Energy subsidies: funds for Third Sector Entities

To support the higher costs incurred for the purchase of electricity and natural gas, the enactment of the so-called “Aiuti-ter” decree, D.L. 144 of 2022, introduced specific funds in favour of non-profit entities.

Specifically, Article 8 of the aforementioned decree has established two different funds:

• A first fund, with a total endowment of 120 million euros for 2022, is dedicated to Third Sector entities and civilly recognized religious entities that provide social or health services in residential or semi-residential settings to support people with disabilities. The contribution will be calculated in proportion to the costs incurred in the same period in 2021;
• A second fund, with an allocation of 50 million euros for the year 2022, was established to benefit:
  • entities enrolled in “RUNTS” (Article 45 of Legislative Decree 117/2017);
  • voluntary organizations and social promotion associations (54 of Legislative Decree 117/2017);
  • ONLUS registered in the relevant Registry (as per Legislative Decree 460/97).

Again, the contribution will be calculated in proportion to the costs incurred in 2021.

For the disbursement modalities and the definition of the allocation criteria, submission deadlines as well as the related control procedures, it will be necessary to wait for the issuance of an ad hoc decree to be adopted within 30 days from the date of entry into force of the “Aiuti-ter” Decree. The subsidies due to ETSs cannot be combined with each other, but they can be combined with other subsidies having as their object the same costs provided that the total subsidies received do not exceed the costs actually incurred for the purchase of the energy and gas component.

Finally, it should be noted that these contributions, by express regulatory provision, do not contribute to the formation of business income and the IRAP tax base and do not count toward the deductibility ratio of interest expense and other negative income components.