Subject: Clarifications on contribution exemption under the Ristori Decree for private employers who do not receive wage subsidies
In a message dated October 14, 2021, the Inps publicizes the conditions and dictates the instructions for taking advantage of the exemption referred to in Ristori Decree No. 137/2020, a contribution exemption that we recall was authorized by the European Commission only last February 23, 2021.
This message is not addressed to all employers but only to some employers who meet specific requirements for the purposes of the exemption to which they are entitled:
The contribution waiver can be granted to private employers who have benefited from Covid-19 wage subsidies, in June 2020;
It is granted to employers who have been authorized to take advantage of the additional nine weeks provided by the August Decree No. 104/2020, and that the entire authorized period has elapsed (basically having used all 18 weeks of the Decree 104, or having applied for the contribution exemption as an alternative to the social security cushion provided for the additional nine weeks, to be used for a maximum period of 4 months), for which it was necessary to have applied for prior authorization, and obtained the assignment from the Institute of the authorization code "2Q";
It is granted to individuals belonging to the sectors covered by the Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of October 24, 2020 (individuals who have had the suspension of production activity in the attached list), or employers who have exhausted the entire period made available by the August Decree;
The Inps specifies that the benefit can also be granted to an employer who renounces the remaining exemption under Decree No. 104/2020, even for a fraction of the number of workers concerned, and does not intend to make use of the wage supplementation treatments provided by the Ristori Decree;
It is aimed at employers who, having been in the condition of having fully enjoyed the previous exemption, were thus unable to access the new exemption, as they were initially precluded, and that Law No. 176/2020 converting Ristori Decree No. 137/2020, which came into force on December 25, 2020, by amending the initial provision, also gave the possibility of access to "private employers who have requested exemption from the payment of social security contributions pursuant to Decree No. 104 of August 2020," being able to waive the fraction of exemption requested and not enjoyed and at the same time apply for access to the wage supplementation treatments under the Ristori Decree, or alternatively to the exemption.