The codice fiscale is Italy’s tax identification code, a 16-character mix of letters and numbers that identifies a person to the tax authorities, banks, and public offices. It is built from personal data using fixed rules, which means you can work out what yours would look like by hand. One warning first: only the code officially issued by the Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy’s Revenue Agency, or an Italian consulate is legally valid. A hand-calculated code is useful for understanding the system and for checking, but you must not use a self-calculated code for official purposes.
Characters 1 to 6: surname and first name
The first three characters come from the surname: take its first three consonants, in order. If the surname has fewer than three consonants, fill the remaining places with its vowels, in order; if there are still not enough letters, add X. The next three characters come from the first name with a twist: if the first name has four or more consonants, take the first, third, and fourth consonants, skipping the second. If it has fewer, take its consonants first and fill with vowels as needed, then X. This rule is the one most hand calculations get wrong, so double-check it.
Characters 7 to 11: date of birth
The next two characters are the last two digits of the birth year. Then comes one letter for the birth month, using a fixed code: A for January, B for February, C for March, D for April, E for May, H for June, L for July, M for August, P for September, R for October, S for November, and T for December. Note the skipped letters: the code deliberately avoids some letters, so do not guess the month letter from the alphabet. The final two characters of this section are the day of birth, as two digits, with 40 added for women. A woman born on the 5th therefore has 45 here, while a man born on the 5th has 05.
Characters 12 to 15: place of birth
These four characters are the place code. For people born in Italy, it is the code of the municipality of birth, a letter followed by three digits. For people born abroad, it is the code of the country, which starts with Z. You cannot derive these codes from the name of the place; you must look them up in the official tables. This is the part of a hand calculation most likely to go wrong, because similar place names can have different codes, and municipalities merge or change codes over time.
Character 16: the check character
The last character is a check letter computed from the previous fifteen characters. Characters in odd positions and even positions are converted to numbers using two different tables, the numbers are added, the total is divided by 26, and the remainder picks a letter from A to Z. Doing this by hand is slow and error-prone, which is why most people use a generator for this final step even when they work out the first fifteen characters themselves. If your computed check letter does not match the one on an official document, trust the official document and re-check your earlier steps.
Worked example
Take the well-known example of Mario Rossi, born 1 January 1987 in a town whose place code is A005. Surname Rossi gives RSS, first name Mario gives MRA, the year gives 87, January gives A, the day gives 01, the place gives A005, and the check character works out to V, giving RSSMRA87A01A005V. Work through your own details the same way, one section at a time, and check each section before moving on. A generator can then confirm the check character and the place code in seconds.
Common mistakes
Using the first name rule for the surname, or forgetting the first-third-fourth rule for long first names, are the top errors. Guessing the month letter and the place code are close behind. Finally, remember the legal point: a calculated code is an estimate for learning and checking. For a bank account, a contract, or any official form, use only the code on your official card or document.
Try it free right here
Use the free Online Italian Fiscal Code Generator below, right on this page. It runs in your browser and needs no sign-up. You can also open the full tool here: Online Italian Fiscal Code Generator.