Il petrol bonus becomes more onerous for both employers and employees. The reason? On the benefit you will have to pay contributions. This is foreseen by the decree law on the transparency of fuel prices approved by the Chamber which confirms the petrol bonus also for 2023, but establishes "the exclusion from the contribution to the formation of the worker's income, established from the first period, it is not relevant for tax purposes”. Translated into simple words: taxes no, but contributions yes.
Petrol bonus: what it is
The petrol bonus or fuel bonus is a contribution up to 200 euros that companies can decide to grant to employees to help them counter the effects of the increase cost of fuel, including that of electric vehicle charging, due to the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. The rules in force until December 31, 2022 provided for the non-competition for income for petrol bonuses or similar titles for the purchase of fuel up to 200 euros. For higher amounts, however, the entire value is subject to tax. Until last year, moreover, on the bonus no contributions had to be paid social security.
Petrol bonus: what the new rules provide for 2023
For 2023 the bonus will continue not to contribute to the formation of income. Translated: it will still be detaxed. There is a but. The exemption "is not relevant for tax purposes", therefore you will have to pay attention to it pay contributions. Employers and employees will therefore have to apply the relative deductions, which for the former amount to approximately 30%, for the latter they are around 9%. Transforming the percentages into numbers means that if employers decide to grant their employees the petrol bonus of 200 euros, they will have to pay out around 260. For workers, on the other hand, the bonus amount will drop to approx 180 euro.
According to the forecasts contained in the technical report of the decree, in 2023 the bonus should be used by over 220mila people, for a total equivalent value of 44,3 million euro. By applying an average marginal tax rate of 30%, this should result in a reduction in tax revenue of 13,3 million euros in terms of personal income tax and 1,1 million euros in regional and municipal surcharges. The estimate is calculated on the numbers of 2022. Now that the social security contributions will be borne by the bonus, the situation could be very different.
