Do you need a VAT number to sell online in Italy?
The dividing line is not turnover, it is regularity. Selling your own used items twice a year is occasional; publishing a catalogue and taking orders every week is a business activity, even at low revenue.
Short answer
- A VAT number is required once online selling is habitual and continuous, regardless of the amount collected.
- Occasionally selling your own used goods does not trigger the obligation.
- The typical activity code is retail sale via the internet (47.91.10).
- Opening it is followed by Business Register enrolment and an INPS traders'-scheme position.
- Fixed INPS contributions are due even in a year without profit: budget for them before you start.
Occasional or habitual
When the VAT-number obligation kicks in
| Situation | VAT number | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Clearing out your wardrobe on a marketplace | No | Your own used goods, sporadic sales |
| Reselling goods bought in order to resell | Yes | Activity organised for profit |
| Online store with catalogue and cart | Yes | Continuous offer to the public |
| Digital products sold automatically | Yes | Recurring revenue without intervention |
The steps in order
- Get a certified e-mail address and a digital signature: no filing is completed without them.
- Open the VAT number, indicating the retail-via-internet activity code.
- Enrol in the Chamber of Commerce Business Register through the single communication filing.
- Open the INPS traders'-scheme position and check the good-standing requirements.
- Only then publish the store, with the full identification details on the page.
Common mistakes
- Believing there is a euro threshold below which you can sell without a VAT number.
- Using the occasional-work regime for a repeated resale activity.
- Opening the VAT number and forgetting the Business Register enrolment.
- Not budgeting the fixed INPS contributions, which are due even at low turnover.
How 4shopy helps
- Identification details — name, registered office, VAT number, REA, certified e-mail — are a configuration field, published in the footer and legal pages.
- The checkout collects the right tax details from the first order, with no improvised fields.
- You can keep the store in draft while the paperwork is running and publish it with one click.
- Sales documents are generated in the 4b2b ecosystem, so your accountant receives tidy data.
Check with your accountant
Your tax status, activity code and contribution amounts depend on your specific case and change with each budget law. Have them confirmed before opening the position, not after the first order.