Pensioners and workers in the flat-rate scheme: +40% in five years
The confirmation of the fixed income threshold at 35,000 euro keeps the doors of the flat tax, chosen by 194,000 people, open in 2026 as well
The number of employees and pensioners with VAT registration under the flat-rate scheme has grown by 40% in the last five years. 194,000 (153,000 workers and 41,000 pensioners) will be counted in the tax returns filed in 2024. Part-time employees working a second job, workers rounding up their salaries, pensioners working as consultants or freelancers: together they make up 10% of the taxpayers applying the flat tax.
They will all benefit from the rule included in the draft budget law, which confirms for 2026 the raising to 35,000 euro of the threshold of employee or assimilated income that allows one to remain in the lump sum. Under the ordinary rules, in fact, the limit is 30,000 euro and was raised to 35,000 euro already in the manoeuvre for 2025.
The way the regulation is formulated, the income verification is to be done on the previous year's income. Therefore, to give an example, someone who receives a 32,000 euro pension in 2025, without the intervention of the Budget Bill, would be destined to exit the forfait from 2026. If Parliament approves the regulation, however, he will be able to remain in the facilitated regime with a 15% substitute tax (or 5% for new economic activities).
The pull of membership
The growth in the number of employees and flat-tax pensioners has not been linear over the years. Also due to regulatory changes.
For 2019, Finance statistics show a leap in both categories, with workers rising by 50% to 110 thousand and pensioners more than tripling to 28 thousand. An increase due to the cancellation of the income limit by that year's financial manoeuvre, which also raised to 65 thousand euro the threshold of revenues and VAT-registered remuneration not to be exceeded to remain in the facilitated regime (yellow-green government Conte-1). In practice: after the law made the salary or pension received in 2018 'non-blocking', many taxpayers entered the lump sum in 2019 and accounted for it in the tax return filed the following year.
