on your behalf to Italian tax authorities.

Your net interest earned after tax deduction is calculated by deducting 26% from your gross interest income. Please note that this includes all of your Personal and Joint Savings accounts with an Italian IBAN.

Please note: we won’t be withholding tax on interest earned on your Foreign Currency Savings Accounts. This is because our Foreign Currency Savings Accounts are based in the United Kingdom, and have a GB IBAN.