Custom software and hyper-depreciation what qualifies and what the appraiser needs

Does custom software qualify for hyper-depreciation?

Yes, on the same conditions as off-the-shelf software. The law does not look at who wrote the code: it looks at what the software does, how it is connected to the rest of the company and how it enters the balance sheet. The conditions are those of paragraphs 427-436 of article 1 of the 2026 Budget Law and of the implementing decree of 7 May 2026.

The European origin requirement is gone. The original text of the Budget Law required assets produced in the European Union or the European Economic Area; article 7 of Decree-Law 38 of 2026 removed those words, and the implementing decree asks for no statement on where the software was developed.

The measure applies to every company resident in Italy and to the permanent establishments of foreign companies, whatever their size and accounting regime, as the MIMIT page states. It is not a tax credit to offset through the F24 form: it is an extra cost deducted from income taxes, year by year, together with depreciation. The increase is 180% up to €2.5 million of investment, 100% up to €10 million and 50% up to €20 million.

What changes from 1 January 2027?

The legal reference, not the substance. The new consolidated income tax act, Legislative Decree 117 of 2026, has been in force since 4 July 2026 but applies from 1 January 2027 (article 377). From that date it repeals the Budget Law paragraphs and their annexes IV and V (article 376) and moves the measure into article 364, with intangible assets in annex F.

We compared the two annexes item by item on 12 November 2026: the text is the same, from letter a) to letter gg). For a project spanning the two years, what changes is the rule to cite in 2027 documents, not what the software must do or prove. The implementing decree of 7 May 2026 still refers to the Budget Law and to annexes IV and V.

Which software is on the list?

Software whose main function matches an item of annex V. The list describes functions, not products: an MES, a maintenance system, a batch traceability platform or an AI model that predicts failures qualify in the same way whether you buy them or have them built. These are the items custom software meets most often.

The list has no item for administrative or accounting software, nor for a CRM that only follows sales. A system that does several things is read module by module: in our reading, the module that runs production, logistics or maintenance can fall under items d) or bb), the one that issues invoices cannot, and the contract and invoices should keep the two costs apart from the start. The item is decided before the quote is written, not after release: it changes how the project is described, how invoices are split and what the software has to prove. How ERP and MES connect is in the guide on ERP and MES.

Ownership or subscription: what changes?

Everything, because the increase applies only to the cost you depreciate. The implementing decree, in the words of the law, refers it exclusively to the determination of depreciation and finance lease instalments: a subscription fee is an operating expense, not a fixed asset, so it stays out. This is our reading of the text; no rule names SaaS explicitly.

The rule on licences is not new: back in 2017 circular 4/E of the Revenue Agency and the Ministry of Economic Development admitted software bought under a licence, provided it could be recorded as an intangible fixed asset. For custom software the practical point is the contract: it must say what is transferred to you, code or right of use, and from when. In our projects ownership of the code passes to the client milestone by milestone (who owns the code), and the development cost stays separate from hosting and maintenance, which are not capitalised.

The 2027 Budget Bill is being debated in Parliament. If it changes the rules for cloud software, this guide will say so on the approved text.

What must the software house deliver to the appraiser?

What it takes to prove two things: that the software does what the list item says, and that it is interconnected. The implementing decree, in article 6, requires technical features and interconnection to be proven by a sworn appraisal, with a technical analysis, from an engineer or industrial technician registered with their professional board, or by a certificate from an accredited certification body; there are no value thresholds below which a self-declaration is enough.

For interconnection, the technical reference appraisers use is still the 2017 circular, written for the regime of that time: an asset is interconnected when it exchanges information with internal or external systems through a connection based on documented specifications, publicly available and internationally recognised, such as TCP-IP, HTTP or MQTT, and is uniquely identified, for example by an IP address. For software this translates into precise documents.

In a well-run project much of this already exists: API documentation in Swagger/OAS format and the repository are part of what we hand over at the end of a project, appraisal or not. Timing makes the difference: evidence of the flows is collected when the connection goes live, not months later. The appraiser signs what they can verify: a documented interface and a data flow you can see, not a sentence in the quote. You choose the appraiser, and it pays to involve them before development ends, while a request still costs little.

The decree also requires an accounting certification, issued by a statutory auditor, confirming the expenses incurred and their match with the accounts (article 7). Appraisal, certification, invoices and delivery documents are kept for checks by the GSE and the Revenue Agency (article 9): without suitable documentation the benefit is lost (article 10).

How does the GSE procedure work?

In three communications, on the GSE platform, in the Area Clienti, with SPID or CIE, the Italian digital identities. The implementing decree governs them in article 3.

The GSE checks each communication within ten days and may ask for additions, to be sent within another ten. The increase counts from the tax period in which you send the completion communication, provided the software entered into service by that period, and only after the GSE's positive outcome (article 4). In practice, if interconnection slips to the following year, so does the benefit. The instructions for sending the completion are in the directorial decree of 14 October 2026.

Two dates belong in the contract with the software house. The first is the down payment: 20% of the cost must be paid within the 60 days of the confirmation, and a milestone payment plan has to allow for it; our down payment starts at 25% (how we split payments). The second is interconnection: the expected date declared to the GSE must be one the project can meet.

For software developed under contract, the date on which the investment counts as completed follows article 109 of the consolidated income tax act, regardless of accounting standards; as a rule it coincides with completion of the work, that is with final acceptance. It is a reading to confirm with your accountant, because it decides in which year the benefit starts.

What is it worth for €100,000 of software?

About €43,200 less in taxes for a corporation, spread over the depreciation years. The calculation is an illustrative example: an eligible cost of €100,000, below the €2.5 million threshold, is increased by 180%, so €180,000 of extra cost to deduct; at the 24% IRES corporate income tax rate that makes €43,200. The benefit concerns income taxes, not IRAP, the regional tax on productive activities.

The cost of the appraisal and the accounting certification comes off the benefit, and the base is calculated net of other grants received on the same cost. For a sole trader or a partnership the sum follows the IRPEF personal income tax rates of whoever reports the income. What makes up the cost of a project, phase by phase, is in the guide on how much custom software costs.

An example: custom MES in an engineering company

An engineering company with 80 people, eight machining centres and business software that handles orders and warehouse decides in December 2026 to have a €100,000 custom MES built: job progress, cycle times read from the machines, downtime with its cause, operator declarations from tablets. The details are invented, to be replaced with yours.

Before the contract, software house and company settle the item, d) on the list, and split the offers: MES development on one side, hosting and maintenance on the other. The company sends the advance communication with the expected interconnection date, September 2027; it signs, pays the 25% down payment and, once the positive outcome arrives, sends the confirmation with the invoice data within 60 days.

In September 2027 the MES goes live: it reads machine data over OPC UA and exchanges orders and progress with the business software through documented APIs. The software house delivers the acceptance report, the interface documentation and the logs of the first weeks of exchange; the appraiser, involved since June, checks and signs them, the auditor certifies the expenses. In October the company sends the completion communication, and the increase starts from the 2027 tax period, by then citing article 364 and annex F. How to build a link between business software and the shop floor is in the guide on ERP and MES, and our work on integrations is on the ERP integration page.

Sources and further reading

• Law 199 of 30 December 2025, article 1, paragraphs 427-436 and annex Vnormattiva.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• Decree-Law 38 of 27 March 2026, article 7, amendments to the increased depreciationnormattiva.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• MIMIT-MEF interministerial decree of 7 May 2026, «Iperammortamento 2026. Modalità attuative»mimit.gov.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• MIMIT, «Nuovo Piano Transizione 5.0, Iperammortamento»mimit.gov.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• MIMIT, directorial decree of 14 October 2026, «Iperammortamento. Invio modelli di completamento»mimit.gov.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• GSE, «Nuovo Piano Transizione 5.0», the platform for the communicationsgse.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• Legislative Decree 117 of 19 June 2026, consolidated income tax act, article 364 and annex Fnormattiva.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• Legislative Decree 117 of 19 June 2026, article 376, «Abrogazioni»normattiva.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• Legislative Decree 117 of 19 June 2026, article 377, «Decorrenza»normattiva.it, in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026
• Italian Revenue Agency and Ministry of Economic Development, circular 4/E of 30 March 2017agenziaentrate.gov.it, PDF in Italian, accessed 12 November 2026