The first draft of the 2023 budget law provides for the halving, from 10% to 5%, of the Irpef substitute tax rate and the regional and municipal surcharges applicable to performance bonuses paid on the basis of law 208/2015. Bonuses of variable amounts and within the limit of 3,000 euros gross per year, the payment of which is linked to increases in productivity, profitability, efficiency, quality and innovation, as well as the sums disbursed in the form of profit sharing, can benefit from this preferential rate. of the enterprise.
Bonuses for incomes up to 80 thousand euros
The subsidized bonuses must also be paid in execution of the company or territorial contracts envisaged by article 51 of Legislative Decree 81/2015 and the beneficiaries can only be holders of employment income, in the private sector, of an amount not exceeding, in the previous year that of receiving the prize, at 80 thousand euros. The prizes to which the substitute tax can be applied can be converted, by choice of the beneficiaries, in whole or in part, into the so-called company welfare, i.e. in sums, goods and services referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 last sentence and 4 of the 51 of the Consolidated Income Tax Act (Tuir). The conversion of the premium entails the total non-taxability for tax purposes for the worker, which results in the non-taxability for contributory purposes, both for the worker and for the employer.
Basically, the conversion of the bonus into welfare allows the worker to be able to benefit from a net amount equal to the gross amount of the bonus accrued, which also corresponds to the cost of the bonus for the employer.
Savings for the employee
Considering the average amount of performance bonuses at national level, equal to approximately 1,500 euros, and that the employee contribution is approximately 10%, the reduction of the substitute tax rate of 5% will lead to an increase in the net value of the bonus received on average equal to approximately 67.50 euros, bringing its net value from the current 1,215 euros to approximately 1,282.50 euros. Although the conversion into welfare will continue to lead to an increase in the employee’s purchasing power of almost 17% (1,500 euros instead of 1,282.50), the reduction in the substitute tax rate could make the conversion into welfare of the bonus – which stands at a national level between 20 and 25% – slightly less convenient than today, with a consequent possible reduction in the conversion rate.
However, it is by now consolidated market practice that the employer, in order to encourage the conversion of bonuses into welfare by employees, renounces, in whole or in part, the consequent savings in terms of contributions payable by him – equal to approximately 30 % of the gross bonus recognized to the worker – recognizing it to employees in the form of an on-top increase in the value of the converted bonus. Still taking into consideration the average gross amount of the bonus at national level of 1,500 euros, in the event of a cash payment, the cost for the employer would be around 1,950 euros, compared, as mentioned, with a net amount for the employee. considering the new substitute tax rate of 5%, equal to approximately 1,282.50 euros.