Productivity bonuses: beneficiaries at 9.4 per cent of taxpayers, with an average increase of EUR 194

The substitute tax reduced to 5 per cent drives productivity bonuses, and the effect can now also be seen in tax returns. Employees who received a bonus from their employer increased from 7.2 per cent to 9.4 per cent of the total number of taxpayers in one year. While the average amount of the bonus increased by about 194 euros (from 1,167 to 1,362 euros). The data emerged from an analysis by Caf Acli on about 1.1 million 730/2024 models submitted up to 12 July.

This is the first confirmation - at the level of tax statistics - of a trend anticipated by the increase in the number of agreements signed at corporate and territorial level to regulate incentives. As of 15 July, in fact, there were 15,186 company and territorial agreements providing for productivity, profitability and quality objectives filed with the Ministry of Labour and still active, 23.9% more than on the same date in 2023.

The boost to productivity bonuses comes from the lowering of the substitute tax rate at which the sums paid to workers are taxed from 10 to 5 per cent. The reduction took effect on 1 January 2023 and has been confirmed for this year as well. It is no coincidence that, according to Finance data, in the five years prior to the tax cut, the number of beneficiaries has always remained roughly stable between 1.8 and 2.1 million people, as has the amount of premiums.

The increase recorded by Caf Acli, projected on the total number of Italian taxpayers, would translate into about 900,000 more beneficiaries. But the final figure will be reasonably lower, because the audience analysed is not a statistical sample and indeed over-represents some of the regions where productivity bonuses are most used, such as Lombardy and Veneto. Suffice it to say that in 2022 - the last year for which Finance data is available - 56% of the beneficiaries are concentrated in four regions: Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont and Veneto. Moreover, these are also the regions in the lead in terms of the number of productivity contracts filed with the Ministry of Labour.

It is likely that the tax returns for 2024 - which will be submitted in a year's time - will also confirm the growing trend of taxpayers involved in productivity bonuses: the contracts filed with the ministry have increased steadily since the substitute tax was halved in 2023. And even in the first months of this year, the growth of agreements is sustained: between January and the first half of July, 7,703 contracts were filed, 2,162 in the period from 15 June to 15 July alone.