The spider web of building bonuses: 71.7 billion spent with the Superbonus

The curtain falls on the transfers of credits, on invoice discounts and the balance sheet on the Superbonus is in chiaroscuro. In the face of 372,303 sworn translations filed by 31 January1 , the State, with the so-called 110 per cent, will have to bear an expense of 71.7 billion euros. Recalling that there are almost 12.2 million residential buildings2 in Italy, the CGIA Research Office has hypothesized that, up to now, this measure has affected only 3.1 percent of the total number of residential buildings. In other words, having given the owners the opportunity to redevelop these housing units with a tax deduction of 110 per cent, the State has shouldered a cost of 72.7 billion euros to improve the energy efficiency of a very small share of buildings in the country.

It should not be “rejected” and a solution must be found for problem loans

Let me be clear: the Superbonus should not be “rejected” because it has certainly contributed to encouraging the economic recovery of a sector, such as the construction sector, which has an important specific weight in our country. However, this measure has caused a frightening cost to general taxation and not proportional to the number of buildings that have been “efficient”. Now, after the cancellation of the invoice discounts and credit transfers, the owner of a residential property will be able to benefit from the 90 percent deduction (and no more than 110), offsetting the discount only when filing the tax return. It is evident that the desirability of the tool is destined to diminish. However, the most worrying thing is that with the government decree approved the day before yesterday, a solution has not been found for the many companies and families who have a mass of important tax credits that are no longer due. A situation that in the space of a few months threatens to make many companies in the construction sector go bankrupt.

Skyrocketing material prices

The conviction of having spent too much and having “drugged” even the housing market is still very high. We recall that this mechanism, which made it possible to deduct much more than what an owner was required to spend to renovate a building, triggered a worrying inflationary bubble, also fueled by the sharp increase in prices recorded in 2022 for all raw materials. Faced with a boom in demand which, among other things, by law had to be satisfied within a certain period of time, the 110% Superbonus has contributed to making the prices of many materials skyrocket (iron, steel, wood , sand, bricks, bitumen, cement, etc.) and others have almost disappeared from the market for a long time (rock wool, polystyrene, scaffolding, etc.).

Veneto led the race 110%

At the regional level, Veneto has recorded the most numerous use of the 110% Superbonus in relation to existing residential buildings. With 46,447 asseverations, the percentage incidence of the latter on the number of existing residential buildings is equal to 4.4 per cent, in Tuscany it drops to 4 per cent and in Lombardy to 3.9 per cent. The regions least involved, however, are Calabria, Valle d’Aosta and Liguria (all with an incidence of 2 percent), together with Sicily which closes the ranking with 1.7 percent. Lastly, at a national level, the average amount of deductions at the end of the work envisaged is equal to 192,756 euros per residential building. The maximum peaks can be seen in Campania (247,337 euros), Basilicata (254,090 euros) and Valle d’Aosta (267,698 euros). On the other hand, Friuli Venezia Giulia (152,056 euros), Tuscany (151,206) and Veneto (150,906 euros) close the ranking.

The spider web of building bonuses, 224 interventions

The issue of building bonuses has not had an easy life since its inception. According to an analysis carried out by the Fiscal Policies Directorate of Confartigianato, a bureaucratic web of 224 interventions on building tax deductions and superbonus has been created: in detail, these are 29 legislative interventions distributed on 16 different laws, decree laws and ministerial decrees, of which 24 only in the last year equivalent to a legislative change every 16 days. In addition, there are 9 provisions of the director of the Revenue Agency and 186 documents of practice, consisting of 6 circulars, 4 resolutions, 157 responses to questions and 19 FAQs.