The Council of Ministers approved a decree law Thursday evening which blocks the transfer of the tax credit and the discount on the invoice both for the Superbonus and for all other building bonuses. The stop concerns all new operations, while "specific exceptions" still to be defined are envisaged for operations already in progress. The experience recently launched by some public bodies of buying the problem loans of building companies, exposed to customers but in the impossibility of obtaining the assignment of their loans from the banks: they will no longer be able to do so . The maxi-squeeze has aroused a worried reaction from ANCE and the entrepreneurial associations of artisans but has also sparked controversy and backlash within the government majority, where Forza Italia has distanced itself from the provision. Reactions to the stars from the opposition: Movimento 5 Stelle and Pd. A meeting with the companies is already set for February 20th.
Superbonus and building bonuses: the decree of the Council of Ministers
The decree approved by the Council of Ministers enters into force today, Friday 17 February. Here's what it sets:
The object of the intervention is not the bonus, but the transfer of the relative credit, which has negative potential on the increase in public debt.
Statement from the Council of Ministers
From the entry into force of the decree, with the exception of specific derogations for operations already in progress, it will no longer be possible for the subjects who make such expenses to opt for the so-called "invoice discount" or for the transfer of credit tax. Furthermore, the first transfer of tax credits relating to specific categories of expenses will no longer be permitted; however, the possibility of deducting the corresponding amounts remains unchanged.
Stop the transfer of credit and the discount on the invoice: here are the bonuses involved
Translated from the bureaucratese, the press release essentially states that the building bonuses and therefore the tax deduction linked to them remain in force as regulated up to now. The stop, on the other hand, concerns credit transfer operations and invoice discounts. The new regulation concerns the transfer of tax credits "relating to expenses for interventions in the field of building heritage recovery, energy efficiency and "superbonus 110%", anti-seismic measures, facades, photovoltaic systems, charging stations and architectural barriers ".
The first track of government intervention concerns the stop to all bonus transfers. The law decree n. 11 of 16 February 2023 in essence it deactivates the framework rule that regulated the transfers (article 121 of the Relaunch decree). Furthermore, the rules - referring to condominiums - which provided for the possibility of assigning credits relating to:
- expenses for interventions energy improvement need restructuring interventions important first level (energy performance) for the common areas of condominium buildings, with a value of the works equal to or greater than 200.000 euros;
- expenses for seismic risk reduction interventions carried out on the common parts of condominium buildings or carried out in the municipalities falling within the zones classified as seismic risk 1, 2 and 3, through the demolition and reconstruction of entire buildings, carried out by construction or property renovation companies, which provide for the subsequent sale of the property.
The second track of government intervention establishes "the prohibition, for public administrations, to be assignees of tax credits relating to tax incentives accrued with these types of intervention".
Stop credit transfer and invoice discount: what the government says
The law decree approved in the Council of Ministers aims to "solve the problem that concerns the category of construction companies due to the enormous mass of problem tax credits and to secure the public accounts", explained the Economy Minister at the press conference, Giancarlo Giorgetti. The minister criticized the government's precedents and asked the banks to "act in concert to resolve this bubo that has formed due to lightly defined legislation". A mountain of 110 billion in tax credits - these are the data reported by the minister - which now "must be managed".
The decree also addresses the issue of joint liability of the assignees which is excluded for those in possession of all the documentation relating to the works. This intervention, the minister explained again, aims to "eliminate the uncertainties" that have held back many intermediaries from absorbing these credits. All the intervention, he concluded, is designed "to block the effects of a used wicked policy that ended up costing up to 2 thousand euros to each Italian. Now the urgency is to reactivate the possibility for intermediaries to purchase these loans that have remained stranded, is the minister's position. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attended the meeting of the Council of Ministers in streaming being still affected.
Reeds and business associations on the barricades
Reeds, CIA and Confartigianato are on a war footing. "It was decided to bury families and businesses in the name of who knows what reason of state" - he says Federica Brancaccio, president of ANCE, the Confindustria builders' association. "Neither the method nor the method is understood: we were discussing, we were reasoning with the government, and instead suddenly a measure arrives that solves nothing: blocking the circulation of credits means making companies go bankrupt". The comparison will continue on February 20 but the concern of the categories is skyrocketing. "The situation is dramatic, because everything that has been started cannot be completed, 90 construction sites are stopped and over 150 workers blocked", says the president of Anaci (the association of condominium administrators) Francis Burrelli.
On the political side, the M5S attacks the government, but also the president of the Basilicata Region, Vito Bardi (FI) hopes for a common sense solution to save businesses and families while the vice president of the Senate Maurizio Gasparri (FI) joins "the cry of 'alarm launched by companies'.
Updated at 9:53
