The work on the 2026 Budget is not yet finished, even if the adjustments could be much less than the expectations of the majority forces themselves. This is because Minister Giorgetti does not want to move from his main objective: the return from the infringement procedure.
Yet the parties continue to attempt to approach the text of the budget law, making requests or better calibrating some of the measures, such as the rule on short-term rentals. Money is being sought everywhere, except from the banks, which “have already given”, and there certainly isn’t a treasure that the opposition can use.
Article 18 on dividends
Possible changes to the budget law emerged from the meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Minister Giorgetti. One of the issues is article 18 of the provision, which concerns a specific tax measure: the dividend exclusion regime. Today, businesses or companies may not pay, or pay less, taxes on dividends received from other companies to avoid the same income being taxed twice (double taxation). Article 18 aims to change who can access this tax advantage, i.e. only dividends from shareholdings equal to at least 10% of the capital, even if these shares are held indirectly, i.e. through subsidiaries.
From 1 January 2026, according to the new proposal, many companies may no longer be entitled to the exclusion and would have to tax 100% of the dividends received, even from abroad. Assoholding criticized the article for the risk of breaking the principle of coherence which until now avoided double taxation across the entire corporate chain. According to the association representing Italian holding companies, article 18 penalizes small shareholdings and risks reducing investments and therefore innovation. In a note from Assoholding we read: “Such intervention would represent a structural retreat compared to the principles of coherence and stability of the Italian tax system”.
Short-term rentals and funds for the Bridge
However, there is much division due to the increase in the “tax” (in reality it is a tax) on short-term rentals, which should go from 21 to 26% even for the first rental house. Forza Italia and Lega say they are against it, but Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is convinced that it should be carried forward to encourage families and therefore long-term rentals. The possibility of modification, however, remains, because Meloni herself has postponed the final decision to Parliament.
The Bridge over the Strait chapter is also complex, which sees the need to remodel all the budget tables to support the funds under construction. The Court of Auditors, in the meantime, will publish the reasons for the rejection of the project on the Strait of Messina.
On the possibility of broadening the range of beneficiaries of fiscal peace, however, there seems to be little room for manoeuvre, and this is because there would not be the resources to do so.
Stop compensation for the self-employed
Finally, the question of stopping payments for non-compliant consultants. The objective is to strengthen the fight against tax evasion, pushing all self-employed professionals who collaborate with the public administration, through tenders, assignments and consultancy contracts, to regularize the payment of taxes and social security contributions.
The alternative is the suspension of payments. However, the representative acronyms say they are very against it, because the controls risk slowing down payments. The measure risks being a further bureaucratic burden, especially for those who carry out occasional jobs or short-term collaborations, whose payment could be postponed for weeks for the verification of the required documents, such as the certificate of contribution regularity and the tax compliance certificate.
