Window tax credit 2026

It is not a grant paid into your account, it is an income tax deduction. You pay for the work and in the following years you recover a percentage of the cost by reducing your tax, in ten equal yearly instalments. For costs paid in 2026 the rate is 50% if the property is your main home and you own it or hold another right in rem, 36% in other cases.

There are two routes: the renovation bonus, with a spend limit of 96,000 euros per property unit, and the ecobonus, where the limit is 60,000 euros of deduction for windows complete with their frames. Those are the figures published by the Revenue Agency in its guidance on building renovation and energy upgrading.

It depends on the windows you fit. The renovation bonus, Article 16-bis TUIR, has less demanding technical requirements and is the route most travelled on an ordinary flat. The ecobonus, Article 14 of Decree Law 63/2013, requires the thermal transmittance limits set in Annex E of the technical requirements decree of 6 August 2020, which differ by climate zone, plus certification by a qualified professional.

Only one can be used on the same costs: the Revenue Agency page on combining reliefs says that where a work falls under more than one relief the taxpayer chooses one. At the site visit we look at the transmittance of the products we propose and tell you which of the two is available.

The rate changes. On a property used as a main home by whoever owns it or holds another right in rem the deduction is 50%. On everything else, second homes included, it is 36%. A main home, in the Revenue Agency's definition, is the one where whoever owns it or a family member habitually lives.

The spend limit of 96,000 euros is per property unit, so if you work on two different flats the cap applies to each. On this coast the question comes up often, because a great many homes are second homes: let us clear it up before signing, not after.

The transfer has to be by bank or post office and contain three items, which the Revenue Agency lists explicitly: the payment reference, showing that the payment is for works giving the right to the deduction, with the legal reference; the tax code of whoever benefits from the deduction; the VAT number or tax code of whoever receives the payment. If one of the three is missing the deduction is not recognised.

In practice almost every bank has a dedicated form, called a relief transfer or tax deduction transfer, which fills the fields in itself and applies the 11% withholding tax in force since 1 March 2024. We hand you the wording for the reference and our details along with the invoice, so you do not have to invent anything at the counter.

Four things. The invoice in the name of whoever claims, with the value of significant goods shown separately for VAT purposes. The reference-bearing bank transfer with the payment reference and tax codes. The ENEA filing within 90 days of completion. And the tax return in which you claim the first of the ten instalments.

If the route is the ecobonus you also need certification by a qualified professional attesting compliance with the requirements. We prepare the invoice, the reference wording and the ENEA filing; the tax return is done by your accountant or tax assistance centre.

Generally no. Since 17 February 2023 the invoice discount and the transfer of the credit have been blocked, and the Revenue Agency keeps them only for specific situations, including properties damaged by earthquakes in Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria.

In the vast majority of cases, then, you pay the cost up front and recover it over ten years of tax returns. If someone in 2026 promises you the invoice discount on windows as though it were the rule, ask them which provision they are relying on.

The 50% and 36% rates apply to costs paid by 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027, again according to the Revenue Agency, they drop to 36% on a main home and 30% on other properties, with the same 96,000 euro spend limit.

The delicate point is that the payment date counts, not the order or fitting date. If you are considering the work towards the end of the year, the transfer has to be made by December: on the quote we put in writing when the deposit and the balance are due, precisely so you do not lose the difference.

In the permit-free building glossary, the decree of the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure of 2 March 2018, repairing, replacing and renewing external windows and doors are listed among permit-free works. If you do not change the shape and do not touch the structure, normally no building title is needed.

That does not remove the deduction, because Article 16-bis TUIR at letter (h) allows works aimed at energy saving even without building works. Watch out, though, for historic centres and listed properties, where the council's regulations can impose type, material and colour: we check that at the site visit, before ordering anything.

Under the ecobonus the descriptive form is part of the procedure and has to be submitted. Under the renovation bonus the Revenue Agency has clarified that failure to submit to ENEA, or late submission, does not in itself lose the right to the deduction.

It remains a required step, it takes a few minutes and it removes one ground for challenge if there is a check. We send it within 90 days of completion on the bonusfiscali.enea.it portal and hand you the submission receipt.

On ordinary and extraordinary maintenance works on residential property units VAT is reduced to 10%. Windows, though, are goods of significant value under the decree of 29 December 1999, like boilers, lifts, sanitaryware and security systems, and a separate rule applies to them.

The 10% rate applies to the goods only up to the value of the service net of the goods themselves, and the excess is charged at 22%. That is why the invoice has to show the value of significant goods separately: on ours you will already find it written.

On the tax side the sum is done by your income tax. The deduction reduces the tax due, it is not a refund: if the yearly instalment exceeds the tax you owe, the part that finds no capacity is lost and cannot be carried forward. With low income or with other deductions already running, it is worth doing the sums before deciding how many windows to change in one go.

Then there is the saving that does not go through taxes. A window that insulates well makes the heating work less in winter and the air conditioning less in summer, every year, and goes on doing so long after the tenth instalment is over.

You log into the bonusfiscali.enea.it portal, choose the year the works were completed and create the descriptive form for the job. For windows you need the before and after data: type of frame, transmittance, area of the window and whether it faces the outside or an unheated space.

The deadline is 90 days from completion. These figures are in the technical data sheets of the products we fit, which is why we fill it in ourselves: you receive the submission receipt to keep with the invoice and the transfer.