Prepared by Marzio Scaglioni and Leila Rguibi
With INPS Messages Nos. 1966, 1968 and 1970 of 11 June 2026, the Italian National Social Security Institute (“INPS”) provided important operational guidance on the three new social security contribution exemptions introduced by Decree-Law No. 62 of 30 April 2026: the “Women’s Bonus”, the “Youth Bonus” and the “ZES Bonus”. In particular, the Institute — following INPS Circulars Nos. 55, 56 and 57 of 14 May 2026 — officially confirm that the above measures are now operational, clarifying the related procedures and timing.
As a reminder, the three incentives generally provide for an exemption equal to 100% of social security contributions borne by private employers, excluding premiums and contributions due to “INAIL”, in respect of open-ended hirings made between 1 January and 31 December 2026.
Domestic work contracts, apprenticeship contracts, intermittent work arrangements and occasional work arrangements remain outside the scope of application of the measures. The exemptions also do not apply to fixed-term hirings or to conversions of existing employment relationships.
Access to the benefits is also subject to compliance with the general conditions applicable to hiring incentives, including contribution regularity, compliance with employment and health and safety legislation, and the achievement of a net employment increase. In addition to these requirements, and to the other conditions applicable to social security contribution incentives, employers must also comply with the so-called “fair wage” criterion introduced by the “First May Decree”, which requires the employer to verify that the remuneration package granted to the employee benefiting from the incentive is fully aligned with the applicable economic parameters from time to time in force.
The INPS Messages of 11 June 2026 mark the transition from the initial illustration of the measures to the operational phase for requesting, authorizing and managing the exemptions through payroll cycle. Indeed, INPS has confirmed that the online forms required to submit the relevant applications are now available.
Applications may be submitted both for employment contracts already executed and for hirings scheduled during the period from 1 January to 31 December 2026, through the “Incentives Portal (formerly DiResCo)”, using the specific online form made available for each measure.
A separate application must be prepared for each eligible employment relationship, indicating the identifying details of the employer and the employee, the type of incentive requested, the hiring date, the registered office or production unit concerned, and the information required to verify the relevant subjective and objective eligibility requirements. Where the application is submitted before the hiring takes place, the employer will reserve the necessary financial resources and must subsequently finalize the hiring within the mandatory deadline of 10 days from the date of authorization.
Once approval has been obtained, employers may report the relevant bonus in the social security contribution returns starting from the UniEmens flow related to July 2026, using the specific codes indicated by INPS. With regard to previous months, the recovery of the relevant amounts must be carried out through adjustments in the UniEmens flows relating to July, August and September 2026.
Finally, it should be noted that the incentives are not cumulative with other social security exemptions or contribution reductions, but they are compatible with the exemption linked to gender equality certification and with the increased tax deduction of labour costs for new hirings. If the employer is already benefiting from other incentives that cannot be cumulated with the exemptions under review and intends to benefit from one of these measures, the employer must return the incentive already used through regularisation flows, which will be processed without the application of civil penalties.
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