incentives had become a parallel currency – Corriere.it

The urgent intervention established by the decree law of February 16, 2023, number 11, on the transfer of credit for building bonuses “was dictated by the need to put a stop to the phenomenon of monetization of tax credits that has arisen with the transformation of tax incentives into a sort of parallel currency – reiterated the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin -. In addition, public administrations were prohibited from purchasing credits deriving from construction bonuses which, as highlighted by Eurostat, would have had a direct impact on public debt”.

The technical table

Meanwhile, in the Finance Committee in the Chamber the examination of the superbonus decree with the report of the rapporteur Andrea De Bertoldi (FdI). Hearings are scheduled for next week, including the association of Superbonus exodates. The deadline for amendments remains set at Monday 6 March. The government, recalls Fratin, has repeatedly reiterated «its commitment to find all the necessary solutions to release the accrued credits and that the banking system has difficulty absorbing the so-called problem loans, in order to protect businesses and citizens who have acted in compliance with the law. Therefore, a permanent technical table has already been set up, with the involvement of the trade associations concerned, in order to identify transitional rules that guarantee the correct transition from the regime prior to the decree law to the current one”.

Confederation’s proposals

As part of the decree on the recent Superbonus news, in view of the parliamentary process and the next technical table with the Mef, Confedilizia has put forward five proposals to amend the provision in order to improve the deduction mechanism. First of all, the association is asking to postpone the stop on invoice discounts and credit transfers to 30 April; moreover, he suggests maintaining the two methods for seismic improvement interventions and for the removal of architectural barriers, but also for owners of single-family houses with a reference income of less than 15 thousand euros. For them there is still the possibility of using the subsidy at 90%, but “because of their low income, they could not directly take advantage of the deduction”, explain from Confedilizia. Data i slowdowns and blockage of construction sites due to problem loans and the impossibility of finding companies and raw materials quickly, the association asks to give the possibility to those who have started the works to be able to carry them out «within a reasonable term that takes into account these slowdowns». The proposed extension is «at least to 30 June 2024» for the works that as of 31 December 2023 have already been carried out for a certain percentage. The last request consists in making the deduction mechanism usable by as many taxpayers as possible and not only on personal income tax. The idea is to transform the deduction into a tax credit to also pay VAT, withholding taxes, the IMU or the dry coupon, with the possibility of spreading the amounts over several subsequent years. «Currently the deduction in the return is allowed within the limits of the tax (Irpef or Ires) and does not allow the emergence of a credit return, nor the refund, nor the carry forward; in practice, the excess amount is lost», explains Confedilizia which is precisely for this reason asking for the «carry forward» of the unused annual installments.

Focus on seismic areas

As regards the attention to be paid to the areas most exposed to earthquake risk, the Sima (Italian Society of Environmental Medicine) states that 9% of Italian municipalities are located in Seismic Zone 1 (area with high earthquake risk) with a potentially affected population of 2.8 million people. Municipalities in seismic zone 2 (medium-high risk) are about 28% of the total. Overall in Italy, 37% of municipalities can be considered at risk, with 25 million Italians (42% of the population) involved. “Italy is one of the countries with the highest seismic risk – explains the president of Sima, Alessandro Miani -. To deal with the damage caused by earthquakes, the Italian State has spent around 135 billion euros in reconstruction in recent years, with an average cost for the community of almost 5,200 euros per family. Despite this situation, to date only 5% of Italian homes enjoy insurance protection against earthquakes and floods (ANIA data)».