The reduction expected from 2026
As we know, the Budget law for the current year has provided for more stringent criteria for the Renovation Bonus, limiting the highest rate (50%) to the first home and setting the rate of 36% for other apartments, and introducing further reductions for subsequent years. In fact, based on what is currently foreseen, it would be reduced to 36% for the first home starting from 1 January 2026, while the rate for other properties, currently at 36%, should fall to 30%. Further reduction from 2027. The same differentiated rates also concern the Ecobonus, which however expires on 31 December 2027.
The concept of main residence
For the purposes of the deduction, a main residence means the one in which the owner lives and is resident, or when it is a home owned but in which only one family member resides, provided that there are no other registered houses. The relief with the higher rate is also permitted for those who buy a house to be renovated, provided they transfer their residence at the end of the works.
Based on these clarifications contained in the rules, in the case of co-ownership, when not all the owners live in the apartment, only those who are residents benefit from the 50% deduction.
The appurtenances follow the main house in terms of rules and rates. 50% bonus also for those who build or purchase a garage from the manufacturer, as well as for those who purchase an apartment in a property renovated by a company. Same rates also in the case of the Sismabonus or the Sismabonus purchases.
The rate is 36% for other cases and other houses
When it is not a first home, the deduction is recognized at a rate of 36%. The difference also applies in the case of condominium works: the destination as a main residence must exist by the end of the condominium works, otherwise the deduction will be recognized at a rate of 36%.
Finally, 36% is envisaged in the event that it is not the owner who pays the expenses but a family member, provided that it is a family member who was living together before the start of the works. It therefore remains to be seen whether the decision to “selectively” favor first homes announced by Giorgetti for 2026 will involve this rate or not. If there is no flat extension it will drop to 30%.
Interventions and expenses
The Renovation Bonus is permitted for all interventions that fall within extraordinary maintenance, even when it concerns free construction and no communications to the Municipality are necessary. In this case a simple self-certification is sufficient. The installation of solar panels is also included in the deduction.
Payment by bank transfer is mandatory. The rate applicable to the relief is exclusively determined by the date of payment, regardless of when the works are completed.
Ecobonus, same rules but different spending limits
The Ecobonus also follows the same rules: 50% for the main residence, 36% for all other cases. Unlike the Renovation Bonus, however, the spending caps vary as the mechanism provides for a fixed amount cap on the benefit that can be obtained and which varies in relation to the type of work carried out. Therefore the amount of allowable expenditure changes with the works.
From this year, the replacement of the system with boilers that only run on gas, even if they are latest generation condensing boilers, is excluded from the Ecobonus, as well as from the Home Bonus, in compliance with the ban that came into force in compliance with community standards. The clarification in this sense was introduced in the Budget law for 2025, and it is not certain that there cannot be other surprises from this point of view this year.
Already in the past, for example, for some Ecobonus interventions the government has reduced the rate from 65% to 50% considering them less efficient from an energy point of view. Among other things, a revision of the mechanism has been hypothesized several times in the same government, with the desire to facilitate in fiscal terms only the best performing interventions, precisely in compliance with European indications. There would therefore be room for possible interventions beyond confirmation of the rate.
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