Istat certifies the cost of the Superbonus: deficit of 8 percent in 2022

Counting the Superbonus and other building bonuses, the deficit of past years is worse than calculated so far. Istat certified it today, on the basis of the new classification of bonuses introduced by the Institute of Statistics and Eurostat. As, in 2020 the deficit goes to -9.7% and in 2021 to -9%, with a worsening of -0.2 and -1.8 points respectively. For 2022, the deficit falls to -8 per cent, almost three points more than that indicated in the Nadef at -5.6 per cent.

In the light of the new interpretative framework and the outcome of the methodological investigations, Istat explains, “it is changed the accounting treatment of the Superbonus 110% and the so-called facade bonus as of the estimate year 2020. Both tax credits are now classified as ‘payable’ tax credits recorded in the consolidated PA account as expenses for the entire amountconsistently with the time of registration, i.e. at the time the subsidized investment expense is incurred”. Now, therefore, the cost of the Superbonus is calculated in full in the year of issue of the credit, while in previous estimates the concessions had been classified as “non-payable” tax credits and therefore spread over the duration of the credit of tax, 5 years for the superbonus and 10 for the facades bonus. “The change – concludes Istat – led to a revision in the deficit/GDP ratio for the years 2020 and 2021 equal to -0.2 and -1.8 percentage points respectively”.

The data “put a firm point on the accounting matterthe effects on the balance sheet of building bonuses and credit transfers introduced starting from 2020″, commented Giancarlo Giorgetti’s MEF in a note. “The government is committed to ensuring a sustainable exit from measures with transparency, coherence and responsibility not replicable in the same forms. The correction of the rules on building bonuses was the indispensable prerequisite for the protection of public finances for 2023, reversing a negative trend certified today by Istat”continues the statement, also underlining that “the government is working with all stakeholders to solve the serious financial liquidity problem of companies inherited from imprudent credit transfer measures not adequately assessed in their impacts at the time of their introduction”.

Thanks to the more lively growth than expectedIstat also certifies in its report positive news: in 2022 the debt/GDP ratio will stop at 144.7 per cent, one point below the 145.7 per cent calculated at the beginning of November from the revised version of the Update Note to the Def. GDP, according to Istat, was equal to +3.7 percent in 2022, a figure lower than the +3.9 percent of the preliminary estimates but higher than the +3.6 percent indicated in November by the government in the Nadef.