INPS

The allowance is paid to those workers enrolled in the Separate Pension Scheme (Gestione Separata) (Article 2, paragraph 26, Law no. 335 of 8 August 1995) who, as their usual profession, carry out self-employment activities.

START DATE AND DURATION

The ISCRO allowance can only be claimed once in the three-year period 2021-2023 and is paid, for six months, starting from the first day after the date of submitting the claim.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

It is equal to 25%, on a half-yearly basis, of the last income from self-employment certified by the Revenue Agency and already transmitted by the latter to the INPS at the date of submitting the claim. The benefit does not imply the crediting of the imputed contribution and does not contribute to forming income.

By way of example, given the last annual certified income of €6,000, this will be divided by two (€6,000 / 2 = €3,000) and subsequently multiplied by 25% (€3,000 x 25% = €750), thus determining the monthly amount of the ISCRO benefit equal to €750.

The allowance may not be less than €254.75 per month and may not exceed €815.20 per month. If the amount of the benefit – as determined above – is less than €254.75 or more than €815.20, the allowance is paid in an amount equal to €254.75 per month and €815.20 per month, respectively. These amounts are revalued each year on the basis of the change in the ISTAT index of consumer prices for the blue- and white-collar households compared to the previous year.

In the absence of a tax return certified by the Revenue Agency and relating to one of the last four years (2017-2018-2019-2020) prior to the year of submitting the ISCRO claim, the latter cannot be accepted.

The payment of the ISCRO allowance shall be accompanied by the beneficiaries' participation in professional refresher courses. The criteria and methods for defining the courses and their financing will be adopted by a specific decree of the Minister for Employment and Social Policies, in agreement with the Minister of Economy and Finance, subject to an agreement within the Permanent Conference for relations between the State, the regions and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano. The National Agency for Active Labour Policies will monitor the participation in the professional refresher courses of the beneficiaries of the ISCRO allowance.

WITHDRAWAL OF BENEFIT

Entitlement to the benefit shall be withdrawn in the following cases:

• termination of the VAT registration during the period of payment of the allowance (Article 1, paragraph 395, Law 178/2020);
• ownership of direct pension benefit
• enrolment in other compulsory social security schemes;
• ownership of Citizens’ Income.

REQUIREMENTS

The allowance is paid to those self-employed workers who jointly meet the following requirements, described in detail in the INPS circular no. 94 of 30 June 2021:

• not being holders of direct pension benefits and not being insured with other compulsory social security schemes on the date of submitting the claim;
• not being beneficiaries of Citizens’ Income. This requirement must continue during the entire period of using the ISCRO allowance, under penalty of withdrawal of the benefit;
• having produced a self-employed income, in the year preceding the submission of the claim, of less than 50% of the average self-employed income earned in the three years preceding the year when the claim was submitted. As an example, if the ISCRO allowance claim is submitted in 2021, the self-employed income to be considered is that resulting from the 2020 tax return (year prior to submitting the claim), which must be less than 50% of the average self-employed income of the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 (three years prior to the year prior to submitting the claim);
• having declared, in the year prior to submitting the claim, an income of no more than €8,145, annually revalued on the basis of the change in the ISTAT index of consumer prices for the blue- and white-collar households compared to the previous year. This limit takes into account only the income deriving from performing the self-employed activity and set out in the tax return in the RE, RH or LM framework, respectively, in the case of individual professional activity, participation in partnerships or subjects on a flat-rate basis. The above-mentioned limit does not take into account other types of income such as income from employment, parasubordinate employment or participation in undertakings;
• complying with the compulsory social security contributions;
• holding an active VAT number for at least four years, on the date of submitting the claim, for the activity that led to registering with the current social security scheme.

For the purposes of verifying the income requirements referred to in points C) and D), when submitting the claim it is necessary to self-certify the income produced for each of the years of interest, unless this is already available to the Institute; in the latter case, for the purposes of verification, the income data available to the Institute will be taken into account.

For the subsequent verification of the above requirements, the INPS communicates to the Revenue Agency the identification data of the subjects who have submitted a claim and then the Revenue Agency communicates to the INPS the outcome of the findings made on the verification of the income requirements in the manner and within the terms defined by cooperation agreements between the parties.

The ISCRO allowance is incompatible with the entitlement of:

• direct pensions;
• Citizens’ income
• Unemployment benefit - NASpI (New Social Insurance for Employment) and DIS-COLL (Co-Worker Unemployment);
• elective and/or political offices that include, such as remuneration, function allowances and/or other emoluments other than the attendance token only.

WHEN CAN I CLAIM?

To qualify for the ISCRO allowance, potential beneficiaries must submit a claim by 31 October of each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Exclusively for 2021, the claim may be submitted with effect from 1 July 2021 and until the end of 31 October 2021.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

The claim must only be submitted to INPS electronically, through the online service, by 31 October of each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Alternatively, the allowance can be requested through the Contact Center, by calling the toll-free number 803 164 from landlines (free of charge) or the number 06 164 164 from the mobile network (standard mobile network fees apply).

The deadline to define the decision was set at 30 days by the Regulation for the definition of the terms to conclude the administrative proceedings adopted by the INPS pursuant to Article 2 of Law no. 241/1990.

The table (pdf 205KB) attached to the Regulation shows both the deadlines for defining the decisions established by the Institute that are longer than the normal 30-day period, and the indication of the relative manager.