Italy will cut back value-added tax (VAT) on artwork gross sales from 22% to five%, following approval of the change in a cupboard assembly on June twentieth. The amended VAT charge went into impact final week; nevertheless, it nonetheless should be ratified by the Italian parliament inside 60 days.
The adjusted charge was introduced by the tradition minister, Alessandro Giuli, after the Italian authorities confronted constant stress from Italian galleries, artists, public sale homes, and different artwork market gamers. Italy’s earlier VAT charge, in impact since 2013, was the best within the European Union. Its new charge is the bottom within the E.U.
Italy’s VAT on artwork has lengthy been a degree of rivalry. The 22% charge was notably greater than Germany’s 7% charge or France’s 5.5% charge, putting Italian galleries at a aggressive drawback. In accordance with a examine by Nomisma, a market consulting agency, the lower may generate €1.5 billion ($1.76 billion) in artwork market turnover and enhance Italy’s economic system by as a lot as €4.2 billion ($4.94 billion) inside three years.
At April’s miart honest in Milan, sellers circulated an open letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warning that the excessive tax risked turning Italy right into a “cultural desert.” The Apollo Group, an affiliation of Italian artwork organizations, additionally known as on the federal government to decrease VAT for the sale of artwork. The group warned that if the nation didn’t deal with the excessive VAT, then “any collector who wished to import or purchase work within the European Union will surely not achieve this in Italy,” a letter from the Apollo Group learn.
Till lately, Meloni’s authorities had rejected requires reform, saying it will not reply to stress from rich collectors.
“It’s a momentous turning level,” Sirio Ortolani, the president of ANGAMC (Nationwide Affiliation of Fashionable and Modern Artwork Galleries) and vice chairman of the Apollo Group, instructed The Artwork Newspaper. “Italy can lastly change into an excellent worldwide hub, attracting galleries from throughout Europe and main gala’s.”
The tax change comes as the worldwide artwork market continues to contract. In accordance with the 2025 Artwork Basel and UBS Artwork Market Report, world artwork gross sales fell by 12% in 2024 to an estimated $57.5 billion. Italy skilled a ten% decline in the identical interval.
