Italy, too, will introduce subsidized VAT on works of art: the 5 percent VAT so long awaited and hoped for by sector operators is about to become a reality. In fact, the Council of Ministers approved today the decree law “Urgent provisions for the financing of economic activities and enterprises as well as interventions of a social nature in the field of infrastructure, transport and territorial authorities” which, among the various measures, includes the reduction of VAT for the art market from 22% to 5%, thus aligning itself with the regimes in force in France and Germany. This will be thelowest rate in Europe, even more than Germany which applies 7 percent and France where the rate is 5.5 percent.
The announcement was made today at the Spadolini Hall of the Ministry of Culture by Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli himself, who expressed considerable satisfaction with the result achieved. “Mission accomplished,” he said. “Finally, VAT on works of art drops to 5 percent from 22 percent. This is a historic result also achieved with the strength of politics and Parliament, which triggered and helped bring about this process.”
“The lowering of VAT on works of art to 5 percent,” stresses Roberto Marti (League), chairman of the Senate Culture Committee, “is a momentous achievement for Italy, the result of a choral effort that as chairman of the Senate Culture Committee I initiated a few months after the start of this legislature with the examination of a bill with my signature. Therefore, I can only express satisfaction with Minister Giorgetti’s work that determines fairness to Italy, which has so far been penalized by the current 22 percent VAT rate compared to countries such as France (5.5 percent) and Germany (7 percent). We could not leave to France and Germany, precisely, such a considerable competitive advantage in a sector such as the art trade that is strategic for our country and engages a large number of professionals. The next goal for the creation of a strong art ecosystem must be the simplification of our regulations on the movement of cultural goods. Without lowering the threshold of national protection in any way, we must bring Italian regulations closer to the European average in the interest of Italy.”
“Today Italy is putting the arrow in,” says Alessandro Amorese, FdI group leader in the House Culture Committee. “Even for the art market it returns to the forefront. When Italy fights on an equal footing in the economy of beauty, it can only win outright.”
Satisfaction with the measure was also expressed by Federculture. “We express appreciation for the work done by the offices of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to whose holders Federculture had repeatedly represented the importance of this measure, presenting detailed and articulate proposals on the matter. We thank, therefore, Ministers Alessandro Giuli and Giancarlo Giorgetti for listening to us. Reducing the VAT on cultural products - starting with works of art - is an issue that Federculture has always considered central to its representative activities and on which we have been working wholeheartedly for years. The adoption of today’s measure is, therefore, a decisive step toward the common goal: the application of the same VAT rate to all cultural products that are now subject to different regimes (books are now at 4 percent, records are now at 22 percent, exhibitions and live performances are now at 10 percent, museums are VAT exempt and works of art are now, finally, at 5 percent). As always, we remain at the disposal of the parliamentary committees and the relevant ministries to continue to express the views of our members, and we will ensure our cooperation in support of the entire cultural sector.”
According to a report by Nomisma, one of the main critical issues holding back the development of the art market in Italy (which has a direct turnover of 1.36 billion euros and a total economic impact of 3.8 billion euros, with data referring to 2023, the year of the most latest available), is precisely represented by the tax treatment, in particular the application of the ordinary VAT rate of 22 percent on most transactions. This rate, Nomisma points out, is the highest among European countries and is particularly penalizing for operators in the sector. In detail, the reduced rate of 10 percent is applicable only in very specific cases, namely when the sale is made directly by the artist or his heirs. However, the vast majority of transactions-for example, those involving galleries, dealers or subsequent resales-remain subject to the full 22 percent VAT(see here for our detailed discussion of how VAT on artworks works in Italy). This, according to Nomisma, creates a marked disparity with markets such as France or Germany, where the rates applied are significantly lower.
Nomisma points out that this difference has concrete consequences: for the same net price, an Italian collector finds himself paying up to 18 percent more than a collector in other European countries. This not only discourages the purchase of artworks domestically, but also reduces profit margins for Italian galleries and makes the market less competitive internationally. In its report, Nomisma highlights how the high tax burden-particularly the one related to VAT-is one of the structural elements contributing to the weakness of the Italian art market. A possible revision of the rate could be an important lever to revive the sector and make it more attractive to both operators and collectors.
Many, then, in recent months have been the initiatives of art dealers to ask the government to lower VAT. In February, groups such as Apollo (representing auction houses, antiquarians, galleries and logistics) and ANGAMC sent an open letter to the government challenging the 22 percent rate and demanding alignment with Germany and France, a battle they had been waging for some time. Also in February, in Bologna, in the spaces of Arte Fiera, gallery owners protested with whistles to draw attention to the lack of VAT reduction. In March, more than 500 artists, including Michelangelo Pistoletto and Maurizio Cattelan, signed a petition addressed to Giorgia Meloni warning that heavy VAT risked turning Italy into a “cultural desert.” Groups such as ITALICS (74 member galleries) expressed “deep astonishment and great apprehension” that Italy was ignoring the EU directive, calling the government’s silence a “death sentence” for the sector. In March 2025, at the presentation of the Nomisma Report and the conference “Art: the value of industry in Italy” sponsored by Apollo and Intesa Sanpaolo, Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli promised that VAT would be lowered, with the support of the MEF and pending economic coverage. Then, in April, ANGAMC welcomed the formal commitment to lower the rate to 5 percent by starting the legislative process, explicitly citing the question time in the House and the green light from Ministers Giuli and Giorgetti. And today, the long-awaited news.
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| Government lowers VAT on works of art to 5 percent. It is now the lowest rate in Europe |
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