EXPLAINED: Are any of Italy’s building 'bonuses' still available?

If you own - or have your eye on - property in Italy, you'll likely have seen the recent headlines about the Italian government curtailing its popular superbonus.

Introduced in May 2020 in an effort to revitalise Italy’s pandemic-hit economy, the superbonus allowed homeowners to claim back up to 110 percent of the cost of home renovations.

READ ALSO: How Italy has changed its building superbonus – again

But the Italian government curbed the popular scheme with sweeping changes as of February 17th which have made it effectively unavailable to most new claimants.

Until this point, there were three ways homeowners could access the building superbonus funds: by selling tax credit to a bank (cessione del credito), getting a discount on their invoice from the construction company (sconto in fattura), or claiming a tax rebate (detrazione fiscale) spread out over four years.

As the Italian government has now ended the buying and selling of tax credits, the first two options are no longer available.

This leaves only the tax rebate option - which is only open to Italian taxpayers in the highest income tax brackets.

READ ALSO: ‘Out of control’: Why has Italy curbed its building superbonus?

A building site in Rome's Corviale-Portuense district on February 21st. - Italy's building superbonus has led to fraud and spiralling costs, the government said after it curbed the scheme on February 17th. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

While most media reports have focused on the superbonus as the highest-value scheme, it’s far from being the only one of Italy’s building ‘bonuses’ affected by this rule change.

According to the government's decree dated February 16th, all the tax breaks mentioned in Article 121 of the original May 19th decree are affected, namely:

• The ecobonus, that offers savings of 50 percent or 65 percent to make changes to your home that make it more energy efficient.
• The earthquake bonus or sisma bonus, that allows property owners to claim between 50 and 80 percent of up to 96,000 euros on improvements to make buildings more earthquake-safe.
• The renovations bonus (bonus ristrutturazione, sometimes also known as bonus casa), that allows owners to apply for a 50 percent tax reduction on renovating your property on expenses of up to 96,000 euros.
• The solar panels bonus, which in reality isn't its own form of tax relief but can be claimed as part of either the bonus ristrutturazione or the superbonus, and provides up to 48,000 euros in savings.

According to the financial news outlet Investire Oggi, two bonuses remain unaffected - but only because homeowners could never access the cessione del credito or sconto in fattura for these in the first place. These are:

• The green bonus or bonus verde, which allows people to claim a 36 percent tax deduction on up to 5,000 euros to renovate their gardens and outdoor spaces.
• The furniture and appliances bonus (bonus mobili e grandi elettrodomestici), through which owners can apply for a 50 percent reduction on up to 8,000 euros of new furniture and energy-efficient appliances in recently renovated homes.

In both these cases, the relief comes in the form of a tax rebate paid in installments over a ten-year period.

Please note that The Local cannot advise on individual cases. For more information on claiming Italy’s building bonuses, homeowners are advised to consult a qualified Italian building surveyor or independent financial advisor.

See more in our Italian property section.