The news of the Transition 5.0 plan: the first Sole 24 Ore insert on 20 August

General rules, exceptions, timeframes to be observed, documentation to be submitted, technical elements to be considered. The start of the Transition 5.0 programme - tax incentives for companies investing in innovation - requires extensive preparation for those wishing to apply for tax credits.

Il Sole 24 Ore publishes three inserts, each of four pages, to offer a guide to companies and consultants who need to find their way around this new programme run by the Ministry of Enterprise and Energy and Gse (Gestore dei Servizi Energetici).

The first guide, inside the Sun, is out on Tuesday 20 August. The other two are scheduled for 23 and 27 August. Transition 5.0 rewards innovation projects that link the digitisation of machinery with certified energy savings. But the timeframe is tight: the investments for which the tax credit can be booked are those made between 1 January 2024 (thus with retroactive validity) and 31 December 2025. Not a very wide window, considering the complexity of the documentation to be produced and the grounding of the projects. In the field there are 6.23 billion from NRP funds with a mechanism that provides for tax credits graduated according to energy savings and the size of the investments, up to a maximum of 45% of the eligible expenses and within a ceiling of 50 million euro per year.

The innovation project must lead to a reduction in energy consumption of at least 3% of the production unit or 5% if calculated on the process concerned by the investment. Technical details on the certificates to be presented to certify energy efficiency processes are also contained in an operational circular available on the Mimit website (www.mimit.it) and the Gse website (www.gse.it).

As mentioned above, one of the aspects to be paid more attention to is the timing. The Transition 5.0 plan was announced on several occasions as early as the last months of 2023, then saw the light of day with the Pnrr quater decree approved by the Council of Ministers at the end of February. But Mimit's implementing decree - in agreement with the Ministry of the Economy and after consultation with the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security - was only published on 7 August. On balance, companies must work to ascertain whether investments made as of 1 January 2024 comply with the operating rules or, based on the regulations published only a few weeks ago, they must now start fairly complex projects aware that they must in any case be completed by 31 December 2025.