Subject: Exemption from the payment of social security contributions for companies that do not require wage subsidies
This document contains the indications provided by INPS regarding the exemption from the payment of social security contributions for companies that do not require wage subsidies introduced with the new 2021 Budget Law (art. 1 co.306-308 of the 2021 Budget Law).
The legislation provides for the exemption from the payment of the contributions subject to relief for a maximum period of eight weeks, usable by 31 March 2021, within the limits of the hours of wage subsidies already used in the months of May and/or June 2020, with the exclusion of premiums and contributions due to INAIL, reparameterized and applied on a monthly basis. This exemption is an alternative to the request for new wage subsidies provided for by Law 178/2020, with reference to the same production unit. For the purposes of recognition of the exemption, employers must have benefited, at least partially, from the wage subsidies with COVID-19 reason in the months of May and/or June 2020.
This exemption is subject to the prior authorization of the European Commission (compatibility with State Aid regulations).
Once the outcome of this authorization has been published, with a specific message, INPS will issue instructions for the use of the legal measure in question, with particular regard to the methods of compilation of contribution declarations by employers.
The beneficiary of the exemption is therefore the private employer, even if not an entrepreneur (with the exception of those operating in the agricultural sector) and who has benefited from wage subsidies in the months of May and June 2020, regardless of the circumstance that the workers in force in the months of actual use of the exemption are the same workers in force during the use of wage subsidies.
In the event of the transfer of a business unit, the right to benefit from the exemption remains with the transferor employer, without any transfer to the transferee of the possibility of using it. On the other hand, in the event of a merger (either by incorporation or by union), the exemption may be used by the company resulting from the union/incorporation process.
Waiver amount
contribution not subject to exemption
The amount of the exemption amounts to the employer's contribution not
paid for the number of hours of wage subsidies used in the months of