The Italian fiscal code card, officially known as Italy's Codice Fiscale, is the tax code card in Italy; similar to a Social Security Number (SSN) card in the United States. The tax code in Italy is an alphanumeric code of 16 characters. The card serves to identify, unambiguously for tax purposes, individuals residing in Italy irrespective of residency status.
The number is issued by the Italian tax office. Each person in the past was handed a plastic card with a magnetic strip, bearing the tax code as well as the surname, given name(s), sex, place and province of birth (or country of birth if foreign), date of birth and date of issue. Today, the tax or fiscal code card has been replaced by a combined Italian health insurance card for qualifying residents which shows an expiration date.
On the internet there are several web sites and software packages, that allow you to calculate your tax code: just search for "codice fiscale calculation" on any search engine. It should be noted, however, that the only official tax code is one provided by the tax office, which handles cases of identical tax codes, an arbitrary changing of a tax code, as well as cases where a code is incorrect, but still valid (because provided by the tax office).