September 1, 2026
What a fiscal year is, and when it pays not to match the calendar year
The fiscal year, what the Italian civil code calls the “esercizio”, is the twelve-month period over which a company keeps its books, draws up its financial statements and works out its taxes. It does not have to match the calendar year. But in Italy, who can choose it, and how, depends on the legal form of the company. This guide lines up the rules and the cases where different dates make sense.
Fiscal year and calendar year
The calendar year runs from 1 January to 31 December. The fiscal year is the period a company gives itself to measure its own management: twelve months, as a rule, with a start date and a closing date written in the articles of association.
For the vast majority of Italian companies the two coincide. It is the simplest choice: the software is set up that way, the accountant works that way, the tax deadlines are designed that way. But it is not the only option.
| Who | Fiscal year |
|---|---|
| Sole traders, professionals | always the calendar year |
| Partnerships (snc, sas) | the calendar year |
| Companies (srl, spa) and other entities | the period written in the articles, even a split one |
For individuals and partnerships the tax period is the calendar year by law. For companies it coincides with the period set in the articles of association: if the articles say nothing, or set a period of more than one year, the calendar year applies.
The split fiscal year
A fiscal year that does not match the calendar year is called, in the jargon, a split financial year: for example from 1 July to 30 June of the following year. It is written with the two years it touches, “2025/2026”, and in English with the year it closes in, “FY26”.
It is the choice of companies whose activity has a cycle that does not end in December:
- Sports clubs: almost every football club closes on 30 June, at the end of the season, so the championship and the transfer market sit in the same accounts.
- Farms: the closing follows the season, after the harvest and the sale, not halfway through.
- Seasonal tourism: a beach resort or a mountain hotel can close after the season, so that season’s takings and costs sit in the same fiscal year.
- Schools and training: the year follows the school or academic year.
- Subsidiaries of foreign groups: they often adopt the parent company’s fiscal year, to consolidate the accounts without misalignments.
The criterion is always the same: close the books right after the busiest period, so a whole cycle fits in one set of accounts instead of being split in two.
How to choose it and how to change it
The fiscal year is set in the deed of incorporation. Whoever wants to change it later has to amend the articles of association: it takes an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting before a notary, and the amendment has to be filed with the Companies Register. The switch creates a shorter transitional period, to be handled with the accountant, because a tax period cannot exceed twelve months.
Changing is worth it only when the benefit is concrete: accounts that tell the story of a whole cycle, year-on-year comparisons that finally line up, an alignment with the group. Changing for a short-term tax advantage rarely repays the work.
What changes in practice
With a split fiscal year some things follow the fiscal year and others do not.
- The financial statements close on the date in the articles, and the deadlines to approve them count from there: as a rule within one hundred and twenty days of the closing.
- Income taxes (IRES, IRAP) follow the fiscal year: the return and the payments are worked out on the closing date, not on 31 December. The exact dates come from the accountant, because they move with the closing date.
- VAT does not: VAT settlements and the VAT return stay on the calendar year, whatever the fiscal year. It is the point that confuses most people who move to a split fiscal year.
- Deadlines towards employees (certifications, year-end adjustments) stay on the calendar year.
The periods inside the fiscal year
Whatever the fiscal year, the twelve months are divided into shorter periods: months, quarters. Each period has its own close: accounts are reconciled, entries are booked, the numbers are fixed. It is the moment when you notice whether something does not add up, and the sooner you notice the better.
Some companies, especially in retail and catering, use a calendar of weeks for management control: four weeks, four weeks, five weeks in every quarter, so every period always ends on the same day of the week and comparisons between periods are clean. It is a management calendar, not a tax one: the accounts and the taxes still follow the fiscal year.
What it means for a small business
If yours is a sole trader or a partnership, you have no choice: the calendar year. If it is an srl or an spa, the choice exists, but it pays only if your cycle really has a season. In doubt, the calendar year remains the simplest road.
What matters more than the closing date is how you get to that date. If invoices, bank transactions and documents are already matched and categorised during the year, the close, in December or in June, is a check and not a reconstruction. It is the work Ditta does on its own, month after month, so that at the end of the fiscal year the numbers are already there.
A guide written for Italian companies. The rules cited are the general ones of the civil code and of the income tax code: for your specific case, the dates and the exceptions are confirmed by your accountant.