(Finance) – A proposal to demobilize approx 40 billion in stranded housing tax credits related to Superbonus but also to give life to a more structural instrument. It is the one presented by Enel Xa company of the Enel Group that supplies innovative products and services for energy transformation at a domestic, urban and industrial level, which envisages the involvement of additional subjects to detect i tax credits (not just those linked to building bonuses) by construction companies and then resell them to other companies, in this case industrial companies, which instead of paying taxes buy the tax credit to offset taxes.
In particular, these are companies that deal with energy efficiency, the so-called I go out – Energy Service Company, companies that carry out interventions aimed at improving energy efficiency, assuming the risk of the initiative and freeing the end customer from any organizational and investment burden – which have relationships with companies and can operate as first transferee which certifies the credit quality, which must be certain, liquid and payable. Escos are also entities that relate to industrial companies interested in acquiring tax credits.
In this way the industrial company – explains Il Sole 24 Ore which accepted Enel X’s proposal – “could benefit from a profit margin by purchasing the credit at a slight discount (1 or 2% at current market levels) close to the deadline for the payment of taxes and would have a reduction in the tax wedge. The construction company would have an interlocutor who notes the credits at more reasonable prices than the strong ones discounts required today by those who buy (up to 50%) because the market is essentially illiquid”.
Just the problem of poor liquid assets of the market is in fact a crucial issue. Over the past 2 years the banking system applied very convenient rates to companies that assigned tax credits: from a credit with a nominal value of 105 euros, it was possible to obtain liquidity for 105 euros, generating a surplus financial. The different narrows legislation introduced at the end of 2021 – the article recalls that in just over two years the Superbonus rule has undergone 19 corrective measures, 6 implementing measures and 233 provisions of the Revenue Agency – have generated a strong tightening from the conditions. A situation that has been improving in recent days but does not seem to be resolved yet.
In fact, the few operators still on the market in 2023 buy tax credits with a nominal value of 110 euros at a price of 80-90 euros, but in some cases subjects operating outside the official circuits have applied discounts of more than 50%, causing a heavy loss for the company that was in need of selling the tax bonus.
The initiative would appear to be in an advanced stage and according to rumors it could take off as early as June. “This mechanism can allow for an orderly exit from the Superbonus measure and to bring order to the jungle of incentives. The opportunity that, however, opens up at the same time is that of making the system structural for all types of tax credits – he explained the CEO of Enel X, Francesco Venturini, al Sole 24 Ore –. I’ll give you the example of the tax credit for expensive energy: in 2022 we supported many companies that didn’t have the tax capacity to use it. We bought those credits against energy supplies and managed to get companies to recover more than 100 million. In the future, a utility could sell energy contracts that already include tax credits.”