INPS

The claim can be submitted by the parent of a child born or adopted from 1st January 2016 who meets the necessary requirements.

WHAT AM I ENTITLED TO?

Nursery bonus

The nursery bonus is paid in monthly instalments of a maximum sum of € 136.37, with a set maximum amount of €1,500 to be paid over 11 months. The instalments are paid directly to the parent who made the claim and who pays and documents the monthly fees.

The monthly contribution amount paid by the Institute cannot exceed the expense incurred for the payment of the individual fee.

The nursery bonus cannot be received at the same time as the deduction provided for in Article 2, paragraph 6, of the Law of 22nd December 2008 (tax deductions for nursery attendance), regardless of the number of monthly payments received.

Furthermore, the nursery bonus cannot be received in months during which the benefits referred to in article 1, paragraphs 356 and 357, of law no. 232 of 11th December 2016 are received (the childhood bonus).

Bonus for forms of at home support

The bonus for forms of at home support is paid by the Institute following the submission by the claiming parent who is living with the child, of a certificate issued by a paediatrician of their choice confirming "the child's inability to attend nursery due to a serious chronic illness” for the entire year in question.

In this event, the Institute pays the €1,500 bonus in a lump sum directly to the claiming parent.

Payment of the bonuses

The claimed bonus, both for nursery attendance and for forms of at home support, may be paid out on a first-come first-served basis according to the order in which on-line claims were submitted. Payments of the bonus must also stay within the indicated spending budget (€300 million for 2019).

If the spending limit is reached due to the number of claims submitted, the INPS will not consider any further claims.

The INPS will pay out the bonus using one of the payment methods specified by the applicant in their claim (bank transfer, credit to bank or postal current account, postal savings book or prepaid card via IBAN).

Users who opt for an account to be credited via IBAN must also submit the SR163 form, unless this form has already been submitted to the INPS for other claims.

WITHDRAWAL OF BENEFIT

When attaching the documentation to each monthly payment claim, the applicant must confirm that all requirements are the same as those stated in the claim.

The right to the bonus is withdrawn if one of the legal requirements is no longer met or if a negative decision by a judge is reached resulting in the revocation of a pre-adoptive fostering arrangement.

The INPS will stop paying the allowance starting from the month following the one in which it becomes aware of one of the following events that results in withdrawal of the benefit:

• loss of citizenship;
• death of the requesting parent;
• revocation of parental responsibility;
• exclusive custody of the child by the parent who did not submit the claim (custody of the child by a third party).

Should grounds for withdrawing the applicant’s benefits arise, this does not prevent a different person from taking their place, provided that the latter meets the legal requirements needed to access the bonus on the date that the first claim is made. The deadline for taking over the allowance is set at 90 days from the emergence of one of the above grounds for withdrawal.

REQUIREMENTS

The claim can be submitted by the parent of a child born or adopted from 1st January 2016 who meets one of the following requirements (INPS circular, 22nd May 2017, n. 88): 

• Has Italian citizenship;
• Has EU citizenship;
• Has a long-term EU residence permit;
• Has residence cards for non-EU relatives of EU citizens (art. 10 legislative decree of 6th February 2007, n. 30);
• Has a permanent residence card for relatives without EU citizenship (art. 17 legislative decree 30/2007);
• Is a political refugee or has subsidiary protection status;
• Is a resident in Italy;
• With regard to the nursery contribution, the claiming parent must be the parent who pays the nursery fees;
• For the contribution for forms of home care assistance, the applicant must live with the child and have a habitual residence in the same municipality.

All requirements must be met on the date of the claim.

In the case of adoption or pre-adoptive care the most favourable date between the issuance of the adoption measure and the date that the child entered the family will be considered, provided that it occurred after 1st January 2016.

WHEN CAN I CLAIM?

From 10:00 on 28th January 2019 until 23:59 on 31st December 2019, on-line claims can be made using the dedicated service.

HOW CAN I CLAIM?

When submitting the claim, you must specify the purpose of the benefit, specifically:

• The payment of fees for the attendance of authorised public and private nurseries (“Nursery Contribution"). It should be noted that "authorised private nurseries" are facilities that have received authorisation to open and operate from the competent local authority, following confirmation of compliance with all technical, structural, sanitary, educational and quality requirements envisaged by current national and local regulations for the purposes of carrying out the educational nursery service. Therefore, expenses incurred for additional educational services at the nursery are excluded from the reimbursement (e.g. games areas, play areas, baby areas, pre-school, etc.);
• Introduction of forms of home care assistance for children under three years of age suffering from serious chronic illnesses (“Contribution for the introduction of forms of at home support").

The request to the INPS can be submitted on-line using the dedicated service. Alternatively, claims can be made by:

• Telephoning the contact centre on +39 803 164 (free from Italian landlines) or +39 06 164 164 from mobile phones;
• Electronic services offered by patronage institutes and intermediaries thereof. If the applicant wishes to claim the benefit for more than one child, a claim must be made for each child.

Requesting the nursery bonus

If the applicant is applying for the nursery bonus, they must remember that in order to be reimbursed the claim must be submitted by the parent who pays the nursery fees.

In the event that not all fees are paid by the same parent, either parent may apply, with respect to the months in which he/she paid the fees (for example, if the monthly fees from January until July were paid by the mother, but the fees from September to December were paid by the father, the mother can apply for the months from January to July and the father can apply for the months from September to December).

In the claim, the claiming parent must specify whether the nursery attended by the child is public or an authorised private establishment and indicate, in the latter case, the details of the authorisation measure in addition to the name and tax code of the organisation.

The parent must also indicate the monthly fees for nursery attendance within the period from January until December 2019, for which he/she intends to claim the benefit. This will allow the sums relating to the specified months to be allocated. The documentation acquisition system will therefore not allow documentation to be attached for monthly instalments that were not specified during the claim stage.

If you wish to apply for a bonus for additional months to those already indicated, even if for the same child, you must submit a new claim, which will also be subject to budget availability checks.

The claim must be accompanied by documentation showing payment of the tuition fees for at least the first month of attendance for which the benefit is requested or, for public nurseries that allow fees to be paid after the attendance period, documentation showing the child’s registration or the inclusion of the child in the list of students.

Once all requested information has been submitted, the claim will be registered for budget obligation purposes.

The receipts corresponding to the payment of fees for the following months must be attached by the end of the month in question and, in any event, no later than 31st January 2020. Only for public nurseries that issue final quarter payment slips after this time frame, may the payment documentation be attached by 1st April 2020.

The reimbursement will only be paid out once the payment receipt has been attached.

Proof of payment can include: receipts, receipted invoices, bank or post office bills and, for company nurseries, certification from the employer or nursery showing the payment of fees or deductions in pay slips.

If one of these receipts relates to the payment of more than one month of attendance, a file must be attached for each month to which the receipt refers.

For example, in order to receive the contribution for all months within the period of January-March, any cumulative invoice must be accompanied by a reference to each monthly payment.

The payment documentation must indicate:

• The name and VAT number of the nursery school;
• The child’s tax code;
• The month in question;
• The payment details or receipt of payment;
• The name of the fee-paying parent.

Claiming a bonus for forms of at home support

If the applicant wishes to claim the bonus for introducing forms of at home support, they must attach, at the time of claim, a certificate issued by the paediatrician of their choice, stating "the child's inability to attend nurseries because of a serious chronic illness” for the entire year in question. In this case, the Institute will pay the bonus in a lump sum.

Manual to Acquire Nursery Contribution Requests (PDF 3.51 MB)