The Italian fiscal code, officially known in Italy as ''Codice fiscale'', is the tax code in Italy, similar to a
Social Security Number
In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to ...
(SSN) in the United States or the
National Insurance Number issued in the United Kingdom.
It is an alphanumeric code of 16 characters. The code serves to unambiguously identify individuals irrespective of citizenship or residency status. Designed by and for the Italian tax office, it is now used for several other purposes, e.g. uniquely identifying individuals in the health system, or
natural persons
In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the broad ...
who act as parties in private
contract
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...
s.
The code is issued by the Italian tax office, the
Agenzia delle Entrate.
In the past, each person in Italy was handed a paper or
plastic card
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term ''#Plastic card, plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credi ...
with a magnetic strip, bearing the tax code as well as the surname, given name(s), sex, place and province of birth (or country of birth if foreign), date of birth and date of issue. Today, the fiscal code card has been replaced by a combined
Italian health insurance card
The Italian health insurance card (''Tessera sanitaria'') is a personal card that replaced the Italian fiscal code card for all citizens entitled to benefits of the Italian National Health Service and fitted with tax code. Its rear side acts as ...
for qualifying residents which shows an expiration date.
Fiscal code generation
The laws covering the calculation of a fiscal code were put in place by the
Ministry of Economy and Finances on December 23, 1976.
For
natural persons
In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the broad ...
, the fiscal code is made of 16 alphanumeric characters; for
legal persons
In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...
(e.g. corporations) it comprises 11 numeric-only characters.
While it is possible to calculate one's tax code, the only official tax code is the one provided by the tax office, which avoids cases of identical tax codes (which is a frequent case for people not born in Italy, as in this case the 4-characters town code in the ''codice fiscale'' is replaced by "Z" followed by a 3-digit country code) as well as cases where a code is incorrect, but still valid (because provided by the tax office).
The algorithm that follows is used to generate natural persons' fiscal codes.
; Surname (3 letters): the first three consonants of the surname are used. If there is more than one surname, both are considered as if they were one. If the surname has less than three consonants, then vowels will replace the blank spaces, in the same order they appear in the surname (e.g. "Rossi" would be RSS, "Masi" would be MSA). If the whole surname has less than three letters, the blank spaces are replaced with an X (e.g. "Fo" would be FOX, "Hu" would be HUX). The surname used is always the name that appears in the person's primary identification document: for native Italians, this is the ''carta d'identità'' (identity card).
:* It is important to note that in Italy women do not 'officially' change their surnames when they marry: therefore, a woman does not require a new fiscal code (or identity card, or
passport
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
) if she already has one at the time of her marriage. However, when a woman obtains a fiscal code ''after'' she is married (generally, this applies only to foreigners born outside Italy) then the surname that appears in her primary identification document (usually, her passport) must be used to produce the fiscal code: in many cases, this will be the surname of her husband.
; First name (3 letters): the first three consonants of the name are used. If there is more than one name, both are considered as if they were one. If the name has less than three consonants, then vowels will replace the blank spaces, in the same order they appear in the name (e.g. "Marco" would be MRC, "Paola" would be PLA). If the whole name has less than three letters, the blank spaces are filled with an X (e.g. Chinese name "Na" would be NAX). Some
indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
immigrants in Italy are registered with a triple X instead of their first name, since their passport only indicates a single word which is used as a surname by the Italian
register office
A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England, ...
. If the name has more than three consonants, the 2nd is skipped (e.g. "Riccardo" would be RCR; "Martina" would be MTN). This second-consonant skipping rule for names that have more than three consonants is only used for first names, not for surnames.
; Birthdate and gender (5 alphanumeric characters)
:''Year of birth'' (two digits): the last two year of birth digits are used (e.g. "1972" would be 72);
:''Month of birth'' (one letter): each single month is associated with one letter, as shown in the table:
:Birthday and gender (2 digits): the two birthday digits are used (from 01 to 31); if the person is a woman, 40 is added (e.g. 01 would be 41, 31 would be 71).
; Town of birth (4 alphanumeric characters)
: the so called
Belfiore code is used as ''codice catastale'' (
registry code), which comprises one letter, then three digits. Each single Italian town (''comune'') has its own code, which is mostly determined by alphabetical order (e.g.
Abano Terme
Abano Terme (known as Abano Bagni until 1924) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Padua, in the Veneto region, Italy, on the eastern slope of the Euganean Hills; it is southwest by rail from Padua. Abano Terme's population is 19,062 (200 ...
in the province of
Padua
Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...
, the 1st Italian ''comune'' in alphabetical order, has the code A001). People born in a foreign country have their own code according to the country of birth, all of them beginning with letter Z (e.g.
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
code is Z404, the
UK code is Z114,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
is Z700, etc.). For the complete list of the Italian towns' registry codes, se
here for the complete list of foreign countries' registry codes se
here
; Check character (one letter)
:Starting from the preceding 15 characters, a
check digit
A check digit is a form of redundancy check used for error detection on identification numbers, such as bank account numbers, which are used in an application where they will at least sometimes be input manually. It is analogous to a binary parity ...
is determined as follows:
:* the eight odd characters (1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.) are set apart; same thing for the seven even ones (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc.).
:* after that, each single character is converted into a numeric value as shown in the tables below:
:* after that, all of the values are to be added up, and the final result has to be divided by 26; the remainder (Modulo) will give the last character, according to the following table:
: Should two people yield the same code, the fiscal administration replaces some of the numeric digits (starting from the rightmost one) with letters, based on this table:
: After such replacement is applied, the check digit is to be recalculated.
Example
Here is the fiscal code of a fictitious Matteo Moretti (male), born in Milan on 8 April 1991:
*Surname: MRT
*Name: MTT
*Birthdate and gender: 91D08
*Place of birth: F205
*Check digit: J
*Fiscal code: MRTMTT91D08F205J
Here is the fiscal code of a fictitious Samantha Miller (female), born in the USA on 25 September 1982, living in Italy:
*Surname: MLL
*Name: SMN
*Birthdate and gender: 82P65
*Place of birth: Z404
*Check digit: U
*Fiscal code: MLLSNT82P65Z404U
See also
*
National identification number
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number or JMBG/EMBG is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purp ...
*
Value added tax identification number
A value-added tax identification number or VAT identification number (VATIN) is an identifier used in many countries, including the countries of the European Union, for value-added tax purposes.
In the EU, a VAT identification number can be veri ...
*
Information privacy
Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data pr ...
References
;Notes
External links
Health card contains the fiscal code from the tax office web site)
Tax identification number for foreign citizens from the tax office web site in English)
Codice Fiscale Generator(from expiter.com, in English)
International Social Security Number Validator(from randommer.io, in English)
{{National identification numbers
Taxation in Italy
National identification numbers
Unique identifiers
Identity documents of Italy