ISEE: up to 480,000 discrepancies to be resolved by the end of the year

The ISEE determines the allocation of around 25 billion euros in social benefits paid out by INPS, alongside hundreds of other regional, university and local authority schemes. In practice, it is a tool with a significant social impact, used to determine who is eligible for – and the amount of – a wide range of support measures for families.

In the latest Itinerari Previdenziali report on tax revenue, President Alberto Brambilla called for a thorough overhaul of the system: “We need a register and a database for social security benefits: the State offers tax relief, bonuses and reductions in social security contributions, but it does not know how much municipalities, provinces, regions and mountain communities are paying,” he said. In 2025, out of 58.9 million Italians, as many as 29.932 million applied for benefits and subsidies through the ISEE (10.369 million households applied, with an average of 2.9 members). “Incomes and tax revenue are growing only slightly, but welfare spending has skyrocketed,” commented Brambilla: between the State and local authorities, around 180 billion euros were ‘distributed’ tax-free in 2025, net of tax relief, according to data from Itinerari Previdenziali.

In this context, the recent focus on the current ISEE by INPS forms part of the ongoing alignment of databases to enhance the system of controls and strengthen automated checks during the certification phase of a scheme which, indeed, involves billions in funding. In 2026, according to the institute’s data updated as at 30 September, there were 10.4 million certified ISEE declarations, of which 481,407 showed discrepancies in income or assets: 4.6 per cent. These irregularities indicate discrepancies or omissions between applicants’ declarations and the information held in the records; however, they do not prevent the payment of benefits (such as the universal child allowance): the discrepancy must, however, be rectified by the end of the year, otherwise there is a risk that any amounts unduly received will be recovered.

As at 15 October 2025, there were 11.1 million ISEE certificates, slightly more than today. And there were 609,043 non-compliant certificates, accounting for 5.5 per cent. The trend in irregularities therefore appears to be on a slight downward trajectory, a result partly due to the increasingly widespread use of the pre-filled procedure: the ‘do-it-yourself’ ISEE reduces the amount of data citizens need to enter, as they find it already pre-loaded into the system thanks to information ‘extracted’ directly by the Institute from its databases; this method now accounts for 22.1 per cent of ISEE applications submitted.

For 2027, INPS has announced another potential development that should further reduce fraud and irregularities: a dashboard for the standard ISEE that will integrate several databases, including the National Register of Resident Population and the Public Vehicle Register, both of which are already used by the Institute. This system will identify the most critical cases (where the greatest discrepancies arise) and flag them to local offices for targeted checks. It is another tool being introduced to ensure resources are allocated to those who genuinely need them.