Tax incentives for businesses in the tourism sector

On 6 November was approved the Law Decree no. 152 of 6 November 2021, which provides, in paragraph 1 (a copy of which is attached), new tax benefits for companies operating in the tourism sector.

The range of beneficiaries is wide and includes:

• hotel businesses
• structures carrying out agritourism activities
• open-air accommodation structures
• businesses in the tourism, recreation, fair and congress sector, including bathing establishments, thermal complexes, marinas and theme parks

The “hotel superbonus” has been introduced by the Ministry of Tourism to modernise – through the allocation of EUR500 million over four years – the entire tourism sector, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

The intervention aims to achieve this goal through two tax incentives, for investments made between 7 November 2021 and 31 December 2024.

Tax credit

This first benefit provides for a tax credit – transferable and usable only by offsetting – of up to 80% of the expenses incurred, including the planning service, for:

• increasing energy efficiency
• anti-seismic upgrading
• removing architectural barriers
• building thermal pools
• digitalisation

The tax credit is exclusively offsetable from the fiscal year following the one in which the interventions were carried out. The offsetting of the tax credit is not subject to the general offsetting limits, ie:

• Article 1(53), L. 244/2007: the annual limit of tax credits from the RU section of the tax return is EUR250,000
• Article 34(1), L. 388/2000: the annual limit of offsetable tax credits is EUR700,000 (increased to EUR2 million until 31 December 2021)

The tax credit is not taxable for IRES and IRAP purposes.

The tax credit is also available for interventions started after 1 February 2020 and not yet completed at the date of entry into force of this decree (7 November 2021), provided that the relevant expenses are incurred from that date.

Non-refundable grant

In addition to the tax credit, there is also a non-refundable grant – not exceeding 50% of the expenses incurred – for the same interventions listed above and carried out from the date of entry into force of the decree until 31 December 2024. The contribution is for a maximum of EUR40,000, which may be increased up to EUR100,000 if the interventions:

• involve digitalisation and energy efficiency for at least 15% of the expenditure;
• are undertaken by young entrepreneurs or female entrepreneurs in the tourism sector; and
• are assigned to companies located in certain regions of central and southern Italy.

The non-refundable grant can be combined with the abovementioned tax credit, provided that it does not lead to the cost of the interventions being exceeded.

The tax incentives outlined above will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis until resources run out and will be communicated by public notice published on the Ministry of Tourism’s website.

Finally, it should be noted that there will soon be further developments, since the notice containing the application methods for the granting of incentives will be published by the Ministry of Tourism by 7 December 2021 (ie 30 days after the entry into force of the decree).