PagoPA is Italy’s official digital payment system for the public sector. It was created in 2016 to make transactions with public administrations safer, faster, and more transparent. If you live in Italy, sooner or later you will come across PagoPA, whether for paying local taxes, school fees, or even traffic fines.
👉 If you are just starting to explore how Italy’s system works, see our article: Italian Bureaucracy and Everyday Life: A Guide for Foreigners.
Table of Contents
- What PagoPA Is Used For
- How to Pay with PagoPA
- Benefits of PagoPA
- PagoPA commission costs
- Key Takeaways
- See Also
What PagoPA Is Used For
PagoPA is mandatory for all payments to public administrations in Italy. This includes:
- Local and national taxes (like IMU or TARI)
- University or school fees
- Car taxes (like Bollo Auto)
- Health-related payments (e.g., specialist visits through the CUP system)
- Fines and administrative charges
Instead of making separate arrangements with each office, PagoPA standardizes everything.
How to Pay with PagoPA
There are several ways to use the system:
- Online portals: Many municipal and regional websites have PagoPA integrated.
- Bank websites and apps: Most Italian banks include PagoPA in their online services.
- Physical locations: You can pay through post offices, ATMs, tobacconists (Tabacchi), and affiliated points of sale.
To make a payment, you’ll need a payment notice (avviso di pagamento) that includes a unique QR code or IUV (Identificativo Univoco di Versamento).
Benefits of PagoPA
- Transparency: Every transaction is tracked and linked to the correct administration.
- Security: No handling of cash at offices, lowering fraud risk.
- Flexibility: Wide choice of payment methods and providers.
- Traceability: You always get a receipt and confirmation.
PagoPA commission costs
The cost of paying through PagoPA is not fixed by the platform itself but by the payment service provider (PSP) you choose. Each bank, post office, tobacconist (tabaccheria), or digital app applies its own commission, which can range from as little as €0.50 for online banking or certain apps to around €2–3 at physical counters such as post offices or tobacconists. The amount may also vary depending on the type of bill or tax you are paying. For this reason, it is advisable to compare providers in advance, since the same payment may cost significantly less with one PSP than with another.
Key Takeaways
PagoPA may seem confusing at first, but it’s simply Italy’s way of centralizing public payments. Once you understand that every payment to the public administration must go through it, the process becomes much easier.