Message No. 1144 from the INPS (Italian Social Security Authority) issues technical instructions to access the Recruitment Bonus introduced by the 2015 Stability Law (Law 190/14).
While providing a chance to lighten the company's contribution burden, the bonus is governed by very strict rules. It is available only to employers which hire employees on permanent contracts, between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015. The benefit, in force since 1 January 2015 and valid for three years, amounts to EUR8,060.00 per year.
Traineeships are excluded from the bonus, as well as temporary contracts, domestic work and "on-call" labour agreements.
Companies will also be excluded from eligibility if:
- they have not regularly paid all pension contributions
- they have not complied with all obligations for workers' protection, health and safety
- they receive any kind of social benefits granted by the Italian state, i.e. in case of redundancy pay, mobility procedure and solidarity contracts
- recruitment breaches the right of precedence to re-hiring another worker dismissed from a temporary post or whose temporary contract has expired
- recruitment covers workers dismissed in the previous six months by an employer which, on the dismissal date, had some connection with the recruiting employer, such as a substantial overlapping of the ownership structure or the existence of control or association relationships
- any online communication required by the Ministerial Decree of 30 October 2007 (such as the Unilav and Unisomm forms) regarding the recruitment is given after the terms of the law
- the recruitment ensues from an obligation of law or a national contract, such as for example the employment of disabled workers
- the company observes national collective contracts - as well as regional, territorial or company collective contracts - if signed, stipulated with the employers' organisations and workers' trade unions which are comparatively most representative at the national level.
It is important to emphasise that, before deciding whether to take the recruitment bonus, it is important to assess all the requisites imposed by the government and to concretely analyse whether the company is effectively among those entitled to the bonus. Only on conclusion of this analysis should the procedure for obtaining the 6Y code from the INPS be activated.
Exemptions are generally applied according to the amount of contributions paid by the employer up to the aforesaid monthly ceiling, appropriately adjusted in the case of part-time or shared work.
In order to avoid any breaches which would lead to the recovery of the contributions on the part of the INPS, as well as possible fines, it is fundamental to comply with the above requirements.
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