How long should you keep documents? The table for private individuals

How long to keep documents in Italy: the table

This table gathers the retention periods of the most common documents for a private individual in Italy, with the rule they come from. Almost none is a duty: it is the period in which the document can serve you as proof. For your case, the linked source is what counts.

Sources: the official documents linked in each row, opened on November 7, 2026. They apply to private individuals, not to businesses.

Duty, statute of limitations or forfeiture deadline: what does "keep" mean?

A retention duty for private individuals exists mostly in tax matters: the 730/2026 instructions say until when to keep the documents of the return.

The statute of limitations (prescrizione) is the time after which a right lapses, for example the supplier's right to be paid. The forfeiture deadline (decadenza) is a term that, once it passes, makes you lose the power to act: the Agenzia delle Entrate, for example, has to carry out its assessment by a given date.

A bill, then, is not kept because a law requires it: it is kept to show it was paid while someone can still ask for it. ARERA (the energy regulator) also reminds that the statute of limitations is not automatic: you are the one who has to raise it.

How many years should you keep the income tax return?

For the 730 filed in 2026, the Agenzia delle Entrate instructions give December 31, 2031, the fifth year after filing. With the Modello Redditi (the self-employed tax return) the period is the same.

If the return was not filed, the Agenzia can assess until December 31 of the seventh year after the one in which it should have been filed. From January 1, 2027 the rule changes, not the periods: art. 43 gives way to art. 293 of D.Lgs. 141/2026.

By the calculation on these rules, in November 2026 the returns filed for the tax years 2020 to 2025 can still be checked. The count assumes filing in the following year and no special suspension. For health expenses equal to those in the pre-filled return, the instructions say there is no need to keep the documents.

Electricity, gas, water and phone bills: why 2 years?

The law 205/2017 brought the statute of limitations for electricity, gas and water to 2 years, for household users, microenterprises and professionals. It applies to bills due after March 1, 2018 for electricity, January 1, 2019 for gas and January 1, 2020 for water.

For phone and internet, the 2 years come from an amendment to DL 7/2007 and, according to Corecom Abruzzo (a regional communications committee), apply to claims arising from 2020. AGCOM (the communications authority) reported that 7 operators out of 10 apply the 2 years to everyone, while the others hold that 5 years apply to public administrations.

These dates are often reported wrongly: online you still read 5 years for the phone. An amount for consumption more than 2 years ago is contested, it does not disappear on its own: the statute of limitations has to be raised.

Car tax, fines, IMU and TARI

The bollo lapses at the end of the third year following the one in which it was due, as Regione Lazio reports. The bollo due in 2023 therefore runs until December 31, 2026. Piedmont keeps 5 years for the years before 2023. The autonomous regions were not checked.

Fines lapse in 5 years from the day of the violation, according to art. 28 of law 689/1981. Later acts can interrupt the period.

For IMU and TARI, the Comune can assess until December 31 of the fifth year after the one in which the return or the payment was made or should have been made (law 296/2006). For the TARI that was due in 2021, the period ends on December 31, 2026; with a return not filed, the count starts from the year in which it should have been filed.

Rent, salary and insurance

Rent lapses in 5 years, like whatever is paid periodically at intervals of one year or less (art. 2948 of the civil code).

The right to salary also lapses in 5 years, but a 1966 ruling of the Constitutional Court ruled out that the period runs while the employment lasts. The topic was taken up again later, and is not explored here.

For policies, IVASS (the insurance regulator) gives 1 year from each due date for premium installments. The other rights under non-life policies lapse as a rule in 2 years from the event, as the Constitutional Court recalls in 2024; for life policies it is 10 years.

How many years should you keep bank statements?

No rule found requires a customer to keep bank statements for 10 years. Art. 119 of the Testo unico bancario (the banking law) says something else: you have the right to get from the bank, at your expense, a copy of the individual transactions of the last 10 years, and the bank has 90 days at most, as Banca d'Italia explains.

The period that counts for you is shorter: a statement is deemed approved after 60 days from receipt, if you do not contest it in writing.

Receipts and warranty: where do the 26 months come from?

The legal warranty covers defects that appear within 2 years of delivery, and the action lapses 26 months after delivery (art. 133 of the Consumer Code). It is not 24 months plus 2: for contracts concluded after January 1, 2022, the duty to report the defect within two months is no longer in the text.

The Ministero delle Imprese (Ministry of Enterprises) advises keeping receipts and invoices for at least 26 months, and specifies that a lost receipt does not make you lose the right: other proof counts, such as the card receipt. For contracts from July 31, 2026, D.Lgs. 176/2026 adds 12 months of liability, once, after a repair.

Thermal paper receipts fade, and the Antitrust (the competition authority) suggests making a photocopy. The same guide still mentions the two months to report the defect, which are no longer in the text in force.

Home bonuses and health expenses

For works on the home, the documents are to be kept and shown on request, as the Agenzia delle Entrate guide says. The deduction comes in 10 installments and the 5-year period runs from the return in which each installment is shown (the Agenzia's text for Caf and professionals).

By this calculation, for an expense of 2026 the last installment goes in the 2036 return, and the documents are needed until December 31, 2041. Health expenses follow the 730 of the year, except for data equal to the pre-filled return.

Can a scan replace the original?

For a private individual there is no simple answer. Art. 22 of the Codice dell'amministrazione digitale (the digital administration code) gives image copies made in compliance with the Guidelines the same evidentiary value as originals, if conformity is not expressly denied, and art. 2712 of the civil code says something similar for reproductions. The AgID guidelines (the digital agency) however speak of a signature or a seal by whoever does the comparison, which an ordinary scan does not have.

The 730 instructions say the taxpayer keeps the originals. Art. 22 says that copies made under those rules replace the originals, but no official source found says that an ordinary scan by a private individual does. For this reason, here the scan is a copy you can find again, not a substitute for the paper.

What is not in the table, and why

Some often-searched items are missing: TV license fee, condominium expenses, mortgage installments, property deeds, diplomas. For these, no official source was found that sets a period for private individuals.

Other guides give a figure, for example Altroconsumo (a consumer association): it is prudent advice, not a rule read here. For property deeds, the notarial archives keep for a hundred years the deeds of notaries who have ceased and issue copies.

How to keep an eye on these deadlines

Knowing the period is not enough: you need to find the sheet again. PaginaScan is a scanner for iPhone and iPad: you frame the sheet, the app straightens it, suggests a name and a folder, and shows amounts and deadlines in cards. Deadlines can be added to the calendar. No account is needed.

With the free version you have up to 3 folders of your own. To get started there is the guide on how to scan a document. The name and folder suggestions and the cards need a device with Apple Intelligence.

Questions