Active residence income arrives in Molise: this is how it works

It is called active residence income and was created in order to combat the depopulation of the small villages of Molise. 8.000 euros a year, 700 euros a month, intended for those who decide to go and live in one of the 100 Municipalities of Molise (out of a total of 136) with less than 2.000 inhabitants, including jewels such as Pizzone, Bagnoli del Trigno, Pietrabbondante, Scapoli and San Pietro Avellana. However, there is one condition: the new residents will have to open a business and keep it alive for at least 5 years.

This is what the announcement that the center-right council of Molise, promoter of the project, will publish on 16 September, the date from which there will be 60 days to submit applications.

“Molise is at risk of depopulation and in the last 35-40 years it has lost half of its population. With this measure, anyone who moves to our region, opening a business of any kind can get help, an incentive to start again”, explains Antonio Tedeschi, the regional councilor who conceived the initiative. “The announcement is not intended only for those who come from outside, but also for those who live in larger cities and move to a smaller village. Our aim is to give new life to territories that are being lost. If a new grocery store, a professional studio, an artisan opens in a town of 500 souls, hope is given to the entire community”.

For 2019, 473 thousand euros of resources will be available, same figure for 2020. A total of 1 million euros allocated and authorized by the Ministry of Economic Development is reached. “If so many questions arrive, the Region is committed to finding additional resources to broaden the audience of beneficiaries,” Tedeschi continues. 

MOLISE, ACTIVE RESIDENCE INCOME: RULES AND QUESTIONS

In the public notice from the Molise Region, viewed by FIRSTonline, all are contained the instructions necessary to participate in the tender. To join you must meet three requirements: be of age, have transferred your residence to one of the municipalities of Molise with less than 2.000 inhabitants and come from a municipality with more than 2.000 inhabitants. 

Applications must be sent within 60 days from the date of publication of the notice – therefore by mid-November – by certified email to the address Regionemolise@cert.regione.molise.it, together with the required documentation and a copy of the identity document. 

Subsequently, a Commission appointed by the Region will deal with the evaluation of the individual applications, assigning a score to each of them. "The minimum score threshold that the project request must achieve in order to access funding is 60 points out of 100", reads the notice.

MOLISE, ACTIVE RESIDENCE INCOME: HOW MUCH

Recipients of active residence income will receive up to 24 thousand euros in three years, from 2019 to 2021. Translated: there will be 8.000 euros available per year to be disbursed in various ways:

1. 50% of the total contribution to be requested within 2 months of the approval of the application, upon presentation of a surety policy. 
2. a deposit equal to 50% of the total to be requested within 3 months "upon presentation of the report of eligible expenditure equal to at least 50% of the same". 

In both cases, the balance must be requested within 30 days of the conclusion of the first year of activity. 

A third method of disbursement of the sum is also envisaged: a single solution at the end of the first year of activity upon presentation of the final expense report.

It should be noted that the benefit can be combined with other incentives.

ACTIVE RESIDENCE INCOME: ADMITTED EXPENSES

Here come the "stakes". The money received must be accurately accounted for and intended only for expenses necessary and functional to the realization of one's business. In detail, the sum can be used for: 

• expenses for expansion, adaptation or improvement, including restructuring, of the premises used and/or of the spaces dedicated to the activity envisaged by the business or residential project;
• expenses for the purchase of machinery, plant, tools and equipment including expenses relating to equipment and machinery applied to mobile vehicles, with the exception of motor vehicles, intended for the activity;
• expenses for the purchase of furniture, fittings, office machines and hardware (PCs and peripherals) intended for
• expenses for home and business utilities (limited to those necessary and appropriate to the type of activity carried out);
• expenses for rent of the house and the premises where the activity is carried out;
• expenses for setting up the surety guarantee provided for in this Notice
• expenses for consultancy services connected to the activity up to a maximum amount of 10% of the total eligible expense.

MOLISE: ACTIVE RESIDENCE INCOME: WATCH OUT FOR CHECKS 

The Region will carry out checks both on the effective residence in Molise of the beneficiaries (it will not be possible to move the residence and live elsewhere, to be clear) and on the entrepreneurial initiative launched. "The beneficiary - specifies the notice - has the obligation to make himself available, up to 5 years from the disbursement of the loan, to any request for control, information, data, documents, certificates or declarations, to be issued possibly also by service providers".

In case of declarations that do not conform to reality is foreseen the forfeiture of the benefit and the obligation to return the sums received (plus interest). The income will also be revoked in the event of non-compliance with the concession regulations, irregular implementation or non-compliance of the entrepreneurial initiative.