Transition 5.0: Only 35 per cent of the bonus due to companies in the queue
Only the tax credit for investments in capital goods, increased by the expenses incurred to fulfil certification obligations, will be covered. Confindustria: very penalising for companies, confidence damaged
Key points
The Council of Ministers of 27 March declared a mockery, perhaps unprecedented, for the industrial companies that had counted on innovation incentives. The 'exodus' of the 2025 Transition 5.0 plan, i.e. the companies that had duly submitted 7,417 projects and were on the waiting list due to the exhaustion of resources, will only receive 35% of the requested tax credit. In practice, one-third of the allowance due. In the best case scenario, in which about 80% of the companies fall, the actual tax credit will therefore be 15.75% (i.e. 35% of the 45% maximum rate for the most energy-efficient projects). Otherwise, it will be 14% or 12.25%. An allowance that is even lower than the one provided for investments in the old Transition 4.0 plan.
Capital goods only
Not only that. Only the tax credit for investments in capital goods will be covered, increased by the expenses incurred to fulfil the certification obligations. Investments for energy management systems and installations for energy from renewable sources for self-consumption are excluded. This is a further detriment for all those companies that had been incentivised to prefer the purchase of high-efficiency photovoltaic modules - mainly produced by 3Sun of Catania (Enel group) - over products made in China, which guarantee lower energy savings but are at least twice as cheap.
Communication
It will be the GSE (the energy services manager) that will inform the interested parties of the tax credit that can be used, notifying the Revenue Agency in advance,
Employed 537 million
For this remedial intervention included in the tax decree, which falls far short of the expectations and assumptions that had been circulating in recent months (including that of repairing the damage with an enhanced version of the 4.0 bonus), the government will use only 537 million of the 1.3 billion fund that had been allocated in the budget law. The 537 million represents 35 per cent of the total tax credit claimed by companies in the queue and regularly meeting the technical requirements, i.e. 1.65 billion.
Promises from Palazzo Chigi
One can foresee at this point the disappointment of the business associations that had long relied on the reassurances of the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy and the Ministry of the Economy that all demands would be met. In the communiqué issued after the council of ministers, Palazzo Chigi announces 'the intention to start a round table with the production categories concerned in the coming days. The aim is to evaluate, when the decree is converted, any additional resources that become available, also in the light of the comments that will be received on the order of priority for their use'. A rather cryptic communication that does not clarify why at least the entire 1.3 billion dowry allocated in the budget law has not been used. One of the hypotheses circulating in recent weeks is that the remaining resources of that fund could constitute an emergency reserve for possible support measures for companies, for example on energy costs, in the face of the crisis in the Middle East.
