A contribution exemption for companies had already been confirmed last December by the Stability Law 2016: just like last year, there’s a clear aim to promote and encourage forms of stable employment by the Government. The operating instructions were awaited by all operators in the industry. Finally, on March 29th 2016 it was published the INPS Circular number 57 about the specifications for the acquisition of two-year contribution relief.

Employers who intend to request the contribution exemption must submit an electronical application on the INPS internet site. In order to obtain the code 6Y it must be indicated in the object field: “two-year contribution exemption Law n.208 / 2015” and in the text, “I require attribution of the authorization code 6Y for contributory exemption introduced by Law n.208 / 2015, article 1, paragraphs 178 and following” as the administration requires.

The Circular states that companies that have already received the authorization code 6Y in 2015, will not have to request it again for 2016: only those companies that will carry out hirings with permanent contracts for 2016 will have to submit the request to obtain it. The INPS states that there is no deadline for requesting the reduction, however, it is said that it must be requested before the transmission of the contributory statement in the first month in which the exemption is applied.

The contributiory exemption is equal to 40% of social security contributions owed by the company for all the employees hired on permanent contracts during the period between 1st January 2016 and 31st December 2016. The maximum limit exemption falls from € 8060 in 2015 to € 3250 in 2016. Ando also, the exemption duration has been reduced from 36 to 24 months. Exemption may be required by all employers, including agricultural companies. Those excluded from the benefit are domestic workers and apprentices.

There are two fundamental conditions in order to get the easement: the first is that the worker did not have permanent contracts with any employer in the previous six months from the date of hiring; the second is that the employee should not have had permanent contracts nor with the applicant’s employer neither with companies controlled by or associated with the applicant emplyer, in the three months preceding the entry into force of the Law of Stability (28th December 2015, date of publication in the Official Journal).

The INPS Circular, in fact, has not introduced major innovations and in large extent it confirms what had already been planned for the past year. However, in paragraph 8 of the Circular, a particular attention is given to the cases of accumulation with other economic incentives, including:

1. a) hiring incentives for disabled workers (ex art.13 L.68 / 1999)
2. b) “bonus” of € 5.000,00 for young parents hirings (Ministerial Decree 19/11/2010)
3. c) beneficiaries of Naspi treatments (ex art.2 c.10bis L. 92/2012)
4. d) incentives provided by the “Youth Guarantee” program (Ministerial Decree 08/08/2014)

For a more extensive discussion, see the text of the circular on the INPS website.