According to Article 1 of Legislative Decree 1521/1950 “on real estate transfer tax”, as ratified by Law 1587/1950, a tax is imposed on the value of any transfer of immovable property or real right over immovable property for consideration (para. 1). The value is defined as the market value of the property or the real right at the time of the transfer (para. 4).
Furthermore, paragraph 6 of Article 2 of the same Legislative Decree, as added by Article 15 para. 1 of Law 1473/1984, provides that if, in a contract transferring ownership of immovable property or establishing another real right over immovable property, the transferor invokes acquisition of the property by ordinary or extraordinary acquisitive prescription (usucaption), then, in addition to the tax due for the transfer contract, a transfer tax is also due for the acquisition by usucaption. This does not apply if there exists, in the name of the transferor, a registered title for that right for which the required tax declaration has been submitted, or if the relevant land registry books have been destroyed.
The transfer tax for acquisition by usucaption is calculated based on the value of the ownership or the real right at the time of execution of the transfer deed and is borne by the transferor, after deduction of beneficial expenses incurred by the possessor.