Calls for funding and grants
Many regional and Chamber of Commerce calls are reserved for artisan businesses on the register.
VAT numbers · Getting started
Starting a craft business
Starting a craft business means more than picking a label: artisan is a status with precise requirements, giving access to a register, a social security scheme of its own and reserved benefits. If you are entitled to it and do not apply, you lose out.
01 · The status
What makes a business an artisan business
An artisan business is one in which the owner takes part personally in the production process, including through manual work, and which stays within size limits set by law.
- The owner must mainly carry out their own work in the production process, including manual work.
- The business must stay within the size limits on employees, which vary by sector.
- The activity must be the production of goods or the provision of services, with certain activities excluded.
- Farming activities, commercial services and food and drink service are excluded.
- The status is acquired by registering with the artisan business register (albo delle imprese artigiane).
- It can be carried on as a sole proprietorship or through a company, with limits on who the members can be.
The difference between an artisan business and a trading business is not just a name: it changes the social security scheme, access to calls for funding and benefits reserved for artisans, and in some cases how contributions are treated. It is worth getting the classification right from the start.
02 · What you need
Professional requirements
Some artisan activities are unrestricted, others require specific professional qualifications: that is the first thing to check.
- The requirements can be held by the owner or by a designated technical manager.
- They are proven through educational qualifications, qualifying courses or documented work experience.
- Some activities require registration on further registers or lists.
- The good-character requirements apply to everyone and are checked by the authorities.
| Type of activity | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Unrestricted activities | No specific professional requirement |
| Hairdresser and beautician | Professional qualification with a course and a period of practice |
| Vehicle repair | Specific technical and professional requirements for each section |
| Installation of building systems | Technical and professional requirements and a technical manager |
| Cleaning and pest control | Good-character, technical and financial capacity requirements |
| Artisan food production | Professional and health and hygiene requirements |
03 · The steps
How to start a craft business
The formalities are gathered into a single online filing, the comunicazione unica, which passes the data on to every body involved.
Checking the requirements
First of all: is the activity unrestricted or subject to requirements, and who holds them.
The comunicazione unica
A single online filing with the Chamber of Commerce, which counts as opening the partita IVA (Italian VAT number), registering with the Companies Register, the artisan register and INPS (the Italian social security institute).
The SCIA
For regulated activities, the SCIA (certified notice of start of activity) is filed with the Municipality's one-stop business desk, at the same time or beforehand.
INAIL
Opening the workplace injury insurance position, at the same time as the comunicazione unica.
What to decide before you start
These choices are hard to change later.
- The ATECO code, which determines coefficients and the social security scheme
- The form: individual or company, with or without family helpers
- The tax regime: flat-rate or ordinary
- The premises: your own workshop, a shared workshop or working at the customer's home
04 · Social security
The INPS artisans' scheme
This is the social security scheme specific to artisans, with the same structure as the one for traders: fixed contributions plus a percentage on income above the minimum.
- Fixed contributions are due regardless of income, even when nothing comes in.
- They are paid in four quarterly instalments, on fixed dates.
- Income above the minimum threshold bears an additional rate, paid through the balance and advance payments.
- Family helpers have a contribution position of their own.
- A reduction in contributions applies to those already drawing a pension or meeting certain conditions.
- The details are on the page contributions for artisans and traders.
Fixed contributions are the item that surprises people when they open: they are due from day one and do not depend on turnover. A business that starts slowly still builds them up, which is why the opening date should be chosen, not rushed.
05 · The advantages
What artisan status gives you
Besides the social security scheme, the status opens access to reserved tools.
Subsidised credit
The confidi (mutual loan-backing consortia) and the craft sector's loan-backing funds offer dedicated terms.
Training
Funded training schemes and courses for owners and employees.
Bilateral bodies
The craft sector's joint employer-union bodies provide supplementary benefits to workers and businesses.
Apprenticeships
Favourable arrangements for hiring apprentices in the sector.
Marks and designations
Access to quality marks and designations reserved for artisans in some sectors.
06 · The limits
When you lose the status
Artisan status depends on parameters that have to be kept up over time.
- Exceeding the size limits on employees leads to removal from the register.
- The owner ceasing to take part personally in the production process.
- The activity changing into forms excluded from the craft sector.
- In companies, failure to meet the membership requirements.
- Removal means moving to the traders' scheme or the ordinary regime.
- Benefits reserved for artisans end from the date of removal.
Growing beyond the limits is not a problem in itself: it means the business has become something else. It does need planning, though, because it brings a change of social security scheme, the loss of some benefits and sometimes new obligations, such as the supervisory body in companies.
Frequently asked
The questions that keep coming up
How do I know whether my activity is an artisan one?
The test is the owner's personal involvement in the production process, including manual work, together with staying within the size limits and not being one of the excluded activities.
A self-employed plumber is an artisan; an intermediary who resells services without producing them is not. The check is made on the actual activity and the correct ATECO code (activity classification code).
Do I have to register with the artisan register?
If the activity meets the requirements of an artisan business, registration is compulsory and it is the condition for the status.
Registration happens automatically through the comunicazione unica to the Chamber of Commerce, together with opening the partita IVA and registering with INPS: it is not a separate procedure.
Can I start without a workshop?
It depends on the activity. Many artisan activities are carried out at the customer's premises (installers, maintenance workers, repairers) and do not require premises of your own.
Others require them for health, hygiene or safety reasons. The business address must be declared in any case: it can be your home, if that is compatible with the activity and with the building's condominium regulations.
If I take on too many employees, do I lose the status?
Yes, exceeding the size limits set for the sector leads to removal from the artisan business register.
It is not a problem in itself (it means the business has grown), but it needs planning: the social security scheme changes and the benefits reserved for artisans end. Better to know before hiring than afterwards.
Let's talk
Artisan status is lost if the business grows beyond certain limits
Number of employees, the owner's involvement in the work: these are parameters to keep monitoring, not to check once and forget.