Superbonus and earthquake, reconstruction at risk

Post-earthquake reconstruction at risk. Because part of the construction sites in Central Italy will still have at their disposal for the 110% superbonus the assignment of credit and the discount on the invoice even in 2026, while another part, as a result of the Budget Bill, will be forced from next year into a more penalising regime, in which the superbonus will be there, but only through the much more bumpy road of deduction. And the numbers circulating give the extent of the problem: 5 thousand construction sites at risk worth 1.3 billion.

To understand how this deadlock came about, we must start with the intervention of the Omnibus Decree (Decree 95/2025 of mid-year). That measure extended to 2026 the 110% superbonus for expenditure on work on buildings affected by the seismic events in Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria provided that for this work the applications for public subsidies were submitted after 30 March 2024, leaving still open the possibility of using the assignment of credit and the invoice discount.

Construction sites opened before that date remained uncovered. Thus the Budget Bill provided for a rule that adds a new paragraph to the rules on the superbonus governed by the Relaunch Decree. And it provides that, for the same works on buildings damaged by the earthquakes in Central Italy, the 110% superbonus will also apply in 2026, but this time for works 'for which the applications or declarations were submitted prior to the date of entry into force of Decree-Law no. 39 of 29 March 2024'. That is, before 30 March 2024. The problem, however, is that in this way a double regime is created, since these works will not have credit assignment and invoice discount available, but only the route of deduction in the tax return.

Diego Camillozzi, president of 'La terra trema noi no', a non-profit organisation involved in actions to protect the people affected by the 2016 earthquake, said: 'It is clear that many people will not have the tax capacity to manage these operations through a deduction. Without a discount on invoices and transfers, there will be no possibility to carry on building sites, with the risk that many reconstruction works will come to a halt, especially in apartment buildings. In addition, there is also another problem. Which is? 'If the works are not completed, we are heading towards a dramatic scenario, in which the tax agency will be able to carry out checks and demand back the money from the subsidies already received. Citizens could be left with the damaged house and also have to return the benefits. We hope that the problem can be solved'.

Approximately 5 thousand construction sites, worth EUR 1.3 billion, are affected by this situation. A potentially dramatic situation, which the government and the extraordinary commissioner for reconstruction, Guido Castelli, are working to avert. The easiest way remains that of specifying, with an amendment to the Budget bill, that credit concession and invoice discount for the superbonus will also be applicable to these interventions. On this clarification, however, weigh the constraints of the manoeuvre and the misgivings that the executive has always had about fiscal currency.