Carta Acquisti 2026: eligibility and application

The beneficiary must live in Italy and be registered in the population register (anagrafe). Eligible categories include Italian and EU citizens; non-EU family members of Italian or EU citizens with a right of residence or permanent residence; foreign citizens holding an EC/EU long-term residence permit; refugees and people with subsidiary protection.

A residence permit of any kind is not enough. For children, the forms allow the child's document or, in the specified cases where it is being issued, the parent's document. Enter the required details and ask INPS to check if your document does not match a category on the form.

Older applicants must also not receive publicly funded meals because they are in a long-stay care institution or prison. Simply living in a facility must not be treated as an exclusion broader than the declaration on the form.

Below means an ISEE of exactly €8,230.81 does not meet the threshold. Do not use the Carta Dedicata a Te or utility-bonus limit. Obtain an assessment for the correct beneficiary and household; for complex family circumstances, ask a CAF tax-assistance centre to help prepare the DSU (Dichiarazione Sostitutiva Unica).

For older applicants, do not look only at the net monthly bank deposit: the instructions require annual amounts from pension bodies, including tax-exempt payments, but excluding arrears. Where a payment depends on income, the relevant income must also be included. The form asks you to declare the combined amount: ask INPS or a CAF to check the supporting records before you sign.

Illustrative example: at age 72, an ISEE of €8,500 exceeds the ISEE limit even if your payments are below €10,974.42. The higher threshold does not replace the ISEE threshold.

For an older beneficiary, checks concern them alone or together with the spouse entered on the form. For a child, they concern the child together with the applicant and the other parent exercising parental responsibility/foster carer listed. Do not check only what belongs to the cardholder.

Financial assets are assessed using the ISEE declaration, not just today's available balance. The forms also address foreign assets not already included, converted into euros at the exchange rate on 31 December of the year before the DSU. This is not permission to omit assets that must be declared. For property shares, check the holdings of the other relevant people too, rather than assessing each share separately.

Standard instalments are €80. Twelve fully covered months amount to €480: this is arithmetic, not a guaranteed annual payment if you apply part-way through the year or lose eligibility. Any local supplements are separate from the national amount.

You can pay at grocery shops, pharmacies and para-pharmacies accepting the card on the Mastercard network, and pay electricity and gas bills at post offices. It is not a card for unrestricted spending: you cannot withdraw cash or top it up with your own money. Stay within the available balance and keep the PIN separately.

Participating shops may apply the scheme's 5% discount alongside ordinary promotions. That discount does not apply to medicinal products or healthcare co-payments (ticket): distinguish the discount from the ability to pay with the card.

Use your registered residence, not a convenient mailing address. When requesting credits to an existing card, enter its number or the application reference as the form requires. If you print on separate sheets, sign or initial the first sheet in the space provided too. Read the information notice before signing: you are personally responsible for the self-certified statements.

POD identifies the electricity supply and appears on the bill together with contracted power. Poste's instructions say missing additional information does not prevent the card benefit if you meet its conditions. For bill discounts, follow the separate social-bonuses guide.

If physical difficulties prevent an older beneficiary from visiting Poste and using the card, the instructions allow a trusted person to become the cardholder through quadro 4. That person must accept and submit the application in person. This is not a general permission to lend the card. One person may normally act for no more than two beneficiaries, subject to the instructions' exceptions for court-appointed guardians and people acting in an official capacity.

INPS asks applicants and recipients to submit the new year's DSU as early as possible in January. Payments are suspended without a new valid DSU. If eligibility continues, renewing your ISEE is not the same as submitting a new card application every year.

The Poste instruction PDFs linked as 2026 still refer to 12-month ISEE validity. Do not use that wording to postpone renewal: the INPS page explicitly specifies 31 December expiry. An assessment obtained in October 2026 does not automatically cover you until October 2027.

If you lose eligibility, the card can be suspended or deactivated. If you subsequently meet the conditions again, INPS requires a new application for assessment: a new ISEE alone does not guarantee reactivation. For children, the age condition is under three; do not import the Bonus nido application-duration rules into Carta Acquisti.

For registration-detail changes or a new cardholder, INPS identifies separate forms for older beneficiaries and children, and directs change forms to the competent local INPS office. Ask which form applies to your case, distinguishing this from the first application at Poste.

If approved, the card collected carries the amount due for the two-month period in which you applied. This does not establish back payments from the start of the year. You need the PIN to use it, and holding the card does not prevent subsequent checks.

Check your balance and transactions at Postamat ATMs and through official Poste services. Programme information and SMS activation are available on 800 666 888 from an Italian landline or +39 06 45 26 68 88 from a mobile/abroad, charged according to your operator. From the registered mobile, 800 130 640 lets you request the balance by SMS.

If a credit is missing, check your DSU, notices and actual balance first, then ask INPS about the benefit's status. The sources consulted provide neither a universal payment day nor a promise that all suspended instalments will automatically be recovered.

The blocking numbers here follow the card operator Poste's current page, which differs from the INPS page. Use official channels: no intermediary can guarantee approval or needs your PIN to release a payment.

Do not apply Carta Dedicata a Te's first-purchase deadlines, municipal lists or spending rules to Carta Acquisti. For combining support, check the other scheme's exclusions too: meeting one card's conditions does not prove that both can be received together.

The INPS information page, Poste page and official 2026 MEF/INPS forms distributed by Poste were compared. The MEF website returned HTTP 403, so its content is not claimed as directly verified. Differences concerning older applicants' limits, ISEE validity and contact numbers are explained in the relevant sections. No personal application or authenticated case was checked.