INCENTIVES FOR BUSINESS MERGERS AND EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION: INPS PROVIDES FOR OPERATIONAL INSTRUCTIONS
With message no. 3344 of 6 November 2025, the National Social Security Institute (INPS) aims to provide operational guidance and accounting instructions in relation to incentives for business combinations and employment protection.
This incentive was introduced on an experimental basis for the years 2024 and 2025 by Article 4-ter of Decree Law 4/2024 and:
- is aimed at new companies established through aggregation processes resulting from one or more corporate transactions (i.e., mergers, transfers, contributions, acquisitions of companies or branches thereof) with a total workforce of 1,000 or more employees;
- requires a trade union agreement before Government bodies providing for an industrial relaunch/reorganization and training plan (aimed at retraining workers for at least 200 hours totally);
- recognizes a 100% exemption from social security and welfare contributions payable by the employer (excluding INAIL contributions) for 24 months, up to a maximum of €3,500 per year for each worker, and may be extended for a further 12 months, with a reduced exemption of up to €2,000 per year per worker.
As regards the more strictly operational aspects of the incentive, the Authority specifies:
- effective date, terms of use, terms and deadlines;
- that INPS will only assigns the authorization code “2L” to companies identified by the Ministry of Labor as “eligible” for the subsidy;
- that employment levels must be maintained for 48 months (with some exceptions) and that the training plans provided for in the project must be implemented;
- the compatibility of the incentive with other exemptions in force, if they are within the limits of the law;
- cases of revocation of the benefit;
- sanctions (revocation of the benefit by INPS and recovery of contributions, in addition to civil penalties) and the cases in which they are applied (if the National Labor Inspectorate detects anomalies or defects in the implementation of the aforementioned industrial projects).
