By Team Weltis
HR and the 2026 Budget Law: what you need to know before employees start asking
Financial wellbeing - 24 March 2026
👋🏻Hi HR,
On July 1, 2026, your new hires will have only 60 days to decide where to allocate their TFR (Severance Indemnity). Not 6 months like before. 60 days.
If you don’t update your onboarding processes before that date, you’ll find yourself managing choices made by inertia (and the flurry of questions that follow). This isn't a hypothetical scenario: "tacit consent" has already proven in the past to generate confusion, especially among those who have never heard of pension funds.
This is just one of the operational hurdles the 2026 Budget Law puts on the HR desk.
But there’s another side… some measures, if used well, allow you to increase the real perceived value for your employees without touching the cost of labor.
You’ve likely been there at least once: an employee asks for a raise, and you have to explain that an extra 100 euro gross costs the company almost double. It’s not a pleasant conversation. And usually, it doesn't convince anyone.
The 2026 Budget Law doesn't solve the tax wedge. But it creates a series of tools that, used correctly, allow for an increase in the real value perceived by employees without that gap between cost and net being the only thing to talk about.
🍽 Electronic meal vouchers: from 8 to 10 euro per day
The first update concerns electronic meal vouchers: the tax exemption threshold rises from 8 to 10 euro per day.
If your company is still stuck with paper vouchers (which remain at a 4 euro exemption) or lower amounts, this is an intervention that pays for itself in terms of perception.
Based on an average of 21 working days, we are talking about 210 euro net more per month for the employee, with no tax wedge for either party. It’s real, immediate, and measurable purchasing power.
🎯 Performance bonuses: the 1% tax rate that not everyone has understood
There is also an extraordinary window for productivity bonuses and profit-sharing.
For 2026 and 2027, the substitute tax on productivity bonuses drops to 1% on amounts up to 5,000 euro gross, for those whose employment income in the previous year did not exceed 80,000 euro.
In practice: a 5,000 euro gross bonus results in 4,950 euro in the employee's pocket. It’s a temporary window and must be used now, which means formalizing "second-level" union agreements within the first quarter if you haven't already.
👉🏻 Remind your employees that if they choose to convert that bonus into corporate welfare (such as payments into a pension fund or supplementary healthcare), the exemption becomes total (0% tax). This is a lever that most workers are unaware of, and very few companies communicate in a structured way.
📈 CCNL renewals and shift work: pay attention to requirements
Two interesting measures, with precise constraints that the payroll team must know.
Raises from CCNL renewals. Pay increases resulting from collective agreement renewals signed in 2025 and 2026 enjoy a subsidized tax rate of 5% for the current year. The limit: it applies only to those who had an employment income up to 28,000 euro in 2025. For those who qualify, a gross raise is worth much more than usual in net terms.
Shift, night, and holiday work. A 15% tax is planned on a maximum of 1,500 euro per year for those with an income up to 40,000 euro. Check that your payroll system is applying this correctly; it’s easy for it to slip under the radar.
Fringe Benefits: the thresholds and who they concern
Three exemption tiers, with different logics:
1,000 euro for all employees
2,000 euro for those with dependent children
5,000 euro for new hires who relocate their residence by more than 100 km to come work for you
This last measure is particularly relevant if you are looking for technical or specialized profiles from out of town. It’s not just welfare: it’s a Talent Acquisition lever you can communicate right in the offer.
Reimbursements cover utility bills, rent, mortgages, and shopping vouchers. The critical point, operationally, is segmentation: treating all employees the same way means leaving value on the table.
🚀 TFR and supplementary pension: the real HR revolution starting in July
This is the part that requires the most attention—perhaps the most challenging and revolutionary chapter of the coming months. Not to mention it has a deadline and generates questions.
Automatic enrollment (tacit consent) at 60 days. From July 1, 2026, new hires have 60 days (not six months) to choose where to allocate their TFR. Those who do not decide are automatically enrolled in the sector-specific fund (or the one most used by people in the company if a specific one doesn't exist). This means the information phase must be concentrated during onboarding, which for many companies currently includes nothing structured on this topic.
Portability of the employer contribution. This is the most substantial change. Until today, an employee who chose to pay their TFR into an Open Pension Fund (FPA) or an Individual Pension Plan (PIP) instead of the sector fund lost the additional employer contribution. From July 1, this will no longer be the case. Freedom of choice increases, but so does the complexity of the questions you will receive.
If you haven't updated your onboarding materials and internal operational flows yet, you have a few months to do so.
Parenthood: incentives that lower the cost of family welfare
Some measures allow you to build family-friendly policies without a direct impact on the budget.
Part-time with children. If you grant part-time to an employee with at least three children (until the youngest is 10), the company receives a 100% INPS contribution exemption for 24 months, up to 3,000 euro per year. The cost to the company is manageable; the impact on retention, in certain contexts, is invaluable.
Hiring mothers. Hiring women who have been unemployed for at least six months with three or more children guarantees a total contribution exemption of up to 8,000 euro per year.
Leave and child sickness. Parental leave at 30% can now be used until the child is 14 years old (no longer 12). Child sickness leave days rise to 10.
Mothers' Bonus. INPS will provide approximately 60 euro net per month directly in the payslip to working mothers with two or more children and an income up to 40,000 euro. This isn't a company benefit, but if your employees don't know about it, they won't request it. It’s worth it if that information comes from you.
The problem that no law solves
The secret for HR? Turning bureaucracy into communication.
2026 will bring a volume of questions that Human Resources professionals are not equipped to answer. Not because they aren't good at their jobs, but because it isn't their job. "Where should I put my TFR?" "Should I take the bonus or the welfare?" "I have dependent children, what changes for me?" These are personal financial planning questions, not personnel administration questions.
The real risk isn't just giving the wrong answer. It’s giving no answer at all and letting employees decide for themselves—often poorly, and often too late.
At Weltis, we support companies exactly on this: individual consultations with certified and independent experts, tailored financial education programs, and operational support for decision-making moments, such as the TFR onboarding starting in July.
If you want to understand how to structure this before the questions start pouring in, we can discuss it together. 30 minutes is all it takes, with nothing for you to prepare.
📌 Quick summary for those in a hurry
Starting January 1, 2026, tax-free electronic meal vouchers will increase from €8 to €10 per day for all employees, boosting net income by approximately €210 per month.
For 2026 and 2027, the tax rate on performance bonuses (PdR) drops to just 1% (capped at €5,000 gross) for those whose previous year's income was under €80,000.
During 2026, pay increases from National Collective Bargaining Agreements (CCNL) will benefit from a reduced 5% substitute tax for workers with a previous year's income up to €28,000.
Also in 2026, employees doing shift, night, or holiday work (with previous incomes up to €40,000) will be taxed at a flat 15% on up to €1,500, resulting in higher net pay.
The thresholds for fringe benefits have been confirmed: a base of €1,000, rising to €2,000 for employees with children, and €5,000 for relocated workers.
Effective July 1, 2026, thanks to employer portability in social security, workers enrolled in an FPA or PIP will no longer lose their company contributions.
Starting January 1, 2026, companies employing part-time workers with 3 or more children will receive a 100% INPS exemption, up to €3,000 per year.
For 2026, mothers with at least two children and an income up to €40,000 can request the INPS Mothers' Bonus, providing a net €60 per month upon application.
From January 1, 2026, parents will have access to new leave options available until the child turns 14, which include 10 days of sick leave.
