By circular message No. 56/2026, INPS clarifies the scope of application of the full exemption from payment of compulsory contributions payable by an employer which, being established in one of the regions of the single Special Economic Zone for Southern Italy (ZES), has recruited — under an open-ended contract of employment, including on a part-time basis, during the period from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 — workers meeting the following requirements:
– to be at least 35 years of age;
– to have been unemployed for at least 24 months. The state of unemployment must be declared by the employer in the exemption application.
Introduced with effect from 1 May 2026 pursuant to art. 3 of Decree-Law No. 62/2026, the measure is intended to support employment development in the single ZES and to contribute to reducing disparities within the national territory.
Scope of application
The exemption in question is granted to all employers operating in the private sector which:
– have an office or production unit located in one of the regions belonging to the single ZES, namely Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Apulia, Sicily, Sardinia, Marche and Umbria. In particular, the measure applies where the incentivised work is actually performed in one of the above territories, irrespective of the residence of the worker to be recruited; accordingly, in the event that the workplace is moved outside one of the above regions, the relief shall cease to apply from the payroll month following that in which the transfer takes place;
– employ no more than 10 workers in the month of the incentivisable recruitment.
Amount of the exemption
The maximum monthly amount of the exemption, equal to 100% of the total social security contributions payable by employers, excluding insurance premiums and contributions, is set at EUR 650.00, recalculated as EUR 20.96 for each day of use.
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 laid down by art. 1, para. 1175, of Law No. 296/2006, the employer may access the exemption in question 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 recruitment;
– applies to employees the ‘fair’ wage, defined as individual remuneration not lower than the overall remuneration provided for by the NCBAs entered into by the trade union organisations that are comparatively most representative at national level;
– does not fall within the category of entities that have received individual aid subsequently found by the European Commission to be unlawful or incompatible, and have not repaid such aid or paid it into a blocked account;
– ensures, through the recruitment, 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 increase in employment, any reductions in the number of employees occurring in subsidiaries or associated companies (art. 2359 of the Codice Civile) or in companies controlled, including through an intermediary, by the same person or entity are expressly excluded.
Compatibility with other relief measures
The exemption, which is not cumulative with other exemptions or reductions in contribution rates, including the so-called ‘Decontribuzione Sud’, is in any event compatible with:
– the increase in the cost deductible in the event of new recruitments (art. 1, paras. 399-400, of Law No. 207/2024);
– the exemption from the employee’s share of IVS social security contributions payable by working mothers (art. 1, paras. 180 and 181, of Law No. 213/2023);
– the exemption equal to 1% of social security contributions, up to a limit of EUR 50,000.00 per year, in favour of employers holding gender equality certification pursuant to art. 46-bis of Legislative Decree No. 198/2006.
We remain available for any further clarification.