Salary and tax in Italy

Where the money goes

Of €24,500 gross, income tax (IRPEF / addizionali regionale e comunale) takes €2,066 and employee contributions (INPS) take €2,325. That leaves €20,109 a year, or €1,676 a month on average.

The employer pays another €9,131 in charges on top, 37,3% of the salary. The whole job costs €33,631 a year.

How the income tax works

The income tax (IRPEF / addizionali regionale e comunale) rises through 3 bands, from 23% to 43%. The top rate applies from €50,000 of taxable income. That threshold is 2 times the reference salary of €24,500.

The bands apply to taxable income: what is left after allowances and deductible contributions. That is why the rates bite later than the gross salary suggests.

Taxes also differ by region. The model has 21 regional rule sets, and this page uses Lombardy.

How the rates rise with the salary

Income tax starts at a gross salary of about €17,000 a year.

At €24,500, 17,9% of pay goes to income tax and employee contributions. Of the next 100 earned, 60 reach the employee, a marginal rate of 40,4%.

At twice that salary, €49,000, the average rate is 34,5% and the marginal rate 49,2%.

The marginal rate is highest at a salary of about €36,800: 60,5%. At about €44,100, a tax relief that shrinks as pay rises, or a zone with a steeper rate, ends; the marginal rate falls from 60,5% to 49,2%.

Average and marginal rates, with worked examples:
Pay rise: How much more take-home pay? (Italy)

Among 50 countries

At the same €24,500 a year, converted into each local currency, an employee in Italy takes home 82,1%, rank 21 of 50.

The same salary leaves the most in Belgium (95,7%) and the least in Romania (58,5%).

Every country is calculated for the same single employee without children, with the salary converted at the exchange rates of 2 October 2026. A salary that is typical in one country is high in another, so progressive systems look heavier where wages are lower. The ranking says nothing about purchasing power or about what the contributions pay for, such as pensions and health cover. Where the newer rules are not final, a country is calculated with its latest enacted year: Belgium (2025), Norway (2025) and Romania (2025).

Recent rule changes

The model for Italy includes these recent changes.

• IRPEF middle bracket reduced from 35% to 33% (income €28,001–€50,000), cutting the tax bill for middle earners.
• Three-bracket structure confirmed: 23% up to €28,000, 33% up to €50,000, 43% above.
• INPS contribution ceilings revised upward by annual circular.

Regional differences

The model has 21 regional rule sets. At €24,500, take-home pay ranges from €19,935 (Campania) to €20,407 (Autonomous Province of Bolzano), a gap of €472 a year.

Beyond the payslip

The statutory rules in Italy on notice, unemployment, sick pay, parental leave and unpaid wages.

• Notice and dismissal

  Impugnazione del licenziamento

  60 days

  Written challenge deadline

  An employee ordinarily challenges dismissal in writing within sixty days of receiving it.

• Unemployment benefit

  Nuova Assicurazione Sociale per l’Impiego (NASpI)

  13 weeks / 4 years

  Ordinary contribution minimum

  The ordinary test requires thirteen unemployment-insurance contribution weeks in the four years before unemployment.

• Sick pay

  Indennità di malattia

  50%

  Early INPS benefit rate

  The ordinary covered-employee rate is fifty percent of average daily pay from the fourth through twentieth sickness day.

• Parental leave

  Congedo parentale

  10 months

  Ordinary combined leave

  The combined parental leave limit is ordinarily ten months; it can reach eleven if the father takes at least three months.

• Unpaid wages

  Fondo di garanzia del TFR e dei crediti di lavoro

  3 months

  Covered wage instalments

  The fund can cover the final three eligible monthly wage instalments under the statutory reference-period and ceiling rules.

Method and sources

Official sources

• Agenzia delle Entrate
• INPS
• Euro reference exchange rates, 2 October 2026 (ECB)