ZES Unica: investment tax credit extended through 2028

The ZES Unica tax credit is one of the main tax incentives supporting productive investment in Southern Italy and, following the latest extensions, in certain areas of Marche and Umbria.

Introduced by Article 16 of Decree-Law No. 124/2023, the incentive was initially available for 2024 and was subsequently extended. The 2026 Budget Law extended its application to investments made in 2026, 2027 and 2028, strengthening its role as a medium-term investment planning tool.

1. Who can benefit from the incentive

The credit is generally available to businesses, regardless of their legal form or accounting regime, that already operate or intend to establish operations in eligible areas.

The business does not need to have its registered office within the ZES Unica. A company based elsewhere in Italy can also benefit where the investment is intended for one of its production facilities located in an eligible area.

Specific exclusions nevertheless apply. Among others, certain sectors identified by the incentive rules are excluded, as are businesses in liquidation, undergoing dissolution or classified as undertakings in difficulty under EU State aid rules.

2. Which territories are covered by the ZES Unica

The incentive covers investments intended for production facilities located in the assisted areas of Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, Sardinia and Molise.

Eligible areas of Abruzzo are also covered, together with certain areas of Marche and Umbria following the changes introduced by the 2026 Budget Law, as identified under the 2022–2027 Regional Aid Map.

Territorial eligibility must therefore be assessed carefully, since the actual location of the production facility for which the investment is intended is decisive.

3. Which investments qualify for the credit

The credit does not cover every purchase made by a business, but investments forming part of an initial investment project under EU State aid rules.

In particular, eligible investments include the purchase, including through finance leasing, of new machinery, plant and equipment intended for existing or newly established production facilities within the ZES Unica.

The purchase of land and the acquisition, construction or extension of business premises may also qualify. However, the land and buildings component must not exceed 50% of the total value of the eligible investment project.

Under certain conditions, the rules also allow investments in previously used buildings. For assets acquired through leasing, the relevant amount is generally the cost incurred by the lessor to purchase the asset. The total eligible cost is also subject to a maximum limit of EUR 100 million for each investment project.

4. Purchasing a new asset is not enough: an initial investment is required

One of the most important aspects of the rules is that the ZES credit is not designed as a general incentive for renewing business assets.

The investment must form part of an initial investment project, for example one aimed at establishing a new facility, extending the capacity of an existing facility, diversifying production or fundamentally changing the production process.

Mere replacement investments are therefore excluded: these simply replace existing assets without forming part of a project meeting the requirements of EU law.

This is particularly important at the planning stage: the investment must be classified by considering the project as a whole, rather than only the individual asset purchased.

5. The incentive effect requirement

A second key element is the incentive effect requirement under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014.

The purpose of the EU rules is to prevent public aid from being granted for an investment that the business had already decided upon and made irreversible independently of the incentive.

The “start” of the project is determined by the first legally binding commitment to order the assets or any other commitment that makes the investment irreversible, whichever occurs first.

This requirement should not, however, be confused with the time at which expenditure is treated as incurred for tax purposes. For movable assets, for example, Article 109 of the Italian Income Tax Code (TUIR) normally refers to delivery or shipment, while for real estate the relevant time is execution of the deed or, if later, the time at which ownership is transferred.

6. The Italian Revenue Agency’s clarification in Ruling No. 169/2026

Ruling No. 169/2026 specifically addressed the relationship between the incentive effect requirement and investments already made in the first months of 2026.

The case concerned a company that had acquired a business asset through leasing in February 2026, before the opening of the period for submitting the preliminary notification to the Italian Revenue Agency.

The uncertainty arose because the procedural rules allowed the notification to include expenditure already incurred from 1 January 2026, whereas the incentive effect requirement appeared to require that the investment should not have started before the notification.

The Agency provided a favourable clarification: the fact that an investment was made before submission of the preliminary notification does not automatically rule out entitlement to the credit.

In the case examined, the project had started with the execution of the leasing agreement in 2026, after the incentive rules had entered into force. The investment was therefore considered compatible with the incentive effect requirement, subject, of course, to verification of the other statutory conditions.

This clarification is particularly relevant for businesses that made investments in the first months of 2026, before the notification window opened.

7. Notifications for investments in 2026–2028

To claim the credit, businesses must comply with a specific notification procedure before the Italian Revenue Agency.

The deadlines for investments made in the different eligible periods are as follows:

For 2026 investments, the preliminary notification must be submitted between 31 March and 30 May 2026, while the supplementary notification must be submitted between 3 and 17 January 2027.

For 2027 investments, the preliminary notification must be submitted between 31 March and 30 May 2027, while the supplementary notification must be submitted between 3 and 17 January 2028.

For 2028 investments, the preliminary notification must be submitted between 31 March and 30 May 2028, while the supplementary notification must be submitted between 3 and 17 January 2029.

The supplementary notification is particularly important because it must confirm the investments actually completed, the amount of credit accrued, the relevant invoices and the details of the expenditure certification. The amount of the investments actually completed must not exceed the amount stated in the earlier notification.

8. How much credit is actually available

The theoretically applicable rate depends on regional aid rules, the location of the investment and, in various cases, the size of the business.

The credit that can actually be used also depends on the total resources available. Once the supplementary notifications have been received, the Italian Revenue Agency determines a percentage based on the ratio between the expenditure ceiling and the total amount of credits claimed.

The amount stated by the business in its notification therefore does not necessarily coincide in every case with the amount that can actually be used.

9. Use of the credit and certification of expenditure

The tax credit can only be used by offsetting liabilities through the F24 payment form, using the Italian Revenue Agency’s electronic services and after the amount actually due has been recognised.

A further requirement concerns certification of expenditure: the actual incurrence of eligible costs and their consistency with the accounting records must be certified by the statutory auditor or, for businesses not subject to statutory audit, by an authorised auditor or audit firm.

10. Tax return obligations

One aspect that may affect the actual value of the incentive is its tax treatment. In the absence of a specific exclusion, the ZES credit constitutes a taxable grant and therefore contributes to the tax base for Italian personal income tax (IRPEF) or corporate income tax (IRES), and regional tax on productive activities (IRAP).

An assessment of the benefit should therefore go beyond the nominal amount of the credit and take its overall tax effects into account. The ZES Unica credit also constitutes State aid and must be properly reported in the income tax return.

In the REDDITI 2026 tax return forms, the ordinary credit for investments in the ZES Unica is reported in Section I of Schedule RU, using credit code “T1”. It must also be reported in the State Aid statement in Schedule RS, using aid code “86”.

11. Concluding remarks

The extension through 2028 gives businesses a longer time horizon for planning new investments. However, the ZES Unica credit remains an incentive subject to particularly stringent technical and procedural requirements.

Before entering into a binding commitment, businesses should therefore verify the location of the production facility, the nature of the investment, its classification as an initial investment, compliance with the incentive effect requirement, the potentially applicable credit rate and the notification and certification obligations.

Ruling No. 169/2026 also confirms that the rules should not be interpreted in an excessively formalistic manner: an investment made before the preliminary notification may still qualify where the project started during the period in which the incentive was already in force.

Plan your investment with RCLex Does your business operate, or intend to establish operations, in one of the ZES Unica areas? Are you considering purchasing machinery, plant or business premises and would you like to check your eligibility for the tax credit and the steps required to claim it? RCLex’s International Desk is ready to support you, drawing on the Firm’s specialist tax and legal expertise and its established relationships with professionals and law firms across the relevant foreign jurisdictions. For an overview of the Desk’s approach and services: https://www.rclex.it/internationaldesk