The firm’s news desk · What matters right now
The measures people are actually discussing this season, explained in terms of what they change in the day-to-day work of a business and of those who advise it. Not a daily press review: the texts that are rewriting the rules, with the exact references so you can go to the source.
Updated to 9 September 2026.
The 14th-month payment (quattordicesima) has no basis in statute: it arises from the collective agreement, or the individual contract, which sets both the accrual period — under many CCNLs running from 1 July to 30 June — and the calculation base. Maternity leave counts in full for this purpose, excluding only allowances tied to actual attendance (Article 22(3), Legislative Decree 151/2001); since 13 August 2022, parental leave no longer reduces holiday entitlement, rest days or the 13th-month payment (Article 34(5)). For the 14th-month payment, which neither provision mentions, the collective agreement decides. The amount paid counts towards severance pay (TFR), unless the collective agreement provides otherwise.
Who needs to actPayroll staff: re-read the clause of the applicable collective agreement, check that payroll software has not kept applying the old rule on parental leave, and confirm that extending the accrual method to the 14th-month payment actually has a basis in the agreement, filing the recalculation sheet for every case reviewed.
The TUIR has been rewritten. Decreto legislativo 117/2026, implementing article 21 of enabling act 111/2023, brings together in a single body of law the taxation of the income of individuals, professionals, businesses and property, absorbing provisions that had accumulated over the years in dozens of separate statutes and replacing D.P.R. 917/1986.
Two dates not to be confused: the decree is in force from 4 July 2026, but its provisions apply from 1 January 2027. Until then, the current text remains the one to work with.
Why it mattersIt is the map that changes, not just the numbering: contracts, company by-laws, internal procedures and accounting software all contain cross-references to articles of the old TUIR which from 2027 will no longer match. 2026 is the year to take stock of those cross-references calmly, instead of discovering them under pressure.
The deadline for accepting the Agenzia delle Entrate’s proposal for the 2026-2027 two-year period has been moved from 30 September to 31 October 2026; as that falls on a Saturday, it moves to Monday 2 November. Sign-up is made through section P of the 2026 Redditi return. The conversion act introduced a cap on the proposal: no more than 30% of declared income for taxpayers with an ISA score between 6 and 8, and no more than 35% for those between 1 and 6. The bar on taxpayers with more than 5.000 euro of debts not covered by an instalment plan remains.
What to do nowThe decision has to be prepared with the 2026 figures in hand, not right before the deadline: comparing the proposal with expected income is the only way to see whether it is worth it. Anyone with outstanding debts still has time to arrange instalments and meet the requirements.
The Agenzia has begun a four-part commentary on the Code of business crisis and insolvency. The first part covers the procedures introduced by the Code — composizione negoziata (negotiated settlement), simplified arrangement with creditors, restructuring plan subject to court approval and the rules on groups — and clarifies the tax aspects of a settlement with the authorities, including the write-down of VAT. The draft of the second part, on over-indebtedness and debt discharge, has been put out to public consultation.
Why it mattersThis is the tax administration’s first comprehensive position on tools that have become routine for businesses under strain: it affects how a negotiation with the tax authorities is framed within a procedure.
The consolidated acts adopted under the tax reform enabling law are in force, but their provisions apply only from 1 January 2027. Article 4 of decreto-legge no. 200/2025 moved to that date the starting point of five consolidated acts already published — administrative and criminal tax penalties (Legislative Decree no. 173/2024), minor state taxes (no. 174/2024), tax justice (no. 175/2024), payments and collection (no. 33/2025), registration tax and other indirect taxes (no. 123/2025). The same starting point is set by the consolidated acts published subsequently: value added tax (no. 10/2026, art. 171), income taxes (no. 117/2026, art. 377) and compliance obligations and assessment (no. 141/2026, art. 368).
Beware of a common mistakeUntil 31 December 2026 the earlier provisions still apply: citing articles of the consolidated acts as already operative — on penalties, collection, assessment or VAT — means arguing from rules that are not yet applicable. Appeals, opinions and applications now in progress must cite the original provisions, which the consolidated acts have not yet replaced.
By circular no. 92 of 4 September 2026, issued with the concurring opinion of the Ministero del Lavoro e delle politiche sociali (the Italian Ministry of Labour), INPS (the Italian social security institute) extends to visits at the doctor’s surgery the recognition, for benefit purposes, of the day immediately before the certificato di malattia (medical certificate of sickness) is drawn up, a recognition until now allowed only for home visits. The event still runs, as a rule, from the date the certificate is drawn up, and that date governs the carenza (the first three days, for which INPS pays no benefit), the benefit rates, the maximum period covered and any application of penalties, for instance for absence from the medical check-up visit. No earlier start where the previous day is a weekday public holiday, a Saturday or a Sunday: "continuity of care is guaranteed". Effective from publication.
Who needs to actThe payroll firm and the staff handling attendance records: the circular grants the recognition "from the date of publication of this circular", 4 September 2026, without saying whether the reference point is the certificate, the sickness event or the settlement of the benefit; as a prudent reading, this firm refers it to certificates drawn up on or after that day. On those certificates, read the "Dichiara di essere ammalato dal…" field ("declares that he or she has been ill since…") and, where it shows the day immediately before, start the event on that day even if the visit took place at the surgery, aligning the time record, the document justifying the absence and the carenza calculation on the payslip. No earlier start where that day falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a weekday public holiday, or where the date shown in that field is more than one day earlier. Keep the printout of the certificato telematico (the electronic sickness certificate) as consulted, filed with the payslip. A note from this firm, not from the circular: the sick pay payable by the employer remains governed by the CCNL (the applicable national collective agreement).
The Ministero del Lavoro (the Italian Ministry of Labour), having consulted the Ispettorato nazionale del lavoro (the Italian national labour inspectorate), answers Assodelivery on the obligation, introduced for principals engaging self-employed riders, to keep the Libro Unico del Lavoro (LUL, the single employment ledger). The legal obligation to keep the LUL arises on 1 July 2026 and, on the Ministry’s reading, its compilation runs from the July 2026 pay period; the ninety-day extension applies, on a transitional basis, to the July statement only, while ordinary deadlines govern the following months. Deliveries are recorded in the month the work is actually performed, payments in the month they are actually made, with the reference period shown in the LUL "note" field. The statement must be produced even where the values are zero; multiple orders follow the tariff scheme applied.
Who needs to actThe principal engaging self-employed riders (the duty falls on the principal, not on the platform as such) and the payroll firm keeping the LUL: update, print and deliver to the rider the July 2026 statement within ninety days of the entry into force of legge 112/2026, on 28 June 2026; the statute requires both drawing up and delivery, and the interpello (the Ministry’s official answer on a point of interpretation) does not specify the form of delivery. From the following months onwards the ordinary deadline applies: the end of the month following the reference month. As a precaution, extract from the platform system, for each rider and each month, the number of deliveries and the amounts paid, and keep that extract with the tariff rule applied to multiple orders. Complying with the interpello rules out the related criminal, administrative and civil penalties (art. 9(2), Legislative Decree 124/2004).
The Consiglio di Stato upholds the appeal by the Ispettorato nazionale del lavoro (the Italian national labour inspectorate), reverses the first-instance judgment and dismisses the company’s application. The power of disposizione (a labour inspector’s compliance order) under art. 14(1) of Legislative Decree 124/2004 does not presuppose breach of a specific obligation under ordinary statute or the collective agreement applied: pay that is inadequate to the tasks actually performed is itself an irregularity, in direct application of art. 36 of the Italian Constitution. A frozen-food distributor applied the CCNL Commercio (the national agreement for the commerce sector), which contains no allowance for work in particularly low temperatures; in the case decided, the staff of the frozen-food department were exposed to between -20 and -24 °C. The order to introduce such an allowance by company-level agreement, taking the CCNL Alimentari (the national agreement for the food industry) as a benchmark by way of equitable assessment and not by analogy, is lawful: the inspectorate does not take the employer’s place, it prompts the employer to act, and the objection based on contractual autonomy fails before the limit of social utility that art. 41 of the Italian Constitution places on freedom of private economic initiative. The Court extends to this case the reasoning of its own earlier judgments, given in different situations.
Who needs to actThe employer and the payroll firm. Start from the DVR (the employer’s risk assessment document) and the fitness-for-task opinions, which provided the proof in this case, and map the tasks that involve exposure to a severe microclimate and to cold stores; compare the CCNL applied with those of related sectors on hardship allowances; where there is no such cover, consider a company-level agreement quantifying the allowance by reference to hours of exposure and to temperature, and giving reasons on both points, as the disposizione required. A disposizione is immediately enforceable: an appeal lies to the director of the Ispettorato territoriale del lavoro (the territorial labour inspectorate) within fifteen days under art. 14(2), and is decided within the next fifteen days; silence counts as rejection and the appeal has no suspensive effect; the administrative courts decide thereafter. Non-compliance carries a penalty of 500 to 3,000 euro under art. 14(3), and the diffida (formal notice to remedy) under art. 13(2) does not apply. Keep the DVR, the fitness opinions, and temperature and attendance records.
Legislative Decree no. 96 of 7 May 2026 transposes Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency. Periodic pay-gap reporting follows progressive thresholds and deadlines — the first obligations apply to larger employers, and the 100-employee threshold only becomes fully operative once the regime is phased in — and remains distinct from the biennial report under Article 46 of Legislative Decree 198/2006. What applies to every employer regardless of headcount are the «upstream» obligations: stating the pay level or range in the job advertisement or before the interview, a ban on asking about pay history, and objective criteria for job grading and career progression.
Who needs to actThe owner and whoever handles recruitment: review job adverts and interview forms, put job-grading and pay-rise criteria in writing, keep a written record of every individual pay decision, and check the Official Gazette for the entry-into-force date and the schedule of the first reports.
Unilateral withdrawal from a company-level agreement of indefinite duration is lawful — a collective agreement without a term cannot bind the parties for ever — but notice of withdrawal does not cancel everything the agreement has produced. Rights already vested in the employee as consideration for work performed or for a completed phase of the relationship remain untouchable; mere expectations fall away. And where the payment is tied to a condition that cannot be removed — in the case decided, the geography of the municipality — it forms part of the pay protected by Article 2103 of the Civil Code and survives the withdrawal. Since the reason for the payment is established on the facts and cannot be reviewed on appeal to the Court of Cassation, the wording of the agreement is the principal evidence.
Who must actEmployer and labour consultant: set out in writing the stated reason for every item in the agreement — whether it rewards work already performed or looks to the future, whether its precondition is removable or structural — before serving notice on the signatory unions, and adjust payslips only from the pay period following the effective date of withdrawal, keeping the agreement, the notice, the minutes and the payroll ledger.
Email assigned to an individual account generates personal data of the employee, both in the content and in the system logs. Processing is possible within three cumulative constraints: a legal basis and specified purposes; compliance with Article 4 of the Italian Workers’ Statute, which Article 114 of the Italian Privacy Code makes a condition of lawfulness; and retention limited to what is necessary, with documented reasons. The mail client is a working tool, but prolonged and generalised retention of metadata allows an employee’s activity to be reconstructed after the event and therefore requires a union agreement or authorisation from the Labour Inspectorate. The Authority indicates a guideline period of a few days: it is not a statutory time limit, and the measure must be set case by case.
Who must actEmployer, DPO and IT manager together with the labour consultant: obtain from the mail service provider a technical schedule of logs and backups, set and document the retention periods in writing, activate the union agreement or the application to the Labour Inspectorate BEFORE starting any retention beyond what is necessary, update the privacy notice and the internal policy, and complete the data protection impact assessment.
The guidance document of the Garante (Italian Data Protection Authority), decision no. 364 of 6 June 2024, which replaced decision no. 642 of 21 December 2023, concerns the metadata recorded in the logs of e-mail transmission and sorting systems, not the content of messages. The 21 days indicated are guidance, not a statutory deadline: the obligation stems from Art. 5(1)(e) GDPR and from Art. 4 of Law 300/1970, referred to by Art. 114 of the Italian Privacy Code. Collection limited to the operation of the service falls within paragraph 2; prolonged retention, which makes remote monitoring possible, requires a trade-union agreement or the authorisation of the Labour Inspectorate.
Who must actEmployer: have the system administrator check the mail service's retention periods, update the privacy notice under Art. 13 GDPR and, where retention exceeds what is necessary, start the procedure under Art. 4(1) without delay.
In circolare no. 81 of 24 July 2026, INPS (the Italian social security institution) sets out the changes made by Article 7-bis of decreto-legge no. 19/2026, converted into law by legge no. 50/2026, to the assegno unico e universale for dependent children. The measure is brought into line with Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems: the range of children giving entitlement to the allowance is redrawn, opening it to dependent children resident in another Member State of the Union, and the criteria on citizenship, residence and social security registration are adjusted. The circular also clarifies how to apply, how the amount is calculated and when the allowance starts.
Who needs to actFirms advising cross-border, posted and other EU-national workers: applications previously refused solely because the children lived abroad should be reviewed, and new claims considered. A targeted check of households with family members abroad is worthwhile before answering employees, because the starting date follows the rules set out in the circular and is not automatically retroactive.
The draft agreement signed on 4 June 2026 by Unionmeccanica Confapi with Fim-Cisl, Fiom-Cgil and Uilm-Uil was approved in the certified ballot that closed on 23 July 2026. The contratto collettivo nazionale (national collective agreement) runs from 4 June 2026 to 31 December 2028 and provides a fully phased-in increase of 200 euro gross at grade 5, with proportional adjustment across the other grades. It covers more than 42,000 companies and over 450,000 employees, making it one of the largest renewals in the metalworking sector after the one covering large industry.
Who needs to actCompanies applying the Unionmeccanica Confapi agreement: pay tables in the payroll system must be updated in line with the phasing dates, indirect and deferred entitlements recalculated on the new minimum rates, and the effect on labour cost checked against quotations already issued. Before paying arrears it is worth waiting for the final signed text.
INPS has set 30 September 2026 as the final date for filing applications for the three contribution reliefs of the decreto Coesione (the 2024 decree on cohesion policies): Bonus Giovani (art. 22), Bonus Donne (art. 23) and Bonus ZES unica (art. 24). From 1 October 2026 no further applications may be sent for hires and conversions already carried out within the period covered by each measure. The deadline does not open a new window for the relief: it concerns employment relationships already established for which no application has yet been filed. The relief covers the employer’s social security contributions, excluding premiums and contributions to INAIL (the Italian workplace accident insurance institute), up to 500 euro a month per employee for the Bonus Giovani, and up to 650 euro a month for the Bonus Giovani in the regions of the ZES unica (the single special economic zone for southern Italy), for the Bonus Donne and for the Bonus ZES unica, all within the authorised spending limits. Each measure has its own requirements: the Bonus Giovani requires the employee to be under 35 and never to have been employed on a permanent contract; the Bonus ZES unica is available only to employers with up to ten employees in the month of hiring.
Who needs to actPrivate employers who, within the covered period, hired on permanent contracts or converted fixed-term contracts and have not yet applied: check entitlement against the requirements of the specific measure and file the electronic application with INPS by 30 September 2026, keeping the filing receipt and the calculation of the relief. Note that the message gives, for all three measures, a covered period ending on 31 December 2025, whereas the text of art. 23 now in force runs to 31 December 2026: the instructions are not explicit on this point.
INPS has launched a campaign aimed at companies claiming the contribution relief for hiring disadvantaged women: because the measure is co-financed with European funds under the PON SPAO programme, employers must properly inform the workers concerned of the contribution of EU funding. This is a transparency obligation, not a new application: employers already benefiting from the relief simply have to make sure the notice reaches their staff, keeping evidence that it was given in case of an inspection.
Who needs to actCompanies already benefiting from the relief for hiring women: give employees the notice on the European co-financing of the measure and keep evidence of it.
From 19 June 2026 an employer hiring a non-EU citizen may also sign the residence contract for work purposes with a digital signature, without having to attend the relevant office in person. The new option sits alongside the handwritten signature, which remains fully valid: it is therefore an optional simplification, designed to cut time and travel when regularising the employment relationship. For businesses that use foreign labour the formality becomes lighter, but a valid signature device is needed and the forms must be completed correctly.
Who needs to actEmployers hiring non-EU citizens: consider using the digital signature to enter into the residence contract, checking that a valid signature device is available and that the documentation is complete.
The Council of Ministers has given preliminary approval to the draft legislative decree implementing the European directive on platform work. The text introduces a statutory presumption of employment where elements of direction and control over the work emerge, provides a comprehensive framework for algorithmic management — with transparency obligations on automated monitoring and decision-making systems and a right to human review — and strengthens platforms’ information duties, backed by a dedicated set of penalties. Implementation must be completed by 2 December 2026.
Who needs to actPlatforms and clients that organise work through apps: it is advisable to map the algorithmic assignment and rating systems now and to review contractors’ agreements, because the presumption of employment may shift onto the organisation the burden of proving that the relationship is genuinely self-employed.
The conversion act addressed so-called fair pay, anchoring remuneration to the overall economic package provided by the national collective agreements signed by the comparatively most representative organisations. On renewals, where an agreement is not renewed within the first nine months after expiry and unless the agreement provides otherwise, a pay adjustment is triggered as a flat-rate advance equal to 50% of IPCA inflation. The maximum duration of agency work contracts rises from 24 to 36 months.
Who needs to actAnyone managing staff: check which collective agreement applies and when it expires, because the adjustment mechanism operates automatically in the ninth month and affects budgeted labour costs.
INPS has issued instructions on the extraordinary wage supplementation measures for exceptional weather conditions, including abnormal heatwaves, for the period from 1 July to 31 December 2026. For employers in construction, stone working and quarrying, suspensions due to unavoidable events allow access to CIGO (ordinary wage supplementation) without those periods counting towards the 52-week limit in the rolling two-year period, and with exemption from the additional contribution.
Not to be missedThe application must be filed by the end of the month following the month of the event. This is the deadline most often missed: note it down when the site stops, not after the event.
How we read the news desk. We report only measures published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale or by the competent authorities, with the exact references so the source can be traced. This page is for information purposes and does not replace professional advice: the application of a rule always depends on the specific situation. For your own case, write to us.