The Superbonus Decree: Significant Changes and Approvals in the Construction Sector

The Superbonus decree, which has been cleared by the Senate Finance Committee in recent days and is now awaiting approval from the Chamber after today's May 16th confidence vote in the Senate, introduces several significant innovations for the construction sector. Among the main changes, we find the extension of the deduction period for expenses to ten years and a gradual reduction of the incentives for renovations starting from 2028. If the green light is given at Palazzo Madama, the decree law will move to the examination of the Chamber. One of the most relevant modifications concerns the distribution of tax deductions. Starting from 2024, expenses related to Superbonus, architectural barrier bonuses, and Sismabonus (including Sismabonus acquisitions) must be spread over ten years, instead of the four or five years currently provided. This new distribution applies only to the direct use of deductions in declarations and does not involve tax credits resulting from assignment or invoice discounting. Companies that have acquired credits through invoice discounting will be able to continue to use them according to the current distribution. For those who have already started to benefit from the deductions for the home bonus, the regulation introduces a one-way street: it will no longer be possible to transfer the remaining deduction installments, which must be used in the declaration in the following years. This restriction applies to all transferable bonuses, including Superbonus, Ecobonus, and Sismabonus. Starting from 2025, the renovation bonus will undergo a significant cut. The deduction rate will drop from 50% to 36% and, from 2028 to 2033, further to 30%. Moreover, the maximum expenditure eligible for the deduction will be reduced from 96,000 to 48,000 euros. This measure represents a first step towards reducing tax expenditures in the construction sector. Currently, the discount is 50% until December 31st of this year. From January 1st, 2025, banks, financial intermediaries, and insurance companies will no longer be able to offset tax credits resulting from fiscal bonuses with social security and welfare contributions owed. In case of violation, the recovery of improperly compensated amounts with interest and administrative penalties is foreseen. To counteract usury, from 2025, banks, insurance companies, and intermediaries purchasing credits at a consideration lower than 75% of the deduction amount must distribute the installments in six annual quotas, without the possibility of further assignments. This rule applies to credits generated since May 2022. The government's amendment provides for specific exemptions for areas affected by seismic events. A fund with an allocation of 35 million euros for 2025 will be created to support Superbonus interventions on buildings damaged by earthquakes that occurred since April 1st, 2009, excluding those in Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche, and Umbria. The access modalities and limits of the contributions will be defined with a specific decree. In the Chamber, the majority came together, with Forza Italia voting in favor of the confidence in the decree law that dictates urgent measures in terms of fiscal incentives as per articles 119 and 119-ter of the decree-law May 19th, 2020, number 34, converted, with modifications, by law July 17th, 2020, number 77, other urgent fiscal measures and related to exceptional events, as well as related to financial administration. On the opposite side, Iv, which in the Finance Committee had voted with the majority contributing to the approval of the Government's amendment (justifying it with the yes to the freezing of the sugar tax), returned to the opposition benches, and expressed its opposition to the confidence. "On the Superbonus we continue to have many doubts and we are against any hypothesis of retroactive law, in any sector. It's a matter of principle. We do not give up defending our principles. That said, for an amendment we do not share does not at all diminish the confidence in the government. We have voted and will always vote confidence in this government of which we are a leading part but we will always continue to say what we think with great transparency and loyalty," says the secretary of Forza Italia, deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani speaking on the sidelines of an electoral initiative in Livorno.