Edited by Vitalba Passarelli, Giovanni Marra and Flavia Sasso D’Elia
On 31 December 2024, the 2025 Budget Law, Law 30 December 2024 no. 207 “State budget forecast for the financial year 2025 and multi-year budget for the three-year period 2025-2027” (Official Journal General Series no. 305 of 31-12-2024 – Ordinary Supplement no. 43/L), was published in the Official Journal, which came into force on 1 January 2025.
The main innovations introduced by the Budget Law in terms of incentives for businesses include:
(i) the limitation of the use of the tax credit for investments 4.0 and the simplification and strengthening of the Transition bonus 5.0;
(ii) the introduction of the reduced IRES for the year 2025;
(iii) confirmation for 2025 of the tax credit for investments in the single ZES, also for companies operating in the agricultural, fishing and aquaculture sectors; (iv) recognition of a capital contribution for entities that have joined the procedure for repaying the tax credit for investments in research and development activities (so-called “fiscal amnesty”);
(v) extension, until 2027, of the tax credit for the listing of SMEs;
(vi) refinancing of the “Nuova Sabatini”,
(vii) the extension of the super-deduction for new facilitated hirings and (viii) extension of the sports bonus. Below we offer a brief insight into these innovations.
Changes to the Transition 4.0 tax credit (art. 1 paragraphs 445-448)
With the 2025 Budget Law, the 4.0 intangible capital goods tax credit is limited to investments made by 12/31/2024, with a deadline until 06/30/2025, provided that by 12/31 2024 the order has been accepted by the seller and a deposit equal to 20% of the total cost has been paid.
As regards the 4.0 tangible capital goods tax credit, a maximum spending cap of 2.2 billion euros is introduced for investments made from 01/01/2025 to 12/31/2025, with a deadline until 06/30/2026 in the case of bookings on 12/31/2025.
The above changes will not affect investments under the 2024 regime for which, by the date of publication of the 2025 Budget Law, both of the following conditions are met:
- order confirmed by the seller;
- payment of a deposit equal to 20% of the total cost.
In these cases, the possibility of completing the investment up to 06/30/2025 remains intact, thus benefiting from the tax credit according to the previous legislation.
It should be noted that, in order to comply with the new spending limit, companies must electronically send a communication to MIMIT:
- concerning the amount of expenses incurred and the related tax credit accrued;
- based on the model referred to in the Ministerial Decree of 04/24/2024, adopted in implementation of art. 6 of Legislative Decree 39/2024.
Changes to the Transition 5.0 tax credit (art. 1 paragraphs 427-429)
The rules for the Transition 5.0 tax credit are modified by expanding the group of beneficiaries and increasing the percentage of the deductible investment cost. Paragraph 427 provides for the introduction of a further category of beneficiaries, i.e., the energy service companies (so-called ESCo) certified by an accredited body, for innovation projects carried out in the interest of the energy savings of the ESCo’s client.
Furthermore, the intensity of the relief has been increased, intervening both on the brackets – with the provision of a single rate equal to 35% (with increases to 40% and 45% in the case of higher energy savings) up to the threshold of 10 million euros of investment – and by providing for more generous increases for the purchase of highly efficient photovoltaic panels of European origin.
Compared to the previous provision, the incentive becomes cumulative with the single ZES tax credit, as well as with the incentive measures financed with European resources. These changes also concern investments made from 1 January 2024.
Reduced IRES at 20%, so-called mini-IRES (art. 1 paragraphs 436-444)
For 2025 only, a reduction of the IRES rate from 24% to 20% is foreseen in the presence of conditions linked to the setting aside of profits and the making of qualified investments. In particular, paragraph 436 provides that at least 80% of the profits realized in the tax period in course on 31 December 2024 must be set aside as available reserves and that such profits must remain registered in net equity (therefore not distributed) for at least three years. The second condition to access this benefit is that no less than 30% of the profits set aside (in any case not less than 20 thousand euros) is intended for investment in the purchase, also through a financial leasing contract, of new 4.0 and 5.0 capital goods.
There are also additional requirements related to the number of workers, which must not be decreased compared to the average of the previous three-year period, and to new hires of permanent employees, for which there must be an increase of at least 1% compared to 2024. Finally, the rule details the cases of forfeiture and exclusion from the benefit. It should be noted that this provision could attenuate the effects achieved by the modification to the Transition 4.0 tax credit, previously mentioned, since the taxpayer, if it was to be excluded from the ranking for access to the 4.0 benefit, could still access the mini-IRES.
Extension of the tax credit for investments in the Single Special Economic Zone of Southern Italy (Article 1, paragraphs 485-491) and the tax credit for the Agriculture Special Economic Zone (Article 1, paragraphs 544 to 546)
The tax credit in the Single Special Economic Zone (Single Special Economic Zone) is extended to 2025 with reference to investments made from 1 January to 15 November 2025 and with an allocation of 2.2 billion euros for 2025. According to the provisions of paragraph 486, in order to benefit from the tax credit, the interested companies must communicate to the Revenue Agency, from 31 March 2025 to 30 May 2025, the amount of eligible expenses incurred from 16 November 2024 and those that they plan to incur up to 15 November 2025. Under penalty of forfeiture of the benefit, the companies that have submitted the initial communication must send to the Revenue Agency, from 18 November to 2 December 2025, an additional communication certifying that the investments indicated in the original communication have been made by the deadline of 15 November 2025.
The extension also concerned the ZES Agriculture tax credit with an allocation, for the year 2025, of 50 million euros. In particular, companies operating in the primary production of agricultural products and in the fishing and aquaculture sector must communicate to the Revenue Agency, from 31 March 2025 to 30 May 2025, the amount of eligible expenses incurred from 1 January 2025 and those that they plan to incur up to 15 November 2025 and subsequently communicate, from 20 November 2025 to 2 December 2025, the amount of eligible expenses actually incurred.
Capital contribution for subjects who have joined the procedure for the reversal of the tax credit for investments in R&D activities (art. 1 paragraphs 458-460)
The 2025 Budget Law recognizes – to subjects who have submitted a request for access to the spontaneous reversal procedure by 31 October 2024 – a capital contribution commensurate, as a percentage, with the amount of the credit subject to spontaneous reversal. This contribution may be disbursed within the limit of the allocated budget of 60 million euros for the year 2025, 50 million euros for the year 2026, 80 million euros for the year 2027 and 60 million euros for the year 2028.
Paragraph 459 refers to a subsequent decree of the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, to be issued in agreement with the Minister of Economy and Finance, the definition of the methods of disbursement of the contribution, the percentages of the same and its installment plan.
Extension for the three-year period 2025-2027 of the tax credit for the listing of SMEs (art. 1 paragraph 449)
The tax credit for the listing of SMEs, established by the 2018 Budget Law, is extended until 31 December 2027. The benefit in question recognizes small and medium-sized enterprises a tax credit of 50%, up to a maximum amount of 500 thousand euros, for expenses incurred in consultancy activities relating to the listing on regulated markets or in multilateral trading systems of a Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area. Therefore, 6 million euros are allocated for the year 2025 and 3 million euros for each of the years 2026 and 2027.
New Sabatini – Refinancing (art. 1. Paragraph 461)
Since it was launched in 2014, the “New Sabatini” has progressively assumed strategic importance in the panorama of industrial policies, becoming a structural tool to support the SME system for the purchase or leasing of capital goods that has proven to be effective, also in an anti-cyclical key, for the growth and relaunch of productive investments. In order to ensure the continuity of this instrument, the spending authorization referred to in paragraph 8 of the same article 2 has been increased by 400 million euros for the year 2025, by 100 million euros for the year 2026 and by 400 million euros for each of the years from 2027 to 2029 for a total allocation of 1.7 billion euros.
Extension of the super deduction for new personnel (art. 1 paragraph 399)
The 2025 Budget Law extends the super deduction for new hires of permanent staff for the years 2025-2026-2027. Therefore, enterprises and artists/professionals are recognized, within the limits and under the conditions already established for the tax period in progress on 31 December 2024, an increase in the cost of deductible personnel in light of the increases in employment resulting at the end of each of the aforementioned tax periods compared to the corresponding previous tax period.
Extension of sports bonus (art. 1 paragraph 246)
The rule provides for an extension for 2025 of the tax credit for liberal donations for maintenance and restoration of public sports facilities and for the construction of new public sports facilities. The tax credit attributable to each beneficiary is equal to 65% of the donation made, up to a maximum of 10 per thousand of the revenues achieved in 2024.
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