Prepared by Paolo Lucarini e Domenico Antonacci
The “Cura Italia” Decree of 17th March 2020 has introduced, inter alia, some support allowances in favor of the economic sectors and workers whose activities are most affected by the epidemiological emergency due to Covid.19.
Among the allowances provided by the Cura Italia Decree, there is an allowance amounting to 600 euros provided by articles 27 to Article 30. For the time being, this allowance has been defined as a one-off referring to the month of March, however it cannot be excluded that the related payment is extended also to the month of April and for the entire emergency period.
It is useful to point out that according to Article 31 this allowance cannot be combined with other ones and it’s not consistent with citizens who receive a specific income named “citizenship income” (the so called “reddito di cittadinanza”), given that these taxpayers cannot receive this new allowance.
Furthermore, this indemnity is not subject to any form of taxation at all.
Who can benefit from the Allowance
Here below are reported for each category the characteristics of the potential beneficiaries of the allowance:
Article 27 freelancers and coordinated and continuous collaborators
For these categories of workers, it is intended:
- freelancers with an active VAT number as of 23rd February 2020 including participants in associated legal firms or simple companies with self-employed work activities referred to in article 53, paragraph 1, of the T.U.I.R, registered in the separate management of INPS.
- coordinated and ongoing collaborators with active relationship on the aforementioned date of 23rd February 2020 and registered to the specific social security regime, the so called “Gestione separata” of INPS, which is the national Institute for social security in Italy.
In any case, in order to be qualified for this allowance, these categories must not be holders of direct pension treatment and they cannot have any other mandatory pension contribution plan.
This allowance is paid by the INPS within the limits of the expected expenditure equal to Euro 203,4 million for the year 2020.
Article 28 self-employed workers enrolled in the special management of compulsory general insurance
These categories include craftsmen, traders, direct growers, colonists and sharecroppers, on condition that they are not holders of direct pension treatment and are not in possession of other forms of compulsory social security coverage, except for the “Gestione separata” of INPS.
This allowance is paid by the INPS within the limits of the expected expenditure equal to Euro 2.106 million for the year 2020.
Article 29 seasonal workers in the tourism and wellness field and spas
Seasonal employees belonging to the tourism and wellness fields can also access to this allowance if they meet the following requirements:
- they have terminated the employment relationship in the period between the 1st of January 2019 and the 17th of March 2020;
- they do not hold direct pension treatment and;
- they do not hold of an employment relationship on March 17th 2020.
This allowance is paid by the INPS within the limits of the expected expenditure equal to Euro 103,8 million for the year 2020.
Entertainment workers
This category of workers can benefit from this allowance because, as specified several times by the INPS, the peculiarity of the Entertainment Workers’ Pension Fund (FPFS) is to ensure that such category of workers benefit from the same measure and the same pension protections provided for subordinate workers, no matter what activity they carry out, which can be a subordinate, occasional or autonomous one.
Actually, the same tax rates applied to the self-employed workers, with the exact same distribution criteria, according to the Entertainment Workers’ Pension Fund.
Said that, entertainment workers enrolled in the above-mentioned Fund can benefit from this indemnity if they meet the following requirements:
- they have a minimum of 30 daily contributions paid in 2019 into the FSPS;
- during 2019, they have earned an income not exceeding the amount of 50.000 euros;
- they do not have any direct pension or employment relationship in force at March 17th 2020.
This allowance is paid by the INPS within the limits of the expected expenditure equal to Euro 48,6 million for the year 2020.
Article 30 agricultural workers
Agricultural workers with a fixed-term contract and the other categories of workers included in the annual lists are entitled to this allowance, provided that:
- they can claim at least 50 days of actual employee agricultural work activity during the 2019;
- they are not pensioners.
This allowance is paid by the INPS within the limits of the expected expenditure equal to Euro 396 million for the year 2020.
How to be able to benefit from the indemnity
With its Message No. 1381 of March 26th, 2020, the INPS provided the first clarification about the operating methods in order to take advantage of this allowance.
To this end, it has been confirmed that the benefits of this indemnity can only take place through electronic communication.
With the intention of ensuring the access to the economic services for all citizens, the INPS has provided the chance of submitting the application in a simplified way. At the same time, the Italian Institute is managing a new procedure for the direct release of the device pin code through a remote recognition.
This procedure will be managed by the Contact Center in order to allow citizens to obtain, remotely, a new pin code with dispositive functions, without waiting for the additional 8 characters of the pin code which at the moment are sent through the physical mailbox.
At the same time, a simplified method for requesting a pin code has been foreseen and it can only be used with reference to the allowance above reported as well as for the baby-sitting bonus not mentioned in this paper.
This simplified method allows citizens to fill in and send the specific service requests, after entering only the first part of the pin code (received via SMS or e-mail) after having requested it through the website or the Contact Center.
The Pin code request can be made through the following channels:
- website www.inps.it, using the “Pin request” service;
- Contact Center, by calling toll-free number 803.164 (free from the fixed network), or 06.16.41.64 (paying through the mobile device).
Once the first eight digits of the Pin code have been received (via SMS or e-mail), the citizen can use them in the first phase of the authentication for the online application filling in and submitting.
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