Valore Treasury Bonds of October 2026: What They Really Pay

What does the October 2026 issue pay?

From 19 to 23 October 2026 the Italian Treasury placed two bonds together for the first time, both with a five-year term (accruing from 27 October 2026, maturing on 27 October 2031), reserved for private savers, issued at 100 and with no subscription fees. They belong to the BTP family (Buoni del Tesoro Poliennali, Italy's multi-year Treasury bonds). When the placement closed, the ministry raised the minimum rates announced on 16 October:

• BTP Valore (coupons every three months): 3.75% in the first and second years, 4.20% in the third and fourth, 4.75% in the fifth. The minimums were 3.70%, 4.10% and 4.70%.
• BTP Valore Insieme (a single coupon at maturity): 22.70% of the capital, paid together with the redemption. The minimum was 22.25%.

The issue raised €16.62 billion through 560,029 contracts: €12.07 billion for the Valore and €4.55 billion for the Insieme. The average subscription was €31,276 for the Valore and €26,146 for the Insieme, according to the details of the placement.

Myth 1: "It yields 4.75%"

The 4.75% applies only to the fifth year. The rate rises in steps (a so-called step-up): the simple average over five years is 4.13%. The effective yield, which also takes into account when the coupons arrive, is 4.17% gross a year.

Then there is tax. Coupons, the bonus and market gains on government bonds are taxed at 12.5%, as for all government bonds, and every year there is 0.2% stamp duty on the securities account. The result:

So "it yields more than 4%" is true only before tax. What you actually keep each year is about 3.45%.

How much do you keep on €10,000?

Here are the figures year by year for someone who subscribed €10,000 of BTP Valore at 100 and holds it to maturity. Stamp duty is calculated on the nominal value, once a year.

With the Valore Insieme the same €10,000 pays a single coupon of €2,270 in October 2031: €283.75 in tax, €1,986.25 net, €1,886.25 after five years of stamp duty. You can redo the figures with your own amount in the BTP Valore simulator.

Myth 2: "The Insieme's 22.70% pays more"

22.70% divided by five is 4.54%, and that is the comparison you read most often. But the Insieme pays everything at the end, while the Valore pays every three months: coupons received earlier can be reinvested and earn interest in turn. Put on the same basis, the two bonds yield 4.17% and 4.18% gross a year, practically the same. That is no accident: the Treasury stated that it set the rates to preserve the equivalence of the two instruments.

The Insieme's extra €179.37 in the €10,000 table is therefore the result of automatic reinvestment, not of a better rate. The Insieme has a small net advantage (3.69% against 3.65%) because the tax is paid only once, at the end. The real choice is a different one: do you need income every three months or not?

Why is there no loyalty bonus this time?

The ministry does not say why; the Treasury's frequently asked questions only state that none is planned for this eighth issue. The six previous fixed-coupon issues had one: from 0.5% to 0.8% of the capital, paid at maturity to those who had bought during the placement and never sold.

What was it worth per year? The 0.8% of the March 2026 issue is €80 gross on €10,000, €70 net, after six years. Spread over the term, it raised the gross effective yield from 3.21% to 3.34%: about 0.12 points a year. Across all the previous issues the bonus was worth between 0.09 and 0.12 points a year. It was an incentive not to sell, not a significant part of the return.

How does it compare with previous issues?

We put every fixed-coupon issue since 2023 on the same basis, using the final rates from the ministry's press releases.

How we did the sums. For each issue we wrote out the actual cash flows of €100 subscribed at 100: the coupons every three months (every six for June 2023), the bonus and the redemption at maturity. The yield is the internal rate of return of those flows, expressed as a compound annual rate. "Net of tax" deducts 12.5% from coupons and bonus; "net of tax and stamp duty" also deducts €0.20 per €100 on each anniversary. The gain on €10,000 is the simple sum of net coupons and bonus minus stamp duty, with nothing reinvested: that is why the Insieme, which reinvests by itself, shows a higher gain for the same yield.

Three things stand out. After October 2023, the October 2026 issue is the most generous, and one of the shortest. No issue has yielded more than 3.65% net of tax and stamp duty. And issue rates apply only to those who bought during the placement: past issues can now be bought on the market, at the day's price and with no bonus. In February 2025 the Treasury also issued the BTP Più, from the same family, which is not in the table: it had an early redemption option after four years, so it is not comparable.

Past returns do not guarantee future ones: here, though, they are promised returns, provided you hold the bond to maturity.

Does it beat inflation?

It depends on inflation over the next five years, which nobody knows. A fixed rate protects against inflation only if inflation stays below the rate. In September 2026 consumer prices rose by 4.2% over a year according to ISTAT, the Italian statistics office, driven by energy; excluding energy and fresh food the increase was 1.6%, and the carry-over average for 2026 as of September is 3.1%.

The real yield is (1 + 3.45%) / (1 + inflation) − 1. If inflation stayed at September's level for five years, the purchasing power of your €10,000 would fall. If you want direct protection against inflation, the Treasury has another instrument, the BTP Italia Sì, linked to Italian inflation: it is a different bond, with its own rules. We explain how inflation erodes savings in Inflation: how it touches our everyday life.

Is it better than a deposit account?

Interest on a deposit account is taxed at 26%, more than twice the 12.5% on government bonds. That is why the comparison has to be made on net figures.

The October 2026 BTP Valore yields 3.65% net of tax. A fixed-term deposit account pays the same 0.2% stamp duty, so to match it, it must offer 3.65% / 0.74 = about 4.9% gross, locked in for five years. An example: an account at 3% gross on €10,000 pays €300 in interest, €222 after tax and €202 after stamp duty; over five years that is €1,010, against €1,706.88 for the BTP Valore.

A deposit account does, however, have two things the bond lacks: the capital never fluctuates in price, and it can often be released early. The short-term liquidity simulator compares the options for money you will need sooner.

Myth 3: "It is risk-free"

The BTP Valore carries three risks, each different from the others.

1. Issuer risk. Repayment at 100 is guaranteed by the Italian Republic, which the agencies rate between Baa2 and BBB+ according to the Treasury's information sheet. It is a low risk, but not zero.
2. Price risk. Your capital comes back in full only at maturity. If you sell earlier you get the market price, which falls when market rates rise.
3. Inflation risk. The rate is fixed; if inflation exceeds the 3.45% net, you lose purchasing power.

How much does the second one weigh? Here is an estimate for someone who sells after two years, with three years left to run, depending on the yield the market demands at that moment for a three-year government bond.

The price is the present value of the remaining coupons and redemption, discounted at the market yield, with no fees. Someone selling the Valore has already received €616.25 in net coupons after stamp duty; someone selling the Insieme also receives the accrued interest, €908 gross on €10,000, as the Treasury's frequently asked questions explain. The Insieme swings more, because all its value is concentrated at the end: between a 3% and a 6% market yield its price moves by about 9.3 points, the Valore's by about 8.1.

We explain why prices move the opposite way to rates in Interest rates: why they move and what they really change; the bond simulator shows the effect on different maturities. If you sell at a loss, the capital loss can be used for four years after the year in which it arises: the capital loss recovery simulator shows you how.

What changes for inheritance and for the ISEE?

• Inheritance. Government bonds are not subject to inheritance tax: they are left out of the base on which heirs calculate the tax.
• ISEE (the indicator of household economic situation used for means-tested benefits in Italy). Government bonds and postal savings products are excluded from ISEE assets up to €50,000 in total (Law 213/2023, art. 1, paragraph 183). The limit applies to all these products added together: if you already hold €40,000 in postal savings bonds (buoni fruttiferi postali), €10,000 of the new BTP Valore remains excluded.

What should you check before deciding?

1. When you will need the money. The promised yield holds only until 27 October 2031. If you might need it sooner, look at the price table.
2. Coupons or a single coupon. Valore and Insieme yield the same; what changes is when you get paid.
3. Net, not gross. Compare the 3.45% net of tax and stamp duty with what other options offer you today, always net.
4. Your bank's costs. Subscription was free, but custody fees and selling commissions depend on your contract.
5. How much it weighs on the whole. How many Italian government bonds do you already hold, directly and through funds? The rest of the portfolio should be looked at together, as we explain in ETFs, stocks and bonds.

Glossary

• BTP Valore: a family of Italian multi-year Treasury bonds (Buoni del Tesoro Poliennali) reserved for private savers, placed at 100 with no fees on Borsa Italiana's MOT platform.
• Step-up: a structure in which the coupon rate rises in steps over the life of the bond.
• Loyalty bonus (premio finale extra): an amount paid at maturity to those who bought during the placement and never sold; absent from the October 2026 issue.
• Effective yield: the compound annual rate that equates the price paid with the flows received (internal rate of return).
• Stamp duty on financial products: 0.2% a year on the value of securities accounts, deposit accounts and funds.
• Clean price and accrued interest (corso secco, rateo): a bond's market price without the interest accrued (clean price), and the interest accrued since the last coupon, which the buyer pays to the seller (accrued interest).
• Real yield: the yield net of inflation.

Sources

• MEF, press release no. 113 of 23 October 2026: final rates and amount raised by the double issue (in Italian).
• MEF, press release no. 115 of 23 October 2026: details of the placement, contracts and average subscription (in Italian).
• MEF, press release no. 110 of 16 October 2026: guaranteed minimum rates, 12.5% tax, inheritance, ISEE (in Italian).
• Treasury Department, information sheet for the BTP Valore 27.10.2031: rating, tax regime, ISEE (in Italian).
• Treasury Department, BTP Valore FAQ updated to 6 October 2026: no loyalty bonus (in Italian).
• Treasury Department, BTP Valore Insieme FAQ updated to 6 October 2026: sale, accrued interest, inheritance, ISEE (in Italian).
• MEF, press releases closing the previous issues: no. 94 of 9/6/2023, no. 151 of 6/10/2023, no. 30 of 1/3/2024, no. 59 of 10/5/2024, no. 101 of 24/10/2025, no. 27 of 6/3/2026; BTP Più, no. 21 of 21/2/2025 (in Italian).
• ISTAT, consumer prices, September 2026, final data (in Italian).
• MEF, press release no. 69 of 19 June 2026, BTP Italia Sì (in Italian).
• Presidential Decree 642 of 26 October 1972, Tariff, part I, art. 13, paragraph 2-ter, stamp duty on financial products (in Italian).
• Decree-Law 66 of 24 April 2014, art. 3, 26% rate on financial income (in Italian).
• Law 213 of 30 December 2023, art. 1, paragraph 183, exclusion of government bonds from the ISEE up to €50,000 (in Italian).
• Team Salvador calculations on the cash flows of each issue (method described below the issues table), using the same model as the BTP Valore simulator.