The Council of Ministers has approved a reform that rewrites some car tax rules. Starting from 1 January 2028 there will be some changes with respect to timing, payments and deadlines, which will be linked to the month of registration of the vehicle, while other changes will concern administrative detention and rental cars. So no intervention on the amount, on the power of the vehicle, on the environmental class, on the super tax, no tax cut, rather a way to make the management of the tax between the various Regions simpler. But let’s see in detail what motorists expect from 2028.
The mini car tax reform: deadlines from 2028
This mini reform, approved on August 5, concerns, as we said, the payment calendar. Until now, when you bought a new car, the deadline for paying the first tax was linked to the day of registration of the vehicle. Therefore, if the vehicle was registered by the 20th of the month, the payment of the tax had to be made by the end of that same month; on the contrary, if the vehicle was registered in the last 10 days of the month, the window extended until the end of the following month.
The new decree introduces a single rule for everyone: “The deadline for the first payment of the tax is set on the last day of the month following the month of registration”. In essence, with the arrival of 2028, the first tax will be paid by the last day of the month following registration, without exceptions related to the calendar, with the result that each motorist will have more time available for payment and no calculations to do to understand which category they fall into.
As regards subsequent renewals, there are no longer fixed deadlines such as April, August or December: in fact, as stated in the text, “for deadlines subsequent to the first, the deadline for paying the tax is set on the last day of the month in which the vehicle was registered”. Therefore, anyone who registers a car in March will automatically pay the first tax by the end of April, and will keep March as the reference month for the years to come, always in a single annual payment. However, this does not apply to cars already in circulation. For vehicles already registered, the current deadlines remain valid, unless different decisions are made by the individual Regions, which will continue to have margins of autonomy in managing the tax.
The other new rules for payments, administrative detention and rental
The decree then intervenes on a series of situations, such as administrative detention and rental. As regards the administrative detention, the text clarifies that the car tax is still due even when the vehicle is blocked, and at the same time from this year it is possible to request cancellation from the registers and scrapping to stop paying the tax. While as regards long-term rental, from 2028 the territorial jurisdiction over the tax will no longer be established by the company’s registered office, but by the territory in which the car is actually used.
Another step is added, in force from 1 January 2027, namely that long-term rental contracts without a driver must also appear in the PRA, the Public Automotive Registry. The package provides a way out for some used vehicles that change ownership; the payment may be suspended, provided that the transfer is registered with the PRA within 60 days. At that point it will be up to the buyer to align payment and registration date.
