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Many companies will discover in 2026 that they are required to pay employees\u2019 severance accruals (TFR) into the INPS Treasury Fund \u2014 even though they have not hired a single additional employee.<\/p>\nMany companies will discover in 2026 that they are required to pay employees\u2019 severance accruals (TFR) into the INPS Treasury Fund \u2014 even though they have not hired a single additional employee.<\/p>\n
The consequence is straightforward: an unexpected monthly cash outflow. We have prepared an operational guide<\/a><\/strong> to clarify which businesses are affected and what actions must be taken before 16 May 2026.<\/p>\n The management of Trattamento di Fine Rapporto (TFR) \u2014 the Italian statutory severance accrual \u2014 represents a critical element in both personnel administration and corporate financial planning. With the entry into force of Law No. 199 of 30 December 2025 (Budget Law 2026), the Italian legislature has redesigned the rules governing the obligation to transfer TFR accruals to the INPS Treasury Fund. A common misunderstanding must be avoided. The historical \u201c50-employee rule\u201d has not been abolished. It has been integrated into a more complex system. For years, the obligation depended on a static criterion: whether the company exceeded 50 employees in its first year of activity. That rule still applies, but only for the verification performed during the first year of business. For all subsequent years, the law now introduces a dynamic monitoring system based on workforce thresholds. This change may generate an unexpected financial impact for many companies. There is also an urgent operational aspect. For companies that exceed the new thresholds already in 2026, INPS has set a strict deadline for the payment of the first arrears relating to 2026. Missing this deadline exposes employers to significant penalties for contribution omissions.<\/p>\n This article, based on the operational guidance contained in INPS Circular No. 12 of 5 February 2026, analyses the new regulatory framework, its liquidity implications, and the key deadlines companies must mark in their calendar.<\/p>\n The key innovation introduced by the 2026 Budget Law is that employers must pay TFR contributions to the Treasury Fund even if the workforce threshold is reached in years following the start of the business.<\/p>\n The law provides a phased implementation:<\/p>\n A key planning issue concerns the permanent nature of this obligation. According to the INPS circular, any subsequent reduction in workforce does not affect the obligation once it has arisen. If a company exceeds the threshold and begins transferring TFR to INPS, it must continue doing so even if the number of employees later falls below the relevant threshold.<\/p>\n The assessment is not based on the number of employees in a given month. The workforce threshold must be determined on the basis of the annual average number of employees during the previous calendar year, relative to the payroll period being considered. All employees under subordinate employment contracts must be included. Part-time employees must be calculated proportionally to their working hours compared with full-time employment, with rounding to the nearest unit for fractions exceeding half of the standard working time.<\/p>\n INPS clarifies that the annual average must be calculated only with reference to the months in which the employer actually carried out business activity. Periods during which the company suspended its activity must be excluded. Therefore, the divisor used to determine the average corresponds to the exact number of months during which the company was operational.<\/p>\n The new framework integrates \u2014 rather than fully replacing \u2014 the previous legislation, creating a two-phase system. The 50-employee rule has not disappeared. Its application is now limited to the year in which the company begins its activity, as clarified by the INPS circular. If an employer starts operating, for example in 2025 or 2026, and reaches an average workforce of 50 employees during that first year, the obligation to pay TFR into the Treasury Fund arises from the first month of activity.<\/p>\n Therefore, newly established companies remain subject to the previous criterion. There is also a technical transitional rule for 2026. The new obligation based on the 60-employee threshold (calculated on the basis of 2025 data) applies only to employers already active in 2024. The rationale is that 2025 must represent a complete and comparable previous year.<\/p>\n The most critical operational aspect concerns companies established before 2025 that reached at least 60 employees in the previous year.<\/p>\n These companies must begin transferring TFR accruals to INPS from 1 January 2026.<\/p>\n Since the circular was issued after the beginning of the year (5 February 2026), INPS granted a temporary window allowing employers to comply without penalties.<\/p>\n Employers may regularise the payment of past TFR contributions by the 16th day of the third month following the publication of the circular.<\/p>\n The final deadline for paying arrears (from January onward) is therefore 16 May 2026.<\/p>\n To manage the payment flow:<\/p>\n Before analysing the relief measures, a financial reflection is necessary. For companies that become newly subject to the obligation, and that until 2025 retained TFR accruals internally (because employees had not opted for pension funds), the reform generates a significant and unexpected monthly cash outflow. Historically, TFR represented an important source of self-financing for Italian SMEs. Redirecting 7.41% of payroll costs to INPS every month can therefore produce a considerable liquidity shock that was not anticipated in budgets prepared before the 2026 Budget Law. In the long term, the absence of a TFR liability on the company\u2019s balance sheet will reduce the financial impact of employee resignations or dismissals. From that perspective, the change may produce positive effects. However, in the short and medium term, companies should immediately assess not only the formal compliance deadline but also the impact of these outflows on 2026 cash flow planning. To partially offset the loss of liquidity, the legislation confirms important compensatory measures that reduce labour costs.<\/p>\n The employer benefits from an exemption from the contribution to the TFR Guarantee Fund (equal to 0.20%, or 0.40% for executives) in proportion to the TFR transferred to INPS or to supplementary pension schemes.<\/p>\n An additional exemption from social security contributions (under Article 24 of Law No. 88\/1989) is granted in the amount of 0.28 percentage points, also applied proportionally to the TFR transferred outside the company.<\/p>\n The 2026 Budget Law has not abolished the historical 50-employee rule. It has incorporated that rule into a broader framework that limits its application to the first year of activity and introduces continuous monitoring of workforce thresholds in subsequent years. As a consequence, many established companies \u2014 particularly those founded before 2024 \u2014 that were not previously required to transfer TFR to the Treasury Fund may suddenly become subject to the obligation starting from January 2026, with a direct and unexpected impact on their monthly liquidity. This regulatory change, combined with the strict deadline for the payment of arrears (16 May 2026), should not be overlooked or underestimated. After that date, INPS systems will automatically begin calculating contribution omissions and late payment interest.<\/p>\n The new TFR obligation now requires a contribution, financial, and organisational assessment. The integrated team of Bacciardi Partners and Macrelli e Bartolini Associati<\/a><\/strong> assists companies in:<\/p>\n Contact us<\/a> to carry out a preliminary assessment of your company\u2019s position.<\/p>\nGeneral framework<\/h2>\n
What this article covers<\/h2>\n
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New workforce thresholds: from the 2026\u20132027 transitional period to the final regime<\/h3>\n
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Irreversibility of the obligation: a crucial detail<\/h2>\n
How the workforce is calculated: annual average and inactivity periods<\/h2>\n
Calculation in the event of suspension of activity<\/h2>\n
A two-phase system: the rule for newly established companies and the subsequent monitoring<\/h2>\n
Immediate deadline: regularisation of 2026 arrears and Uniemens reporting<\/h2>\n
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Financial impact: monthly cash outflow and compensatory measures<\/h2>\n
1. Exemption from the TFR Guarantee Fund contribution<\/h3>\n
2. Exemption from social security contributions<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Want to learn more?<\/h2>\n
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