By circular message No. 72/2026, INPS provides the initial operational guidance concerning the full exemption from payment of total social security contribution introduced by art. 4 of Decree-Law No. 62/2026, converted, with amendments, into Law No. 112/2026, in favour of employers that convert fixed-term employment relationships into open-ended employment relationships for young workers who i) have not reached 35 years of age and ii) have never previously been employed under open-ended contracts.
Scope of application
The exemption is granted to all private-sector employers that convert fixed-term employment relationships into open-ended employment relationships with reference to young workers who, on the date of conversion of the relationship:
– have not reached 35 years of age;
– have never been employed on an open-ended basis throughout their entire working life.
For the purposes of applying the relief, the open-ended conversions must:
– concern workers classified as i) manual workers, ii) clerical employees or iii) classified as quadri, while workers with executive status are excluded;
– be carried out during the period from 1 August 2026 to 31 December 2026;
– concern, without interruption, fixed-term employment relationships, including on a part-time basis or for temporary agency work purposes, established no later than 30 April 2026 for a duration not exceeding 12 months.
Open-ended conversions of the following are excluded:
– intermittent work contracts;
– domestic work contracts;
– apprenticeship contracts.
Amount of the exemption
The relief consists of full exemption from payment of all social security contributions payable by the employer for a maximum period of 24 months, up to a limit of EUR 500.00 per month for each worker.
Access conditions
Without prejudice to compliance with the general principles governing the use of incentives (art. 31 of Legislative Decree No. 150/2015) and with the conditions set by art. 1, para. 1175, of Law No. 296/2006, the employer may access the exemption provided that it:
– has not carried out, with reference to the same production unit, dismissals for objective justified reasons or collective redundancies in the six months preceding the conversion;
– has not carried out, in the six months following the conversion, a dismissal for objective justified reasons of the worker concerned or of a worker employed with the same classification in the same production unit;
– pays employees a ‘fair’ wage, defined as individual remuneration not lower than the overall remuneration package established by the NCBAs entered into by the trade union organisations that are comparatively most representative at national level (art. 7, para. 5, of Decree-Law No. 62/2026, converted, with amendments, into Law No. 112/2026);
– ensures, through the conversion, a net increase in employment calculated on the basis of the difference between the number of workers employed in each month and the average number of workers employed during the preceding 12 months.
For the purposes of calculating the employment increase, reductions in the number of employees occurring in subsidiaries or associated companies (art. 2359, Codice Civile) or in companies controlled, including through an intermediary subject, by the same person or entity are explicitly excluded.
Compatibility with State aid rules
Contrary to what is expressly provided by art. 4(5), of the aforementioned Decree-Law No. 62/2026, the exemption in question cannot be regarded as one of the measures requiring authorisation by the European Commission, since it constitutes a relief measure potentially addressed to all private employers operating in any economic sector and located in any area of the national territory.
Submission of applications
In order to access the benefit, the employer concerned is required to submit a specific electronic application exclusively through the online form, the availability of which will be announced by INPS in a subsequent message, both with reference to conversions already carried out and to conversions not yet carried out.
We remain available for any further clarification.