CU Italy 2027: the Italian Single Certification, what it is for and when it arrives

The Single Certification: what it is and what it contains

The Single Certification, known in Italy as the CU, is the sheet with which whoever paid you in 2026 declares to the State how much you received and how much was withheld from you. Since 2015 it has taken the place of the old CUD: if you still hear someone say «the CUD», they are talking about the same document. It is issued by the withholding agent, meaning your employer, INPS for pensions and benefits, or the body that paid you freelance fees and commissions.

In practice the CU is a photograph of your year: what you earned, how much tax has already been withheld at source, which regional and municipal surcharges and which allowable expenses appear on it. It is not a tax return: it is the document you need in order to file one. If the figures on the CU are right, the return gets off to a good start. If one number is wrong, the mistake travels straight into the 730 and follows you all the way to the July balancing payment.

• your tax code and personal details;
• the period of work or service covered by the certificate;
• gross income from employment, similar employment or occasional work;
• the IRPEF tax already withheld from you;
• the regional and municipal surcharges;
• deductible expenses and the reliefs your withholding agent has applied.

What the Single Certification is for

First and foremost it is what you use to file your income tax return. With the pre-filled 730 the CU is already inside it: the Agenzia delle Entrate receives it from your withholding agent and uses it to fill in income and withholdings. The CU is also the starting point for the Modello Redditi, and it is the document that the CAF or your accountant asks for first of all.

Beyond the tax return

The CU is requested in many other situations: for the DSU and the calculation of the ISEE, for a mortgage or rental application, for the benefits that require you to prove your income, for bonuses with an income cap, and for every check in which you have to show what you earned in the past year.

• the pre-filled or standard 730 and the Modello Redditi;
• the DSU for the ISEE and the benefits linked to it, from the allowance to school fee concessions;
• applications with banks and estate agencies;
• bonuses and concessions that come with an income limit;
• checks on withholdings, reliefs and balancing adjustments.

When the 2027 Single Certification arrives

The CU 2027 certifies your 2026 income. It does not arrive in January: withholding agents prepare it once the year has closed, and delivery is set for the first months of 2027. The exact date depends on the annual notice from the Agenzia delle Entrate, which normally comes out between January and February. In recent years the deadline has fallen in mid-March: for the CU 2026, delivery and transmission were set for 16 March 2026 for employment income, occasional self-employment and other income, with a later stage on 30 April for professionals with a partita IVA and for commissions.

The CU 2027 follows the same pattern, with dates the annual notice will confirm. The practical advice is simple: from February 2027 keep an eye on the post, the digital mailbox and the personal area of your provider, and treat mid-March as the point by which the CU should have reached you. Certifications covering only tax-exempt income follow instead the longer model 770 deadline at the end of October.

• your withholding agent: each employer or body prepares its own CU on its own schedule;
• the number of relationships: two employers in 2026 means two CUs from different parties;
• INPS, which often gathers several benefits of the same year into a single CU;
• terminations and changes to your contract, which shift the processing times.

How to get it and where to download it

Whoever paid you must hand it over: your employer sends it with the payslip, by email or through its employee portal, while INPS puts it online. If you have not received it, the first step is to ask the party that paid you: more often than not it is simply an address that needs updating.

Downloading the CU from INPS

For pensions, NASpI and other benefits the CU is downloaded from MyINPS: log in with SPID, CIE or CNS, open your personal area and look for the service that lets you consult single certifications. The document stays available for past years as well, and you can print it again whenever you like.

For employment income there is no single portal: the CU is held by your employer, and if you have lost it you simply ask for another copy. The Agenzia delle Entrate does not hand it over directly, but its figures appear in the pre-filled 730, which normally opens in mid-April.

• check the email address or the digital mailbox you gave your employer;
• look at the employee area or the portal of your social security provider;
• for INPS benefits, log into MyINPS and download the CU;
• if you had more than one job, repeat the search for each party;
• if something is missing, come to the patronato: with your tax code we can see straight away who holds which certificates.

What to check straight away in your CU

The CU should not simply be filed away: ten minutes of reading when it arrives save you months of corrections. Compare it with the last payslips of the year or with your pension statements, because the totals have to add up. Here is the sequence we walk through every season at our counter in Via Terenghi.

• tax code and personal details: a single typo can block everything;
• period covered: the months certified must be the right ones;
• gross income: the sum of everything you were paid that year;
• IRPEF withholding: how much has already been taken from you;
• regional and municipal surcharges;
• expenses and reliefs: any costs the withholding agent knows about should appear.

The case of two jobs

If you changed jobs in 2026, or ran two contracts at the same time, there is one CU for each withholding agent. The most common mistake is forgetting the smaller certificate, the one for the short contract at the end of the year: a piece of income goes missing and the return no longer balances. Before you start, list everything: a permanent job, a collaboration, a few INPS benefits.

Mistakes, delays and missing certificates: what to do

A wrong CU happens, and it can be put right. If you spot the error yourself, call the withholding agent and ask for the corrected version: the new certificate replaces the old one and you use that for the return. If instead the Agenzia delle Entrate spots it, the correction comes all the same, but with more steps and more waiting.

One clarification that puts many people at ease: penalties for omitted, late or incorrect CUs fall on the party that was supposed to issue them, not on you. The fine is €100 for each irregular certificate, capped at €50,000 a year for each withholding agent. There is also a five-day tolerance window within which a corrected certificate sent late is not fined, and a correction within 60 days that reduces the penalty to a third, that is €33.33 per certificate.

Since 2024 the Agenzia delle Entrate has allowed late correction, the ravvedimento operoso, for the Single Certification as well, with circular 12/E/2024: the withholding agent can put the position straight by paying the reduced penalty through the F24 form, tax code 8906. These are mechanisms that concern the employer or the body, but it is worth knowing about them: they explain why a correction may arrive a few weeks late.

• gather the payslip or the statement that proves the error;
• call the party that issued the CU and ask for the rectification;
• wait for the new certificate and keep both versions;
• if the return had already gone out with the wrong figures, correct it with the integrating model or the integrating 730;
• if the party does not answer, come to the patronato.

Your 2027 Single Certification at the CAF in Cinisello Balsamo

At the CAF in Cinisello Balsamo, in Via Oreste Terenghi 21/23, we read the CU together: we check that the figures add up, we track down the certificates that are missing and we prepare everything that follows, from the 730 to the DSU for the ISEE. It is the work of every season for people who arrive from Cinisello, Sesto San Giovanni, Cologno Monzese and Muggio with the same question: «are my figures right?».

If your situation is simple, the CU reads quickly. If the year instead brought several contracts, a NASpI claim and a change of job, it is worth putting everything on the table with people who handle these practices every day. Our patronato follows the case from reading the certificate through to submitting the return, and shows you the result before it goes off.

• checking the CU and searching for the certificates that are missing;
• the pre-filled or standard 730, with income and reliefs verified;
• the DSU and the calculation of the ISEE;
• corrections when the certificate contains errors;
• the integrating return if the wrong figures had already gone out.

Bring your tax code, your latest payslips and the CUs you already have: we will take care of the rest. You can find us Monday to Friday, 9:30–12:30 and 15:00–19:00, and to avoid waiting it is best to book an appointment at the office.