Ecobonus: Italy's energy-efficiency tax deduction

The legal basis and the rates

The ecobonus began with the 2007 finance law and is now governed by article 14 of decree-law 63/2013. The Agency’s explanatory page for 2026 adds a notice at the top: the deduction applies to spending in 2025, 2026 and 2027, and the 2026 budget law (law 199/2025, article 1, paragraph 22, letter a) set the percentages below.

Watch out for older text: the same page, further down, still describes a 65% rate for most works and 50% for windows, solar shading and some boilers, for spending up to 31 December 2024. Those are the former rules and they are not the ones that apply to payments made now. Use the notice at the top and the Agency’s area page for the current rate.

A calculation on those official rates, not a quote: if €20,000 of qualifying energy works on a main home are paid in 2026, a 50% deduction is €10,000, which is €1,000 a year over ten years. The same payment on a second home at 36% gives €7,200, or €720 a year. Whether the cost is capped for each type of work is not stated on the pages read, so confirm the ceiling for your specific work with the technician before you sign.

What qualifies

The works must raise energy efficiency and be carried out on existing buildings or units that are registered in the cadastre, or for which registration has been requested. Any cadastral category counts, including rural buildings, and the building may be used for a business or profession as well as for living in. A new building does not qualify. Two exclusions apply across the board: replacing a winter-heating system with a single fossil-fuel boiler is excluded, and the agency notes that for payments from 1 January 2025 the same exclusion is written into the renovation deduction.

For works on the common parts of a condominium, or works that affect every unit in the building, the agency says different rules and rates apply. Its page still describes higher percentages tied to the energy-performance class reached, calculated on €40,000 multiplied by the number of units, and a higher rate of 80% or 85% where the works also cut earthquake risk in seismic zones 1, 2 and 3, on €136,000 multiplied by the number of units. The page dates those rates by reference to older years, so ask the condominium’s technician which version applies to the year of your payment before the owners’ meeting votes.

Who can claim

The agency’s area page says the deduction is for all taxpayers, resident and non-resident, who own the building concerned. It also names holders of rights in rem (such as usufruct), condominium owners for common parts, tenants and borrowers, cohabiting family members of the owner or tenant (spouse, civil partner, relatives to the third degree and in-laws to the second) and unmarried cohabiting partners. As with other IRPEF deductions, you can only benefit if you have enough Italian tax to deduct it against, so check this with an accountant, especially if you live abroad.

The paperwork

• Payment: by a bank or post transfer that shows the reason for payment, the claimant’s tax code and the tax code or VAT number of the firm paid. The Agency’s renovation page sets out this rule and it is the one to follow for energy works as well.
• ENEA filing: for works that save energy or use renewable sources, send the data to ENEA, the national energy agency, by the electronic portal within 90 days of completing the work or the test. The agency states that a missing or late filing does not by itself cost you the deduction. For works completed between 1 and 22 January 2026, and for works finished in 2025 with part of the cost paid in 2026, the 90 days run from 22 January 2026, the date the portal update started.
• Records: keep invoices, bank receipts and the technical documents your technician produces. The authorisations for the work are covered in renovation permits: CILA and SCIA.

Invoice discount and credit transfer

From 17 February 2023, decree-law 11/2023 removed, in general, the choice of a discount on the invoice or selling the credit for energy-efficiency works, apart from particular cases listed in article 2 of that decree. Treat any offer of “free” energy works as one that must identify which of those particular cases it relies on.

How it relates to other incentives

The ecobonus sits beside the renovation deduction (bonus ristrutturazione) and the earthquake deduction (sismabonus). The Superbonus, which paid up to 110%, ended for spending after 31 December 2025 (what happened to the Superbonus). Do not claim the same cost under two deductions; ask your adviser which one fits the work.

Which professional to consult

An architect or surveyor with energy-certification skills can say which works qualify and prepare the technical documents. An accountant confirms how much Italian tax you can offset. If you are buying, the notary reads the deed and the seller’s declarations.