Transition 5.0 plan – advance notification possible since 7 August 2024, 12.00 noon!

Good things take time. The support package for promoting the digitalisation and the energy saving of businesses, enacted at the beginning of March 2024 under the heading „Transizione 5.0“ by Law Decree No. 19/2024, is finally operational. It should be said at the outset: the initiative is absolutely commendable; the delayed implementation has, however, blocked the relevant investments for almost half a year! Yesterday, on 6 August 2024, the necessary implementing provisions were finally published in the Official Gazette, in the form in which we already sent them to you in draft a few weeks ago with Circular No. 26 and in which they have not undergone any recognisable further changes. And by an additional decree of yesterday it was ordered that, with effect from 7 August 2024, 12.00 noon, the portal at the GSE, through which all notifications for the subsidy must be made, be activated. Still outstanding is a long-announced circular on the practical implementation of the incentives.

Nature of the new incentive:

First of all, once again a brief overview of the nature of the incentive: in essence, support is granted by way of a tax credit to businesses (not also to self-employed professionals!) which, in the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025, make new investments leading to energy savings of at least 3% at company level or of at least 5% in the respective production process. In total, around 6,3 billion euro are made available for the years 2024 and 2025 in order, in the case of businesses or permanent establishments resident in Italy, to

• support investments in energy saving,
• promote the own production and own consumption of sustainable energies, in particular through photovoltaic installations (excluding, however, biomass), and

- support the further training of employees necessary for this purpose. In essence, investments in category 4.0 assets (Annexes A and B to Law 232/2016), new investments in the production of renewable energies and further training costs (up to 10% of the investments) are eligible. The incentives themselves are degressive according to the amount of the investment and depend on the degree of energy saving.

The rates of incentive referred to above already include any tax credits available for the years 2023 – 2025 for general investments in the Industry 4.0 area. As a reminder: for investments of up to 2,5 million euro in the Industry 4.0 area a tax credit of 20% is currently available; this may now be increased to 45% in the extreme case.

The energy classes differ according to the amount of the energy saving and according to whether they concern the entire establishment or individual production processes:

The tax credits may be offset exclusively via form F24 in 5 annual instalments.

As regards the eligibility requirements, we refer you for the time being to the implementing provisions we sent you. Questions of detail can certainly only be clarified once the relevant circular has also been published.

The incentives are, as are those in the Industry 4.0 area, cumulable with other subsidies, provided that these are not EU funds; the cumulated incentives may not, however, exceed 100% of the costs.

The next steps:

1. First, it will be necessary to register on the „Area Clienti“ of the GSE body, because, as is known, all notifications must be made through this body. Anyone who already operates a PV installation is registered and can therefore access their position. Otherwise, a new position must in any event be opened.

2. Next, the required advance notification must be made on the GSE website, namely via SPID access. It is therefore also necessary to activate such an access key for the digital identity in order to be able to prepare the advance notification. The planned investment and the expected costs must be stated in the advance notification. The corresponding procedure has been active since 7 August 2024, 12.00 noon. Upon submission of the advance notification one must also be in possession of the relevant „ex ante“ energy certificate, prepared by a recognised technician.

The GSE body carries out a formal check of the advance notification with regard to completeness and eligible costs and should then confirm acceptance of that advance notification.

3. Within 30 days from acceptance of the advance notification, a further communication must be sent to the GSE, namely on the orders placed with the respective suppliers and contractors, together with evidence of a down payment of at least 20%. It should be noted that the corresponding procedure is not yet active on the GSE portal.

4. Once the investment has been completed, a notification must again be submitted to the GSE, in that case with the certified final acceptance. The final date for this notification is, as matters stand today, 28 February 2026, and this notification must in turn be accompanied by an „ex post“ certificate from an approved technician on the actual energy saving.

The GSE body has published a comprehensive guide in which the entire notification process is explained in flow charts over 28 pages. We enclose it as Annex A).

General considerations

For the entire initiative, 6,3 billion euro are provided for in the budget in the years 2024 and 2025, with a maximum of 50 million euro of costs being allowed per business, as shown in the table above. Assuming that several large companies will reach the upper limits, the funds are likely to be exhausted very soon. And further: the GSE body processes the applications in the chronological order in which they are submitted. That means: whoever comes too late will probably go away empty-handed.

Against this background, we can only recommend preparing the advance notification without delay. Further instructions and forms are available on the GSE website at the following address:

https://www.gse.it/documenti_site/Documenti%20GSE/Archivio/istruzioni_operative_TR5.pdfwww.gse.it/documenti_site/Documenti%20GSE/Archivio/istruzioni_operative_TR5.pdf

It must be criticised that such an important measure is first delayed for months and then becomes operational precisely before the August holidays, when many businesses are closed.

Sabatini incentive:

Important: the „Transizione 5.0“ incentives are cumulable with the subsidies for financing costs under the so-called „Sabatini“ law. And in the case of both incentive measures it is necessary to submit the application before the start of the investment (i.e. before placing a binding order). It will therefore be absolutely necessary to submit the two applications in parallel, so that no contradictory information on the start of the investment is provided.

Providing information on the precise technical requirements for the investment and on the calculation of the energy saving as well as on other subjective and objective requirements will certainly only make sense once the circular mentioned at the outset is also available. We will then inform you immediately.

It may, however, be anticipated that, similarly to the Industry 4.0 incentive, a relevant reference to the incentive is required on the incoming invoices, namely: „Art. 38 D.L. 19/2024“.

Annex: GSE guide