110% Superbonus 2022: extension and new features of the Italian Budget Law and Decree-Law no. 4 of January 27, 2022

The 2022 Budget Law has introduced major extensions and new features for the “110 percent” Superbonus and for the options very often related thereto (“discount on the invoice” by the supplier and assignment of credit to third parties) aiming to ensure more flexible planning of interventions, for some categories of persons, also beyond the current general deadline of June 30, 2022.

 

Here below we offer an overview of the most interesting new features to be considered when navigating this issue, which is subject to increasingly more and complex rules, and describe some of the clouds forming on the horizon due to the effect of Italian Decree-Law no. 4 of January 27, 2022.

 

New terms of applicability of the “110% Superbonus”

The general deadline for the applicability of the Superbonus, for the set of cases entitled to this concession, remains June 30, 2022.

The 2022 Budget Law (Law no. 234 of December 30, 2021), on the other hand, selectively provided for some significant extensions to the terms of applicability of the Superbonus for specific categories of persons and buildings, including:

• Actual condominiums and similar buildings (composed of two to four property units with separate land registry – without counting appurtenances – owned by a single owner or in co-ownership with more than one physical person), for which the Superbonus can be applied up to December 31, 2025, but with the following reduction in rates as time passes:
• 110 percent for expenses incurred by December 31, 2023
• reduction to 70 percent for expenses incurred in 2024
• a further reduction to 65 percent for expenses incurred in 2025

 

The same provision applies also to non-profit organizations, social promotion associations and voluntary organizations, for any building owned (not only residential properties but also offices, shops and other types).

 

• The residential units owned by physical persons on a “private” basis (i.e., not used for business, arts or professional activities). In this case, the Superbonus can be applied to expenses incurred by December 31, 2022 on condition that as at June 2022 at least 30 percent of the works out of the total intervention have been completed (understood in the strict sense, concerning the whole works and not just those to which the Superbonus is applicable).

 

These extensions are valid for the Superbonus for both energy and anti-seismic works and concern both “major” interventions (EIFS and replacement of the heating system, seismic prevention works) and “minor” interventions (energy efficiency, photovoltaic systems with or without storage batteries, electric vehicle charging columns, removal of architectural barriers), considering that the latter can be carried out in both common parts and those of exclusive use.

New terms of applicability of “minor” bonuses

The 2022 Budget Law also extended all “minor” bonuses which, in fact, are the only ones that can be concretely applied in many cases, typically (but not only) for interventions performed by businesses, companies and, beyond strictly “condominium” contexts, on all real estate units other than residential units, as well as for the many cases in which the parameters required for the Superbonus are not met:

 

• Bonus for building renovation (“50%”), “ordinary” anti-seismic bonus and ecobonus, “green bonus”: up to December 31, 2024, with no changes to the rules.
• Facade Bonus up to December 31, 2022, but with a reduction in the rate from 90 to 60 percent.
• Furnishing Bonus up to December 31, 2024, but with a reduction of the expenditure ceiling from €16,000 (valid in 2021) to €10,000 in 2022 and €5,000 in 2023 and 2024.
• Tax credit for the rationalization of water consumption and the reduction of plastic for water bottles: extension of a further year (2023) of the bonus which was already in force for 2021 and 2022.

New requirements to guarantee the tax authorities

The 2022 Budget Law confirmed, slightly simplifying, the obligation (introduced by Decree-Law no. 157 of November 12, 2021) to obtain the certificate of expenditure congruity (drafted by a qualified surveyor) and the “conformity visa” (drafted by an accountant, labor consultant or the manager of a tax assistance center – CAF)

• for the purpose of the Superbonus (“110 percent”) not only in the case of “discount on the invoice” and assignment of credit, but also in the case of the direct use of the Superbonus, by the taxpayer, in the form of a deduction, except in the case in which the tax return is submitted autonomously by the taxpayer or using their own withholding agent.

Therefore, when submitting tax returns with the assistance of a tax assistance center or an accountant or other qualified professional, the new requirements must be met;

• for the purpose of the other bonuses, only in the case of “discount on the invoice” or “assignment of credit” with the exclusion of the interventions costing no more than €10,000 and those falling within the scope of “free” building (i.e. not subject to the request for or submission of a qualifying building permit). These simplifications do not apply to the “facade bonus”.

The costs for the issue of the economic congruity declaration and the “conformity visa” can also be deducted, both for the Superbonus and for the “minor” bonuses.

 

Limitations to the assignment of tax credits

One completely new and unexpected aspect, which is quite worrying, was introduced by Decree-Law no. 4 of January 27, 2022 (art. 28), in addition to the other (preventive and subsequent) checks introduced to strengthen measures against tax fraud and money-laundering which, unfortunately and as feared, have been exploited under the Superbonus and with the possibility to assign tax credits indefinitely.

The new law states that the assignment of tax credits originating from these tax bonuses (not only the Superbonus, but all the other building efficiency bonuses), starting from February 7, 2022, can only be

• two in the case of “discount on the invoice” (from the taxpayer to the supplier, and from the supplier to a third party);
• one in the case of assignment of credit (from the taxpayer to the third-party assignee, generally a bank).

This drastic limitation of the transferability of tax credits risks putting an end to the significant impulse the legislator aimed to give, from mid-2020, to all building efficiency works (generally, not only relating to energy but also anti-seismic and construction works), aiming to drive GDP and employment, reduce energy bills, improve safety and safeguard the environment. Long-term objectives, not strictly linked to the Covid-related economic emergency.

The many people who decide to start these works precisely because they can take advantage of the “discount on the invoice” or in any case assign tax credits – which happens very often, in all cases in which there is not the capacity to apply deductions and/or there is a lack of resources for funding the works – very probably, from now on, will find themselves unable to fund the interventions as the banks and other (financial and industrial) operators can no longer assign the tax credits to other parties (linked to their own Group or external).

This will result in a preference for large companies, with oligopolistic effects and a reduced demand for credit, with foreseeable worsening of purchase prices (and, therefore, higher assignment costs for taxpayers).

A very risky bottleneck for the reasons explained above which, if not quickly corrected, risks worsening the disease – which the Government rightly intends to combat – through the (undesired) termination of the whole mechanism set up or revitalized with difficulty (and with large investments by many operators) in the last year and a half.

 

Article by Stefano Baruzzi, Chartered accountant and legal auditor, real estate tax expert,
Head of Real Estate Contracts, Tax & Fiscal for Morning Capital Srl