Exemption from the ticket
For healthcare linked to the recognised condition, with an exemption code issued by the ASL (the local health authority). The ticket is the patient's share of healthcare costs.
CAF services · Disability
Law 104 benefits
Recognition under Legge 104 (Law 104, the Italian disability law) opens a package of benefits that few people use in full: leave from work, reduced VAT, deductions with no minimum threshold, exemptions. None of them is automatic, and none switches on by itself.
01 · The starting point
How recognition is obtained
Every benefit stems from a verbale (the official report) issued by the medical board. Law 104 recognises the condition of handicap, which is separate from civil invalidity: the two assessments can take place at the same visit, but they have different effects.
The initial medical certificate
Your GP drafts it and sends it online to INPS (the Italian National Social Security Institute). It is valid for a limited time: the application must be filed within that period.
The application to INPS
It is filed online with SPID or CIE (the Italian digital identity and electronic ID card), or through a CAF (authorised tax assistance centre) or patronato (welfare advice office) with a proxy, quoting the certificate number.
The visit
The board assesses you and drafts the report. In some situations the assessment is made on the papers, without a visit.
The report
It states whether handicap is recognised and whether it is classed as severe. It is severity that opens the largest share of the benefits.
The distinction between handicap and severe handicap is decisive: paid leave from work, extraordinary leave and several tax benefits are reserved for severe cases. Read the report carefully, because that one line decides what you are entitled to.
02 · At work
Paid leave and time off work
These are the most familiar benefits, and they concern both the person with a disability and whoever cares for them.
- Paid monthly leave for an employee with a severe handicap, or for the family member who cares for them.
- Daily hours of leave as an alternative, for the worker with a disability.
- Paid extraordinary leave for a total period over the working life, reserved for certain family members in an order of priority.
- The right to choose your place of work, where possible, and a limit on being transferred without your consent.
- Exclusion from night work for anyone caring for a person with a severe handicap.
- Priority for smart working, under the rules currently in force.
- Leave is requested from INPS and notified to the employer, through an online procedure.
- Living with the person you care for is no longer required, but the care must be real.
- Leave can be shared among several family members caring for the same person.
- The period of leave is covered by notional contributions and counts towards your pension.
- Misusing leave is penalised and can be just cause for dismissal.
03 · Taxes
The tax benefits of Law 104
This is the least known and most substantial part, because some items are deductible from income and are not subject to the franchigia (the minimum amount normally excluded from relief).
| Item | Treatment |
|---|---|
| General medical expenses and specific care | Deductible from income, with no franchigia |
| Aids and technical and IT equipment | Detrazione (deduction from tax, i.e. a tax credit) with no franchigia, reduced VAT |
| Buying a vehicle | Tax credit on a spending cap, reduced VAT, exemption from car tax and registration tax |
| Removing architectural barriers | A dedicated tax credit among the building bonuses |
| Personal care for people who are not self-sufficient | A separate tax credit, with spending and income limits |
| Guide dog for blind people | A separate flat-rate tax credit |
The difference that matters most
A deduction from income and a deduction from tax are not the same thing.
- The deduzione (deduction from income) lowers your taxable income: the benefit depends on your tax rate
- The detrazione (deduction from tax) lowers the tax itself: the benefit is a fixed percentage of the expense
- General medical expenses are deductible from income, with no franchigia
- They apply even if the family member is not your tax dependant
04 · The car
The benefits when buying a vehicle
They are a package of four separate benefits that add up, and they require specific documents.
- Reduced VAT on the purchase, at a lower rate, within the engine size limits set.
- A tax credit for a percentage of the expense, up to a maximum cap, which can be spread over annual instalments.
- Exemption from the bollo (the annual car tax), with a procedure that varies by Region.
- Exemption from the registration tax charged at the Pubblico Registro Automobilistico (the Italian public vehicle register).
- The benefit applies once in a period of several years, unless the vehicle is lost or destroyed.
- The vehicle must be used mainly for the benefit of the person with a disability.
The categories of disability that give the right to the car benefits are defined precisely and do not coincide with the recognition of severity in general: reduced or impaired motor capacity, mental disability with attendance allowance, blindness and deafness, multiple amputations. The report must state this explicitly.
05 · Beyond tax
Other related benefits
Many of them do not go through the tax system but through other bodies, and have to be requested where they are managed.
Parking badge
Issued by the municipality where you live, valid throughout Europe, with its own requirements.
First home benefits
Some specific measures on housing, and the tax credit for removing barriers.
Health and social care ISEE
A narrower indicator for services aimed at people who are not self-sufficient. See health and social care ISEE.
INPS benefits
Attendance allowance, incapacity pension, monthly allowance: these depend on civil invalidity, not on Law 104.
Assegno di inclusione
Having household members with a disability affects the requirements and the amount of the assegno di inclusione (inclusion allowance).
06 · Over time
Reassessments, appeals and worsening conditions
The report is not always final, and the position needs following over time.
- The report may set a reassessment date: until the new visit the benefits continue, but they have to be confirmed again.
- If you disagree with the outcome you can appeal, through a preliminary technical assessment with tight deadlines.
- If your condition worsens you can file a new application, with a new initial certificate.
- Some conditions give the right to exemption from reassessment visits, according to the list set by law.
- Keep the report and produce it every time you claim a benefit: no body retrieves it by itself.
- Benefits not claimed in past years are partly recoverable through a supplementary return, within the deadlines.
Tax credits you did not claim can be recovered by filing supplementary returns in your favour, within the set deadlines. Over several years of medical expenses deductible with no franchigia, the recoverable amount can be significant: it is worth checking.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
Are Law 104 and civil invalidity the same thing?
No. Civil invalidity measures the reduction in working capacity as a percentage and gives the right to financial benefits such as the monthly allowance or the attendance allowance.
Law 104 recognises the condition of handicap and, when it is severe, opens paid leave from work and several tax benefits. The two assessments can take place at the same visit, but they have separate effects.
Do I have to live with my father to get the leave?
No, the requirement to live together has been dropped. The care must, however, be real and continuous, and this has to be declared in the application.
Leave can also be shared among several family members caring for the same person, in ways agreed in the application to INPS.
Can I claim tax relief on the medical expenses of my disabled daughter if she is not my dependant?
Yes, and this is one of the most important differences from the ordinary rules: general medical expenses and specific care for people with a disability are deductible even when the family member is not your tax dependant.
They are also deductible from income rather than giving a tax credit, and without the franchigia that applies to ordinary medical expenses.
I have only just found out I was entitled. Can I recover past years?
Partly, yes. Tax credits and deductions you did not use can be recovered by filing supplementary returns in your favour, within the deadlines set by law.
Not every benefit can be recovered in the same way: leave from work cannot, and reduced VAT already paid at the ordinary rate is hard to get back. Deductible medical expenses, on the other hand, can be.
Let's talk
The report is the key, but each benefit has to be claimed separately
Bring us your report: we list what you are entitled to and what has already been lost, and see what can be recovered.