Codice fiscale (Italian tax code)

The Revenue Agency describes the codice fiscale as a unique 16-character alphanumeric code built from your personal data:

• three letters from your surname and three from your first name;
• the last two digits of your year of birth, a letter for the month and two digits for the day (increased by 40 for women);
• four characters for your Italian municipality or foreign country of birth;
• a final check character calculated by the system.

A code is valid only when issued and certified by the Revenue Agency, and it does not expire. You need it to register with the local health authority (ASL), choose a family doctor and receive your tessera sanitaria.

• Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione (immigration desk at the prefecture): if your employer applied for your entry for employment, it assigns a provisional numeric code. When your residence permit is issued you receive the permanent alphanumeric one.
• Questura (police headquarters): when you apply for or renew a permesso di soggiorno, it assigns the permanent code straight away.
• Italian consulate: non-residents abroad can apply in their country of residence.
• Agenzia delle Entrate office: in any other case, with form AA4/8 and an identity document.

1. Book an in-person appointment. The agency says first-time applicants, EU or not, must go to the counter so their identity can be checked.
2. Fill in and sign form AA4/8.
3. Bring a valid passport with visa where required, a residence permit, a consular certificate of identity with photo, or an Italian identity card. Non-EU citizens must also show they have the right to stay in Italy, even temporarily.
4. Give your tax domicile, where the card will be sent by ordinary post.

EU citizens who plan to live in Italy use the same form AA4/8 at a Revenue Agency office with a passport or an identity card valid for travel, and can also apply through the Italian consulate in their home country. Resident citizens receive the card at their address of residence; non-residents at the tax domicile they give.

• Living with a provisional number. The numeric code from the immigration desk lets you register with the ASL, but you should obtain the permanent code once the permit is issued.
• Duplicate codes. If two people's data generate the same code, the immigration desk or Questura sends you to the Revenue Agency, which issues a code after specific checks.
• Wrong data. If your name or birth details are wrong on the card, ask any Revenue Agency office for a corrected one, showing a valid identity document.
• Lost card. You can request a duplicate online or at an office; the code itself does not change.

Check that your code is spelled the same way on your employment contract, recognition papers and Ordine application; mismatches slow everything down.