Bonuses in 730, expenses run faster than inflation
In the 2025 declarations submitted to Caf Acli, increases were higher than the cost of living for health charges (+11.3%), tuition fees and canteens (+5.1%), spousal allowances (+5.8%) and out-of-town rents (5.9%). Building concessions diluted but with more beneficiaries
by Dario Aquaro and Cristiano Dell'Oste
4' min read
4' min read
What do the expenses for medical examinations and medicines, school canteens and rents for out-of-town students have in common? These are all expenses subsidised by the tax authorities that Italian families are indicating in these weeks in the form 730/2025. And they all register an increase in the amounts paid in 2024 that goes beyond the rate of inflation (+0.8% per year the Istat Foi index). This is shown by the elaboration of Caf Acli for Il Sole 24 Ore of Monday, conducted on a sample of almost 735 thousand taxpayers who presented the 730 in all the last five declaration campaigns: from 2021 to 2025.
Except for a few home allowance, which see the average amount drop (but not the taxpayers), compared to last year, deductible or deductible charges are growing for all the main items reported in the 2025 declaration. It is a phenomenon that allows some employed and retired families to take 'revenge' - at least in part - on the tax drain (with inflation indirectly contributing to rising incomes, as the UPB has noted, while the Irpef tax brackets remain static). But it leaves those who come across a maximum deductible expenditure limit unchanged for years mocked.
The impact of private visits
.Increasing the most are health costs, which include medicines and specialist medical services, and which reach an average of EUR 1,335 (+11.3% in one year, or EUR 135). Treatment that is not guaranteed by the National Health Service, from the dentist to medical aids, weighs heavily. And visits and examinations carried out privately, by free choice or because of waiting lists in public hospitals are also weighing heavily. The increase in subsidised expenditure has been going on for four years, as has the proportion of taxpayers benefiting from it, which has now exceeded 80 per cent. The latter figure (which was 10 points lower in 2021) is certainly influenced by the pre-filled effect, because even those who do not keep receipts can deduct all the costs prepaid by the IRS in the 730 and not changed in the declaration. But it is a figure that might prompt some further analysis on the consequences of an ageing population.
They then rise by 5.9% per year the rents of off-campus university students, which on average are worth €2,058. Here, too, we have seen a clear progression in recent years: suffice it to say that in 2021 the average amount declared was EUR 1,796. High rents are being felt, especially in large cities, where demand often outstrips supply and prices are also driven up by the phenomenon of short and tourist rentals.
Limits of the facilities
.Among the charges that are growing more than inflation (+5.1% with an average of EUR 575) are those for school attendance, which include public school fees, canteens in public institutions and a number of minor items, such as insurance policies. The average amount deducted for spousal allowances also increased (+5.8%), although these remain very rare.
