Income tax advances 2026: what you pay in November and what you pay in December

It is not the same deadline: November for income tax, December for VAT

Nadia works as a live-in carer in the Muggiano area and comes to us to fill in her 730 every year. In mid-November last year she turned up with two F24 forms on the table: one prepared by her husband Khaled, who runs a small repair workshop in the Noverasco area, and one all of her own. Khaled was paying the VAT advance for his business; she was paying the second advance on income tax. Two payments a few weeks apart, for two completely different reasons. Putting them in the same drawer, or thinking that one of them is enough for both, is the first step towards getting it wrong.

The second or single advance on income tax is due by Monday 30 November 2026 and concerns anyone who has tax to pay on this year's return: self-employed workers, people with a VAT number, anyone with income over and above their salary. The VAT advance, on the other hand, is due by 27 December, which in 2026 falls on a Sunday and therefore moves to Monday 28 December, and it concerns only those who charge VAT under a VAT number. Both are advances on this year's taxes, but they spring from two different returns and have their own rules.

What the advance covers (and what it is not)

Closing a tax year means paying two things at once: the balance of the year just ended and the advance for the year you are living through. The advance is a payment on account of what you will probably owe next June, usually worked out on the same tax you declared this year. It is not a new tax and it is not a second balance: it is the way the State collects in good time the part it will ask you for later with next year's return.

Anyone who files the 730 and has a withholding agent, that is an employer or a pension body, does not fill in any form for this: the advance is taken straight out of the pay packet in November, or in December for pensioners. Anyone who files the Modello Redditi, or does the 730 without a withholding agent, pays it themselves with the F24.

• anyone who files the Modello Redditi PF with net tax above 51.65 euro, once deductions, credits and withholding have been taken off
• anyone with income from self-employment, from a business, or from shares in partnerships
• anyone who changed job during the year and no longer has a withholding agent taking the amounts out of their pay
• anyone who should have paid it and did not file a return: the obligation still stands, and it is better to regularise before the notice arrives

30 November 2026: the second or single advance on income tax

By Monday 30 November you pay the final part of the advance on income tax. The basic rule is simple: if your total advance is 257.52 euro or more, you already paid 40% of it in June along with the balance, and 60% is left for November. If your total advance is under 257.52 euro, you paid nothing in June and on 30 November you pay it all in one go.

The special cases that come up most often at our desk

• Anyone who applies the Isa or is in the flat-rate regime pays the two instalments in equal amounts, 50% in June and 50% in November; if the total advance does not exceed 206 euro, they pay it all on 30 November.
• Anyone who expects a lower income for 2026 can pay less than what the return shows, using the forecast method. You save straight away, but if the forecast turns out to be too optimistic you still pay the penalty on the difference for an insufficient payment.
• The second advance cannot be paid in instalments: it must be paid in full, in one go. The balance and the first June instalment can be paid in instalments instead, up to 7 monthly instalments with the last one by 16 December 2026 and interest of 0.33% a month from the second instalment onwards.

28 December 2026: the VAT advance for anyone with a VAT number

The VAT advance is a payment on account of the VAT that will be settled with the annual return. It is due by 27 December each year; in 2026 that day is a Sunday, so by law the deadline moves to the first working day after it: Monday 28 December 2026. Anyone who gets the date wrong from memory, and thinks of the 27th, ends up with a payment that is already late without even realising it.

It is paid only by VAT-number holders who charge VAT, whether monthly or quarterly. Taxpayers in the flat-rate regime and the preferential regime are left out, because they do not charge VAT, as are those who started or stopped trading during the year and those who find an amount below the minimum threshold of 103.29 euro.

• Historical method: 88% of the payment made, or that should have been made, for the month of December last year if you are monthly, for last year's VAT if you are quarterly, for the fourth quarter if you are on the special quarterly scheme.
• Forecast method: again 88%, but worked out on the VAT you expect to have to pay this December.
• Analytical method: 100% of a special settlement that takes account of the transactions carried out up to 20 December, with different cut-off dates for monthly and quarterly filers.

The payment is made with the F24 form: tax code 6013 for those who settle every month, 6035 for those who settle every quarter. The method you choose must then be stated in the annual VAT return, so the decision is not just a practical one: it leaves a trace.

Historical, forecast or analytical: which one really pays off

Khaled pays his VAT every quarter and last year he used the historical method without thinking twice: his VAT debt for the year was 6,000 euro and his advance came to 5,280 euro, 88% of 6,000. This year work at the workshop has slowed down and he is expecting a lower debt: for him the forecast method could be worth a few hundred euro of difference. But the sum has to be done calmly, because anyone who guesses too low still pays the difference, with the penalty for an insufficient payment.

• Stay with the historical method if your work is steady: it is the quickest sum, it needs no estimates and it hardly ever strays from the final result.
• Think about the forecast method if 2026 has been a different year from the one before, for better or for worse, and you have the figures of the year you are closing in front of you.
• Choose the analytical method if you already have the data for transactions up to 20 December and you want a calculation that looks at what you have actually done, not at what you did the year before.

If the deadline passes: penalties and correction, without panicking

Anyone who does not pay by the deadline pays the ordinary penalty of 30% of the amount not paid, plus statutory interest. But the law rewards those who put things right by themselves: with the ravvedimento operoso (the Italian voluntary correction scheme) the penalty drops, and the sooner you act, the less you pay.

• Within 14 days of the deadline: penalty from 0.1% for each day of delay, up to a maximum of 1.4%.
• From the 15th to the 30th day: 1.5% of the amount not paid.
• From the 31st to the 90th day: 1.67%.
• After 90 days and within one year: 3.75%.
• Beyond one year: 4.29%, and beyond two years it goes back to 5%.

The correction is paid with a special F24 that includes the amount owed, the reduced penalty and the interest: once it is settled, the position is clean and the matter is closed there. There is no need to wait for the payment notice, which would arrive with the full penalty.

The questions we get asked most often over the counter

Here are the quick answers to the five questions that come up most often at our patronato in Cinisello Balsamo. If your situation is not among them, call us or message us on WhatsApp: understanding your case takes five minutes, not an hour.