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MEF · Rendiconto generale dello Stato, since 2011

How much of the authorised amount was paid?

In 2025, the State paid €843.9 billion against €941.6 billion of definitive spending authorisations for that year. This comparison excludes €40.3 billion paid for commitments from previous years.

The State’s final accounts published by the MEF on BDAP, the public administration database. Final spending, excluding loan repayments. “Authorised” means the final forecast: the spending ceiling at year end, after the year’s changes, not money spent.

Question 1 of 5

Payments for 2025 spending (against current-year appropriations)€843.9bnOut of €941.6 billion definitively authorised, €97.7 billion is not recorded as paid against current-year appropriations. The initial budget provided for €915.8 billion.

The gap between authorised and paid is not automatically a saving: spending can be committed and paid the following year, postponed or not carried out, and the accounts alone do not say which.

Final spending, 2025, € billion

  1. Initial budget (budget law)915.8
  2. Finally authorised941.6
  3. Paid within the year (current-year appropriations)843.9

Final spending (billion euros)

Three figures from the same final accounts, on the same scale from zero. The highlighted bar shows the year’s spending paid in that same year (payments against current-year appropriations). The difference is a portal calculation.

Details, method and source

Sums of the chapters of the spending accounts (BDAP), columns “Previsioni Iniziali CP”, “Previsioni Definitive CP” and “Pagato CP”, for every economic category except the repayment of financial liabilities (category 61), as everywhere on the site. The final forecast is the budget law plus the changes decided during the year. Between authorisation and payment there is the commitment; amounts paid against current-year appropriations concern that year’s spending. The difference between authorised and paid is taken on the two printed figures, so mental subtraction adds up.

Besides payments against current-year appropriations, in 2025 the State paid €40.3bn of commitments made in previous years (carry-overs): they are outside this comparison, which concerns that year’s spending.

Spending accounts by chapter, original CSV (BDAP) ↗

  1. Question 2 of 5

    What about other years?

    Payments against current-year appropriations, as % of definitive authorisations, 202589.6%From 2011 to 2025 the lowest share is in 2020, 81.6%, the highest in 2024, 90.2%. It is a portal calculation on the account totals: on its own it does not say whether spending was delayed, saved or not carried out.

    Definitive authorisations and payments against current-year appropriations, from 2011 to 2025, € billion

    The values, year by year

    Two lines on the same scale from zero, in euros as published, not revalued: solid, payments against current-year appropriations; dashed, definitive authorisations. The chart describes the values, not their causes.

    Details, method and source

    The same columns as the first question for every spending account published on BDAP, without category 61. The share paid is payments against current-year appropriations divided by the same year’s final authorisation, times 100, on the full values: a portal calculation. No year is interpolated.

    Spending accounts by chapter, original CSV (BDAP) ↗

  2. Question 3 of 5

    Where are payments above or below the initial budget?

    Tax refunds to taxpayers: payments against current-year appropriations minus the initial budget, 2025+€8.0bnThe largest shortfall is in the category “Money passed on to Regions, Municipalities and other public bodies”: €31.2 billion below the initial budget. 7 of 20 categories paid more than the initial budget, 13 less.

    Here we use the initial budget; the other questions use the final budget, updated during the year. Paying more than the initial budget does not mean exceeding the final ceiling: in 2025 none of the 20 categories paid more than its final authorisation. A difference, on its own, does not show waste or savings.

    Paid minus the initial budget, by category, 2025, € billion: the 8 largest differences of 20

    Left of zero, the categories that paid less than the initial budget; right of zero, those that paid more. Same scale for every row.

    • Tax refunds to taxpayers+8.0
    • Investment grants to businesses+5.0
    • Funds not yet allocated (investment)−4.0
    • Public employees’ salaries−7.4
    • Funds not yet allocated (current spending)−9.3
    • Interest on the debt−11.1
    • Investment grants to public bodies−18.4
    • Money passed on to Regions, Municipalities and other public bodies−31.2

    Category names are rewritten in plain words: the official names in the final accounts, with their code, are in the details table. The differences are portal calculations.

    Details, method and source

    Portal calculation for every economic category of final spending (all except 61): payments against current-year appropriations minus the initial budget (“Pagato CP” minus “Previsioni Iniziali CP”), from the same accounts. Plus sign: paid more than the initial budget; minus sign: paid less. The chart shows the eight largest differences in absolute value; the table has every category, with the final authorisation alongside. The shares of the final authorisation in the first question are a different comparison.

    Spending accounts by chapter, original CSV (BDAP) ↗

  3. Question 4 of 5

    How much of forecast revenue was collected?

    Final revenue collected, 2025€728.4bnOut of €754.6 billion in final forecasts: 96.5% collected, a portal calculation. Overall difference: −26.2 billion euros.

    The gap between collected and forecast revenue does not by itself measure tax evasion or a forecasting error: the timing of receipts matters too. The assessed amount, the right to collect accrued in the year, is yet another quantity.

    Forecast and collected revenue, 2025

    1. Final forecast€754.6bn
    2. Collected€728.4bn

    Revenue (billion euros)

    Where was revenue below or above the forecast?

    Each bar starts at zero: revenue below the forecast goes left, revenue above it goes right.

    • Taxes and duties−20.5
    • Non-tax revenue−6.7
    • Sale of public assets and collected receivables+0.9

    Final forecast and collected revenue from the revenue accounts, without the borrowing of Title IV; shares and differences are portal calculations.

    Details, method and source

    Sums of the articles of the revenue accounts (BDAP) by title, without borrowing (Title IV). Collected revenue is what was paid into the Treasury (“Versato CP”) plus what was collected and not yet paid in (“Rimasto da Versare CP”); it is compared with the final forecast (“Previsioni Definitive CP”). Shares and differences are portal calculations on the full values.

    Assessed in 2025: €783.2bn. It is the right to collect accrued in the year, neither the forecast nor the amount collected. Of the amount collected, €694.2bn has already been paid into the Treasury (the State’s account at the Banca d’Italia) and €34.2bn has been collected but not yet paid in.

    Revenue accounts by article, original CSV (BDAP) ↗

  4. Question 5 of 5

    Which taxes account for the difference from forecasts?

    VAT, the tax on what you buy: collected minus the final forecast, 2025€−16.5bnThen “IRPEF, the personal income tax” €10.4 billion below the forecast. Other items collected more than forecast: “Substitute taxes on income” €5.3 billion and “Registration and stamp duties” €2.0 billion. Adding up all 13 tax types, tax revenue remains €20.5 billion below the final forecast.

    The difference compares two accounting amounts for the same tax and the same year. On its own it does not tell the cause (collection timing, tax bases, forecasts), and it is not a measure of tax evasion.

    Collected minus the final forecast, by tax type, 2025, € billion: the 8 largest differences of 13

    Left of zero, the taxes that collected less than the final forecast; right of zero, those that collected more. Same scale for every row.

    • VAT, the tax on what you buy−16.5
    • IRPEF, the personal income tax−10.4
    • IRES, the tax on company profits−1.7
    • Gaming taxes−0.2
    • Sale of state-monopoly goods+0.1
    • Other taxes on transactions+0.8
    • Registration and stamp duties+2.0
    • Substitute taxes on income+5.3

    The tax types are those of the revenue accounts; the largest have a rewritten name, and the official name with its code is in the table. The differences are portal calculations.

    Details, method and source

    Portal calculation on the articles of Title I “Entrate tributarie” (tax revenue) of the revenue accounts (BDAP): for every pair of “Codice Tipologia” and “Tipologia”, collected = “Versato CP” + “Rimasto da Versare CP”, difference = collected − “Previsioni Definitive CP”. The grouping is on the pair and not on the code alone, because until 2023 the classification used the same code for different tax types. The chart shows the eight largest differences in absolute value; the table has all of them.

    The 13 tax types add up to 515 Title I articles and reconcile to its totals: €651,975,240,057 in final forecasts and €631,498,831,309.37 collected.

    Revenue accounts by article, original CSV (BDAP) ↗