Starting a business in 2026: digital tools from day one

If you start a business in 2026, from day one the law requires a PEC address (certified email) registered with the Business Register, a digital signature, SPID or CIE for online public services, and a system to issue and archive e-invoices. If you sell to the public, add a card terminal (POS), an online cash register and the pairing between the two. The rest is not compulsory, but it is worth choosing straight away, and in a way that lets the tools talk to each other.

What you need before you even open

Before you register you need three things: PEC, a digital signature and a digital identity.

• PEC and official digital address. Every business, whether a sole trader or a company, must give the Business Register (Registro delle imprese) a PEC address of its own: this is its official digital address (domicilio digitale), where you receive communications with legal value. Since 31 October 2025, in limited companies (società di capitali) and cooperatives, the sole director or managing director (or, failing that, the chair of the board of directors) must also have their own digital address, separate from the company’s.
• Digital signature. The owner or legal representative needs it to sign the online filings, and later contracts, grant applications and documents for the bank. You get it from an authorised provider, on a smart card, a USB key or as a remote signature.
• SPID or CIE. With SPID (Italy’s public digital identity), the electronic identity card (CIE) or the national services card (CNS) you log in to the personal area of the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) and to the other online public services.

With these tools you send the ComUnica, the single business filing: one online procedure that registers the business with the Register and also reaches the Italian Revenue Agency, INPS (social security) and INAIL (workplace accident insurance). It requires a digital signature and PEC. It is usually prepared by your accountant.

Invoices, archiving and your online tax file

E-invoicing is compulsory for every resident VAT number holder who invoices customers in Italy, including those on the flat-rate tax scheme (regime forfettario), with a few exceptions. An e-invoice is an XML file (a format that programs can read by themselves) that passes through SDI, the Italian Revenue Agency’s e-invoicing system (Sistema di Interscambio). Both whoever issues it and whoever receives it must also archive it “in a legally compliant way” (a norma): saving it on your computer is not enough.

In the “Fatture e Corrispettivi” (Invoices and Receipts) portal, the Agency offers a free web procedure and an app for issuing invoices, plus a compliant archiving service you can sign up to. Sign up early: if you do it later, you can only recover invoices that have already gone through within certain time limits. From the same personal area you reach your cassetto fiscale (online tax file), where you can see tax returns, payments and the other data the tax authorities hold on you.

You can also use an off-the-shelf program, as long as it meets the Agency’s technical specifications. The choice matters more than it seems: it is the first piece of your business software.

If you sell to the public: card terminal, cash register and pairing

If you sell retail or do similar work, as a shop, a bar or a tradesperson working for private customers does, you must record your takings (corrispettivi) and send them to the Italian Revenue Agency. You do this with an online cash register (registratore telematico) or with the free web procedure “Documento commerciale online”. You must also accept electronic payments: refusing them carries a penalty.

What is new in 2026: from 1 January the card terminal must be linked to the online cash register, or to the web procedure. It is not a cable but an online pairing in the “Fatture e Corrispettivi” portal. For a new terminal, and for every change, the pairing is done from the sixth day of the second month after the one in which the device becomes available, and by the last working day of that month. The Agency’s example: a terminal that starts operating in March must be linked between 6 and 31 May. Put the day you activate the terminal in your diary.

Privacy: notices and, often, the record of processing

From your first customer you are processing personal data, so the GDPR, the European privacy regulation, applies to you straight away. You need privacy notices for customers, suppliers, employees and website visitors. The record of processing activities is not for everyone, but according to the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante privacy) it must be kept, for example, by shops, bars, restaurants, workshops and craftspeople with at least one employee, and by anyone who processes customers' health data, such as hairdressers, beauticians and opticians. The record can be an electronic document, and the authority provides a simplified template for SMEs.

Website, domain and email

A website is not compulsory, but if you have one, your VAT number must appear on the home page. If you use tools that track visitors beyond what is strictly necessary, such as certain analytics or profiling cookies, you need consent through a properly built banner.

Register the domain with your business name straight away, even if the website comes later, and use a professional email address on that domain. An address on a free service stays tied to a person, not to the business. Make sure the domain, website and email are registered to the business, and that the login details are yours, not your supplier’s.

Not compulsory, but worth doing straight away

This is where you decide how much manual work you will be doing in the years ahead. Starting with tools that talk to each other costs less than fixing things later: every program that doesn’t work with the others is paid for in hours of retyping, in errors and, sooner or later, in a migration.

• Business software and invoicing. One place for quotes, orders, invoices and incoming payments, which also receives supplier invoices from SDI.
• Linked bank account. An account just for the business, linked to the business software so that it reads transactions and matches payments to invoices without anyone retyping them.
• Customers and contacts. A single database, even a simple one, instead of address books scattered across phones and email. As your contacts grow, it becomes a CRM, the system that manages customers and deals.
• Brand and online presence. A consistent name, logo and domain; before printing signs and business cards, check that the name is free, including among registered trademarks.
• Rules for using AI. A few written rules: which tools are used, which data must not go into them, who checks the results. The AI Act asks anyone who uses AI systems at work to take steps on their people’s skills; Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 reworded this obligation without setting a minimum level to be guaranteed. The details are in the guide to the AI Act for SMEs.

An example: three partners set up an srl (a limited company) in Latina that makes and sells made-to-measure furniture. If from the start they choose business software that receives invoices from SDI, reads the bank account and keeps the customer database, the figures are ready for the accountant at the end of each month. If they start with three unconnected tools, a year later they are retyping data by hand and paying for a migration. Which numbers to watch from the start is covered in the guide on the numbers to track in a small business; for choosing who helps you, see the one on how to choose a digital partner.

The checklist, in time order

Here is what to do, and when, to start out compliant and with connected tools.

Before you open – PEC for the business, and for the director if it is a limited company or a cooperative. – Digital signature for the owner or legal representative. – SPID or CIE active. – Domain registered in the name of the business, and a professional email address. – E-invoicing system chosen, with your business software in mind. – ComUnica sent, usually through your accountant.

In the first month – Signed up to compliant archiving, and first visit to your cassetto fiscale. – If you sell to the public: online cash register or web procedure, and card terminal, up and running. – Privacy notices and, if you are required to keep one, the record of processing. – Dedicated bank account linked to the business software.

In the first three months – Card terminal and cash register paired within the set window. – A single customer database. – Website with the VAT number on the home page, and a cookie banner if needed. – Written rules on the use of AI. – A first dashboard with income, costs and margins. – A look at grants: the guide on digitalisation grants in Lazio lists the open ones.

If you would rather take these steps with a single point of contact, Business Ready is Z-32's programme with CSF that brings digital tools and accounting together from day one.