New Hyper-amortisation 2026–2028: guidelines from the Implementing Decree and documentary compliance management

The Decree has been published in the Italian Official Gazette; the signature placed by Minister Urso on the MIMIT draft implementing decree has outlined the operational shape of the new Hyper-amortisation 2026–2028, established by the 2026 Budget Law. The measure marks an important return to the extra-accounting deduction mechanism (negative variation of the IRES/IRPEF taxable base), abandoning the tax credit logic in order to structurally reward companies with financial solidity and prospective profitability.

While the intensity of the aid offers companies a significant investment-planning lever, the procedural architecture and access requirements impose a strict compliance protocol whose management requires specialist expertise.

Below we analyse the main pillars of the measure and the related technical requirements.

1. Intensity of the tax benefit and bracket structure

The relief takes the form of an enhancement of the acquisition cost of eligible assets, with a maximum spending cap set at EUR 20 million for each calendar year from 2026 to 2028. The mechanism provides for three progressive enhancement brackets:

• 180% for investments up to EUR 2.5 million;
• 100% for the investment share between EUR 2.5 and 10 million;
• 50% for the share exceeding EUR 10 million and up to the EUR 20 million cap.

From a fiscal standpoint, for capital companies subject to the standard IRES rate (24%), the 180% enhancement applied to the first bracket generates a net benefit in terms of lower taxes due equal to 43.2% of the investment, 24% on the second bracket and 12% on the third. The deduction of the enhancement operates extra-accounting and develops over the tax depreciation period of the asset, starting from the tax period in which it becomes operational.

2. Objective scope: the evolution of 4.0 assets and the territoriality discipline

With regard to eligible assets, the legislator has established the new Annexes IV and V of the 2026 Budget Law, which replace and update the previous Transition 4.0 lists, aligning them with the priorities of the data economy and energy efficiency.

• Technologically advanced tangible and intangible assets (Annexes IV and V): Compared to the early drafts of the Budget Law, the implementing decree confirms the removal of the "Made in EU" constraint for these categories. Access to incentives is therefore liberalised for complex machinery and digital solutions from non-EU markets, provided they meet the interconnection and logistic integration requirements.
• Self-production systems from renewable sources: The discipline remains strongly restrictive for green investments (e.g. photovoltaic plants and storage systems). To access the benefit, the strict constraint of EU/EEA origin of modules and cells remains in force, which must guarantee specific ultra-high-efficiency batches and formal registration in the Technology Register held by ENEA.

3. Time profile: investment execution vs interconnection

A crucial aspect on which companies must focus their attention concerns the temporal misalignment between investment validity and the effective enjoyment of the benefit:

• Execution (time window): Investments completed between 1 January 2026 and 30 September 2028 are eligible. To determine the execution date, the accrual principle set out in Article 109 of the Italian TUIR applies, identified at the moment in which the transfer of ownership takes effect (delivery or shipment for movable assets). Investments started before 2026 are therefore included, provided they are completed within the validity window.
• Interconnection (enabling condition): Although delivery of the asset marks the completion of the investment, the option to operate the negative variation in the tax return is subject to the actual integration of the asset into the factory information system (interconnection). A time deferral in the interconnection does not invalidate the right to the relief but postpones its starting point, shifting the tax-deduction schedule forward.

4. The procedural process with the GSE: the new ongoing monitoring system

Unlike past editions of the Hyper-amortisation, in which ministerial communication had a predominantly statistical and final value, the new regulatory framework introduces binding and structured monitoring across five distinct communication phases to be carried out via the GSE telematic platform:

1. Preliminary Communication: Telematic submission aimed at reserving the budget based on the planned investments.
2. Confirmation Communication: To be strictly transmitted within 60 days of validation of the first application, certifying acceptance of the order and payment of a deposit of no less than 20%.
3. Completion Communication: Final submission to be made at the conclusion of the investment (and in any case by 15 November 2028), accompanied by physical and accounting reports.
4. Two Annual Monitoring Communications: Subsequent obligations to be transmitted throughout the entire enjoyment timeline of the hyper-amortisation quotas, aimed at verifying the persistence of technological requirements and avoiding recapture phenomena.

5. The Corporate Documentary File: the centrality of compliance to safeguard the benefit

While the obligation to draft the Sworn Technical Appraisal (issued by engineers or professionals registered in the official rolls) and the Accounting Certification (by the legal auditor) constitute the formal access requirements, the real conditio sine qua non for the holding of the benefit during an audit is the correct preparation and preservation of the Documentary File.

The sanctioning framework of the implementing decree is clear: the absence or incompleteness of the documentary file entails automatic forfeiture of the relief, triggering the recapture mechanism, with consequent re-taxation of the quotas already deducted and the application of the related tax penalties.

A documentary file suitable to withstand the auditing of the control authorities (Italian Revenue Agency, GSE, Guardia di Finanza) must organically integrate:

• Formal documentary traceability: Orders, contracts (including finance lease contracts), DDT (transport documents) and invoices bearing the exact mandatory regulatory wording.
• Accounting and financial evidence: Auditor's certification and traceable financial flows net of any other subsidies (the "net cost" rule for cumulability).
• Technical analysis and supply chain auditing: Technical report describing the interconnection requirements, documentary evidence on the customs origin of the goods (essential to certify EU/EEA origin of green technologies), evidence of compliance with workplace safety parameters and respect of environmental constraints (WEEE and fire safety).

6. The cumulability discipline

An element of profound discontinuity compared to the past, requiring extremely accurate financial and fiscal planning, is represented by the new rules on cumulation with other public support measures. Article 1, paragraph 431, of the Budget Law establishes that the Hyper-amortisation is cumulable with other reliefs covering the same costs (such as, by way of example, the Nuova Sabatini, the ZES Unica Tax Credit or regional calls), provided that such cumulation does not exceed the cost actually incurred.

However, the legislator introduced a decisive specification: the calculation base of the Hyper-amortisation must be taken net of any other subsidies or contributions received in any capacity for the same assets.

This mechanism requires the amount of other contributions obtained to be deducted from the asset's value before applying the enhancement rates (180%, 100% or 50%). The multiplier effect of cumulation is thus partially sterilised, reducing the deductible taxable base and, consequently, the overall IRES saving generated by the operation.

An absolute prohibition of cumulation with the Transition 5.0 Tax Credit for the same investment is also established.

Methodological considerations for management

The complexity of the New Hyper-amortisation 2026–2028 shifts the relief from a mere administrative-accounting practice to a fully fledged fiscal and engineering risk management process. Improvisation in document collection or misinterpretation of interconnection requirements expose the company to severe latent liabilities that surface years later.

Our team stands alongside companies to govern the entire compliance cycle: from preliminary supply-chain auditing and management of GSE reservations, through to the methodological and technical structuring of the Documentary File, ensuring complete protection of the investment.