Superbonus, here is the lifesaver: changes to unlock credits and yes to the transfer for low incomes

ROME. The government confirms the halt to the sale of building bonuses after 16 February, but opens up to the use of F24s to release old problem loans which, according to the Treasury, are higher than forecasts and amount to 19 billion. During the meeting at Palazzo Chigi between the executive and the categories of the construction sector, the Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti also announces the possibility of evaluating small derogations to still guarantee the discount on the invoice for less well-off families, the incompetent and earthquake crater municipalities. He will discuss it again in a technical table together with the business associations. The path traced takes up a proposal by Ance and Abi and works like this: the banks use the F24 forms filled in by customers to pay taxes and transfer them to the Treasury, offsetting them with Superbonus credits. The mechanism serves to restore fiscal capacity to the banks, which in this way can start buying credits again.

According to some participants in the meeting, Giorgetti would have referred to the “direct” F24, relating to contributions, speaking of a fiscal space for 2023 of 30 billion euros. An estimate that, however, is currently not reflected by the banks that seem skeptical about being able to reactivate such a large space.

During the discussion, the companies asked for the help of subsidiaries such as Eni and Enel, which by virtue of the extra profits made with the energy crisis could lend a hand in the purchase of credits. The same goes for Rfi, which instead could have a very large contribution space (thanks to its employees) to offset with tax credits. Hypotheses that in any case seem difficult to take into consideration, as well as an intervention by Cassa depositi e prestiti and Sace, whose top management met with ministers Giorgetti, Gilberto Pichetto, Adolfo Urso and undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano before the summit with the builders, the confederations and cooperatives. Recourse to CDP appears long and complex, just like the securitization of tax assets, which would then have to be placed on the market with specialized vehicle companies. Businesses, on the other hand, want quick responses. Therefore, the government’s priority to avoid the default of 25,000 SMEs and the stop to 90,000 construction sites is to unblock the 19 billion stranded: “The effort we will make in the coming days with the technical tables is how to deflate this bubble”, explains Giorgetti .

The confederations leave Palazzo Chigi half satisfied. Confedilizia hopes for an attenuation of the new rules, for example by maintaining the transfer of credit for the Sismabonus and for the elimination of architectural barriers. Confapi would like advances made by the investee companies, while the Cna takes it out on “the chaos caused by the government decree” and hopes for a table for the reorganization of the incentives for energy efficiency also in the light of the new European directive on housing, which requires reaching energy class E by 2030 and D by 2033.

The Alliance of Cooperatives understands the reasons for the blockade linked to public finances, however it hopes that the non-profit organizations will be able to continue to transfer credit for “seismic risk management needs and for energy saving interventions on class F and G buildings”.

While the discussions were taking place at Palazzo Chigi, a protest was staged outside by a delegation from the “Exodata del Superbonus” association, which denounced the government’s failure to invite with placards and choirs. These people find themselves with the renovation work started at home, but not completed because the companies are unable to transfer the credits. The Democratic Party recalls that the majority rejected both an amendment by the dem to the maneuver which provided for the help of the CDP to reactivate the building bonus market, and the use of F24s to offset credits. Meanwhile, the CGIL and UIL are ready to go on strike and ask to be heard. The jobs that could be lost, according to the first estimates of the Fillea, are more than one hundred thousand. —