Prepared by Marzio Scaglioni, Leila Rguibi and Paola Barresi
With Circular no. 124 of 26/10/2020, the INPS provided the operative instructions for the access to the “IO Lavoro Incentive”, established by the ANPAL with Directorial Decree no. 52/2020.
The incentive, applicable to private employers located throughout the country, consists of a total exemption – up to a maximum of € 8.060 per yearand for a period not exceeding 12 months – of the contributions due to INPS for permanent hiring or transformations of fixed-term contracts carried out in the year 2020.
In particular, the hiring or transformation for an indefinite period must concern individuals unemployed, who have declared in electronic form their immediate availability to work (so-called DID). Furthermore, the incentive is also available for the recruitment of workers whose income from subordinated employment or self-employment corresponds to a gross tax equal to or lower than the deductions due pursuant to art. 13 of the so-called Italian TUIR.
In addition to the unemployment requirement, there is also a personal requirement: workers must be between 16 and 24 years old, or they may have already reached 25 years of age but in this case, in addition to being unemployed, they must have been without regular paid employment for at least 6 months.
Furthermore, the worker for whom the incentive is requested must not have had, in the 6 months preceding the incentivized hiring, any type of subordinate employment relationship with the employer who hires him (this condition is not required in the case of transformation of a previous fixed-term contract, as well as – in this case – compliance with the unemployment status is not required).
The hiring that legitimise access to the incentive are those carried out 1) for an indefinite period, both full-time and part-time, also for the purpose of temporary agency employment (both in the case of a fixed-term and in the case of an indefinite period) or in implementation of the associative bond with a work cooperative and 2) with a professional apprenticeship contract (only for the duration of the training period and, in any case, within the maximum duration of 12 months).
On the contrary, hiring carried out through a “job on call” employment contract (even if carried out for an indefinite period), through a domestic work contract and for the performance of occasional work are expressly excluded from the access to the incentive.
Furthermore, it is recalled that the use of the incentive is subject to the possession of the following requirements:
- the regularity in the fulfillment of contributory obligations (attested by the possession of the DURC);
- the absence of violations of the fundamental rules for the protection of working conditions and compliance with other legal obligations;
- compliance with national collective labour agreements as well as regional, territorial or company agreements signed by the most representative trade union organizations on the national territory;
- compliance with the general principles on employment incentives pursuant to art. 31 of Legislative Decree n. 150/2015 (here fully reported);
- compliance with the European provisions on state aid (so-called “de minimis”), unless the incentivized hiring entails a net employment increase (in this case, the use of the incentive is allowed even beyond the limits of the “de minimis” regulation).
From an operative point of view, the use of the incentive is subject to the preliminary presentation of an application, to be sent electronically to INPS. In case of acceptance which, please note, will take place on the basis of the chronological order of submission of applications, the employer must communicate – within the following 10 days and under penalty of forfeiture – the recruitment, requesting confirmation of the reservation made in its favor.
Finally, it should be noted that the “IO Lavoro incentive” is cumulative, within the limits of the employer’s contribution due, with the incentive for “Reddito di Cittadinanza” earners, with the structural exemption referred to permanent hiring of young people within 35 years, as well as with other incentives of an economic nature, depending on the place of work and within the limits set for state aid.
The incentive will be available by recovering in the monthly contribution reports starting from the monthly flow Uniemens of competence of November 2020, and the relative use must be concluded – under penalty of forfeiture – no later than the peremptory term of 28th February 2022.
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