Green transition: hyper-depreciation to be finalised

The recent hyper-depreciation scheme introduced by Article 1, paragraphs 427–436 of Law 199/2025 undoubtedly constitutes an easily accessible tool for businesses, following on from the experience of the Transition Plan 5.0, without the fleeting nature of a one-off incentive, as it is not a tax credit and offers (relative) stability over time and predictability. Although the practical implementation of the measure involves multiple reporting obligations to the GSE, failure to comply with which may result in forfeiture, its effectiveness is guaranteed through an assessment of the actual use of the assets being invested in, within the tax framework of the depreciation schedule reflecting the asset’s long-term utility and, therefore, of careful planning by management, which will be able to utilise the financial resources deriving from the tax savings resulting from the higher deductible tax value. The combination of technical elements and effects on the reduction of the tax base justifies a combination of supervisory powers and necessary coordination between various public bodies (the GSE and the Revenue Agency), to be maximised in terms of efficiency within the five-year assessment period to prevent cases of abuse, fraud and non-existence, as occurred with the super-bonuses for the construction sector; these will involve ex post checks of a technical-legal nature, in which prior consultation on the draft document will undoubtedly prove useful. The question that arises is whether hyper-depreciation, in its current form and with a duration of just three years, can truly provide effective support for the ecological transition – the costs of which are notoriously high and unsustainable for most small and medium-sized enterprises, and the substance of which underpins companies’ ESG ratings. Whilst, on the one hand, it is inevitable that the scheme will not be accessible to small collective and sole trader enterprises that have opted for the flat-rate scheme, on the other hand, we welcome the non-discriminatory treatment of agricultural enterprises and companies taxed on a cadastral basis, for which there was no alternative to the granting of a tax credit. The sector comprising installations for the self-generation of energy from renewable sources for self-consumption, including at a distance, and including storage-only installations, occupies a prominent position but remains objectively broad and in need of further detail, as the individual components purchased can only be valued in their own right if considered within the context of a ‘green’ business; in other words, it is necessary to ensure that the method of aggregation, production and output of the plant is certain and verifiable, and to include all costs that can be capitalised (e.g. software) relating to investments ancillary to the main investment, those relating to the decommissioning of traditional plants, as well as interest expense on any loans: this undoubtedly entails technical certification costs prior to the plant’s commissioning, as well as subsequent annual costs corresponding to the deduction of the hyper-amortisation allowance. Furthermore, the eligibility for super-depreciation of costs ancillary to the main costs, as well as those services (e.g. software, consultancy) which are instrumental by their nature, should be regulated; it appears necessary to simplify and standardise the rule for income allocation under Article 109 of the TUIR is necessary to avoid a formal fragmentation of hyper-depreciable values, even though they are used uniformly and simultaneously, with different regulations based on the specific tax treatment of individual investments. With a view to rapid implementation and cost reduction, the provision allowing purchases to be made from non-EU partners – and not just from those resident in the EU – or for assets to be produced outside the Union should enable companies (and permanent establishments of foreign companies) to maintain their current contractual arrangements. The measure does not appear to be expressly geared towards the complete ecological transition of the enterprise, except in the sector of self-generation and self-consumption of energy from renewable sources, within the—admittedly—stringent limits set by the interministerial decree; undoubtedly, the measure could have included investments aimed at ‘end-of-waste’ status, the reuse of raw materials through industrial circular economy procedures designed to reduce the demand for raw materials, as well as the creation of so-called ‘secondary raw materials’ capable of ensuring the continuity of production processes whilst reducing the purchase of raw materials; Finally, the sector of investment in the reuse of scarce natural resources such as water has been completely overlooked; water remains an essential element in production processes, yet the severity of its scarcity still seems to be underestimated: prime examples being wastewater treatment and desalination, aimed at reducing desertification in many regions where agriculture has suffered losses running into several billion. Here, then, is the hope that in the near future we may come to appreciate investments in the environmental sector in their entirety, assessing their impact on the reduction of CO₂ emissions and the consumption of natural resources and, in the medium to long term, the positive knock-on effect on public environmental expenditure, the funding for which is diverse (divided between general taxation and environmental levies such as the ETS and CBAM) but is set to remain constant unless the causes of the associated demand are reduced. Finally, it is worth considering whether the time is ripe for a stable qualitative differentiation of investments by introducing, within the same TUIR No. 917/1986, (following the guidelines set out in the so-called ‘Incentives Code’ referred to in Legislative Decree No. 184 of 27 November 2025, implementing the delegated powers referred to in Article 3, paragraphs 1 and 2, letter b) of Law No. 160/2023) a fully operational hyper-amortisation scheme dedicated to green-oriented investments, as defined by secondary technical and scientific regulations contained in an interministerial decree