Five (mini) tax credits in the most fragile mountain municipalities

The list of 3,715 mountain municipalities is the first step in defining the 'shortlist' of the most fragile centres where the bonuses provided for in the mountain law (131/2025) will apply. In addition to the tax exemption for companies promoting agile work, there are five tax credits: for employees in health care facilities and schools, investments by farmers, the start-up of small businesses by young people, and the purchase and renovation of the first home. The bonuses and exemptions - with a total endowment of 98.5 million per year - have meticulous rules and require various implementing regulations. Law no. 131 itself delegates the government to reorganise by 20 September 2026 the other facilities already provided for the mountains. Nothing will change instead for the Imu exemption of agricultural land.

Those under 41 who take out a mortgage for the purchase or renovation of their main home in a mountain municipality are entitled to a tax credit commensurate with the interest payable on the loan (Article 27 of the law). Rural houses are also eligible, while valuable houses (cadastral categories A/1, A/8 and A/9) are excluded. The bonus is valid for five tax periods, starting from the one in which the loan is taken out.

The ceiling is 16 million per year. A figure that would make it possible to facilitate about 16 thousand properties, if we assume an average of one thousand euro per year in interest (i.e. half of the amount deducted for mortgages in the 2024 declarations, to take into account the lower value of houses in remote areas). With larger amounts or more numerous requests, the bonus would be reduced, according to what a ministerial decree will establish. The same Ministerial Decree will have to clarifyhow to apply the relief to loans contracted from 20 September 2025, the date Law 131 comes into force. The tax credit cannot be combined with those provided for by the same law for healthcare personnel and teachers, nor with the basic deduction on mortgages (it remains to be seen whether it will be possible to deduct 19% on any interest not covered by the mountainous tax credit).

Rather complex is the mechanism of the tax credit granted to small and micro enterprises that from 20 September 2025 start a new activity in a mountain municipality (Article 25). The owner must not be over 41 years of age on the start-up date and the bonus (which can only be used as a compensation) is granted for the first three tax periods, provided that the activity is carried outfor at least eight months in the calendar year, even if not consecutive. The credit is equal to the difference between the tax calculated with the ordinary rates and the tax calculated with the 15% rate, on income up to 100 thousand euro; in municipalities with up to 5 thousand inhabitants with at least 15% of residents belonging to linguistic minorities, the threshold is raised to 150 thousand euro. The same bonus is due to cooperatives in which more than half of the members are under 41, or in which more than 50% of the capital is held by persons under 41.

More modest (4 million per year from 2025 to 2027) is the endowment for the 10% tax credit that rewards investments by agricultural and forestry entrepreneurs, both individual and associated, who are based and operate mainly in mountain municipalities (Article 19). Facilitated investments are those 'aimed at obtaining ecosystem and environmental services beneficial for the environment and climate, also through land maintenance interventions' and will be identified by a Ministerial Decree, following an agreement in the State-Regions Conference. The tax credit - usable only by offsetting and cumulative with other concessions, within the cost limit - rises to 20% in small municipalities with linguistic minorities.