Iperammortamento 2026: how Italian SMEs can cut the cost of AI investment

Most of our Italian clients are spending real money on AI and digital infrastructure this year. Fewer than half know there is a tax mechanism that could recover a significant chunk of that cost before the project is even finished.

Italy's hyper-depreciation scheme (Legge 199/2025) has been live since January 2026, with the GSE portal open for mandatory pre-communications since 12 June. It replaces the old Industry 4.0 and Transizione 5.0 tax credits, and it offers up to 180% tax deduction on qualifying investments in AI software, GPU hardware, private 5G, and cybersecurity infrastructure. The practical math: if you invest €100,000 in a qualifying on-premise AI system, you deduct €280,000 from taxable income, saving roughly €43,200 in corporate tax over five years. That is not a grant. It is a structural cost reduction, available right now.

The catch matters, and we want to be direct about it: cloud and SaaS subscriptions do not qualify. Only software you own and run on your own infrastructure counts. That has real implications for how you structure a project. A Salesforce licence alone won't qualify. But custom AI models deployed on-premise, GPU infrastructure running your own agents, or cybersecurity hardware installed within your own environment almost certainly will. The project scope has to be designed with the boundary in mind, not retrofitted afterwards. [(AgendaDigitale.eu, June 2026)](https://www.agendadigitale.eu/industry-4-0/iperammortamento-2026-la-guida-cose-e-come-faire-le-comunicazioni-al-gse/)

A second route runs alongside this. Italy's R&D tax credit scheme is separate from iperammortamento, and the Ministry of Enterprise updated its register of approved certifiers in May 2026. If any part of your AI project involves genuine development work, not just deployment, a certifier on that list can validate your expenditure and give you an additional credit on top. Two mechanisms, potentially stackable, if the project is scoped correctly. [(MIMIT, May 2026)](https://www.mimit.gov.it/it/normativa/decreti-direttoriali/decreto-direttoriale-21-maggio-2026-credito-dimposta-ricerca-e-sviluppo-aggiornamento-albo-certificatori/)

And if you are in Piedmont, there is a third layer: the Region has reopened its FESR-backed digitalisation fund with a €71m pot, zero-interest loans covering 70% of project cost, and a non-repayable grant component for SMEs. The digitalisation window opens 13 October 2026. Preparation time is short. [(Regione Piemonte, June 2026)](https://bandi.regione.piemonte.it/contributi-finanziamenti/digitalizzazione-e-efficientamento-produttivo-delle-imprese-2026/)

The iperammortamento regime rewards companies that plan the project architecture first and the funding claim second, not the other way round. Structuring a qualifying project is not difficult. But it has to be structured, with a certified technical report, five GSE communications filed in sequence, and a clear boundary between on-premise and cloud components.

If you want to map a proposed Salesforce or AI engagement against qualifying criteria before you sign anything, that is exactly the conversation to have early. Get in touch and we will work through the scope with you.