For some private sector employees, the April paycheck will be worth a little more. Not as a result of a contractual increase just signed, but of a tax measure already in force which is only now coming into force, i.e. the 5% flat tax on salary increases deriving from the renewals of national collective agreements for the three-year period 2024-2026.
Circular no. unblocked the situation. 2/E, signed on 24 February by the director of the Revenue Agency Vincenzo Carbone and published on the same day on the institutional portal. The document resolves the interpretative issues that had led many companies to adopt a prudential attitude, postponing the application of the reduced rate while waiting for uniform instructions. From today, employers have instructions for proceeding, including recalculations on monthly payments already paid.
Who can benefit from it
The measure is not universal and concerns exclusively private sector employees whose income from employment in 2025 did not exceed 33,000 euros. Public employees remain outside, as does anyone who has exceeded that threshold, calculated by adding all employee income received in the year, even from multiple employers. The estimated audience, after raising the ceiling from 28,000 to 33,000 euros and extending it to the most recent renewals, is approximately 3.8 million people.
Workers in the sectors that have renewed the national collective agreement in the last two years are affected: commerce, tourism, public establishments, modern organized distribution, food, textiles, chemicals, construction, logistics, energy. For those who work in sectors with contracts still being defined, the benefit will arrive at a later date.
How the 5% flat tax works
The substitute tax does not apply to the entire salary, but only to the tabular increases provided for in the contractual renewals for the three-year period 2024-2026. The ordinary Irpef regime continues to apply to the rest of the salary with the relevant regional and municipal surcharges.
The Agency clarifies that the preferential rate concerns only the increases provided for by national collective agreements, excluding those established by second level, company or territorial agreements. However, paid absences due to illness, maternity, paternity and accident fall within the subsidized perimeter – and this was not a given – to the extent that they are calculated on the contractual increase. The contractual increase that absorbs the employee’s individual superminimum also benefits from the reduced taxation.
Seniority increases, one-off sums paid to cover the contractual gap period, additional benefits such as overtime and severance pay are excluded.
An important element, clarified by the circular with an extensive interpretation, concerns the renewals already in force from previous years: if the disbursement of the increases were distributed over several years, the flat tax would still apply to the tranches paid between 1 January and 31 December 2026, even if the disbursement had started earlier. An aspect that significantly expands the concrete scope of the benefit.
Because the adjustments also arrive in April
Since many companies had not yet activated the preferential taxation, they must now proceed to recalculate the monthly payments already paid in 2026. The result is that extraordinary amounts linked to the recovery of the tax differences of the previous months may appear in the April pay slips. After this adjustment phase, salaries will stabilize at higher levels than in the past, benefiting in a stable manner from the reduced rate on contractual increases.
How much is the tax saving worth?
The impact varies depending on the size of the increase, the number of tranches already paid and the individual salary level. A concrete example helps to understand the order of magnitude: a worker with 30,000 euros of income plus a contractual increase of 2,500 euros in 2026 – for a total of 32,500 – with preferential taxation pays 5% on just the 2,500 euro increase, equal to 125 euros, with an annual tax saving of 700 euros compared to the ordinary regime. In the most favorable cases, including outstanding balances, you can get up to a few tens of euros more net per month. For others, the increase will be smaller.
The other discount: 15% on nights, holidays and shifts
The circular also clarifies a second measure, distinct from the previous one. For private workers with an income of up to 40,000 euros, the increases and allowances for night work, holidays, weekly rest days and shifts paid in 2026 are subject to a substitute tax of 15%, within the overall annual limit of 1,500 euros. The benefit also extends to the on-call allowances provided for by collective agreements. Performance bonuses and sums paid as profit sharing do not contribute to reaching this threshold.
Employers will apply both benefits automatically, without the employee having to submit any application, unless they prefer to renounce them in writing. Those who do not have a withholding agent will be able to recover the benefit on their tax return.
