A welcome surprise is arriving in your March paycheck. The 5% substitute tax on increases resulting from contract renewals provided for by the 2026 Budget Law is in fact worth a saving of between 190 and 850 euros net per year. The data comes from the calculations of the Labor Consultants Studies Foundation, which assessed the possible effects in view of the first application of the measure, expected with the March payslips for all employees with an income not exceeding 33 thousand euros.
The effects on March payrolls
The Revenue Agency has in fact clarified the application methods of the relief with a circular at the end of February, making it possible to adopt preferential taxation on the pay slip. The labor consultants have analyzed three national collective bargaining agreements that have been renewed from 2024 to today: that of commerce, that of telecommunications and that of metalworking. Employees in the commerce sector are the ones who benefit the most, with a maximum saving of 851 euros for a Level II (31,400 euros in Ral), thanks to an amount linked to the increases foreseen by the 2024 renewal of 2,698 euros.
The ‘flat tax’ of 5% is applied to this sum instead of the Irpef (including additional taxes), with a significant advantage in the pay slip. In the middle there are workers in the telecommunications sector, who have had their contracts renewed at the end of 2025, and who will be able to enjoy a ‘discount’ of just over 500 euros over the course of the year.
A saving calculated on Level 6 (Ral 30,248 euros), for which the renewal provides for an increase paid in 2026 of 1,709 euros, to which the substitute tax is applied. Finally, metalworkers, for whom the savings for a B1 level (Ral 30,529 and value increase in 2026 of 841 euros) will be 250 euros and 188 euros for a D1 level (Ral of 22,989 and increase of 634 euros).
The 15% substitute tax
The experts of the Labor Consultants Studies Foundation have also calculated the impact of another of the measures aimed at employees, foreseen by the 2026 Budget Law, and which will materialize with the March pay slips: the 15% substitute tax on ancillary payments such as those for night work, on public holidays and weekly rest days and on shifts.
According to the projections, imagining a sum of 1,500 euros subject to the flat tax (the maximum foreseen by the law), the advantage ranges from just under 80 euros for an income of 12 thousand euros gross per year to 690 euros for a Ral of 40 thousand euros (the maximum income limit to which the benefit is applicable). Considering instead a sum of 1000 euros as ancillary treatments subject to the 15% substitute tax, we go from a saving of 52 euros (12 thousand euros in Ral) to one of 417 euros (40 thousand euros in Ral).