If you run trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above for hire or reward in Italy, in September you could claim a tax credit on the rise in diesel prices between March and August 2026. The window closed on 20 September. Three steps now decide how much you will actually receive: pro-rating, because claims exceed the fund; the grant decrees, issued in order of submission; and a very short deadline to use the credit, 31 December 2026.
This guide covers who qualifies and who does not (own-account transport was dropped after the scheme had started), how the credit is calculated, with a worked example based on real prices, how to avoid losing part of it at year-end, and what changes under the decree-law of 23 October, which adds a separate credit for September and early October and lets hauliers suspend vehicle lease payments. There is also a section for foreign hauliers.
At a glance
- It goes to hire-and-reward hauliers in Italy’s electronic register of road transport operators (REN), to EU hauliers with a permanent establishment in Italy and to bus operators, for Euro V and Euro VI vehicles only: trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above, and M2 and M3 buses.
- It is worth up to 70% of the extra spend compared with the average February price. At average pump prices for March to August that comes to about €0.18 per litre, before pro-rating.
- It can only be offset against taxes and contributions on the F24 payment form, with tax code 7082, by 31 December 2026, and it is not taxable. Under current rules, whatever is not used by then is lost.
- For spending from 1 September to 5 October, Decree-Law 193 of 23 October provides a separate credit, capped at €60 million, to be offset by 31 December 2027. According to the MIT, the window to claim it opens by mid-November, and from 6 October there is no credit.
- The same decree lets hauliers on the Albo, Italy’s national register of hire-and-reward road hauliers, ask to suspend finance lease payments on their vehicles falling due between 1 November 2026 and 31 March 2027.
Who qualifies and who does not
The credit comes from Article 3 of Decree-Law 33 of 18 March 2026. At first the law referred to every goods haulier entitled to the quarterly excise refund on commercial diesel, including own-account transport with a licence, and the first implementing decree, of 23 May, included them all. Then the European Commission’s competition directorate stated that the temporary state aid framework for the Middle East crisis does not cover own-account transport. The decree of 26 August, published in Italy’s Official Journal (Gazzetta Ufficiale) on 26 September, narrowed the beneficiaries accordingly.
| Who | 2026 diesel tax credit | Quarterly excise refund |
|---|---|---|
| Hire and reward, trucks 7.5 t and above, Euro V or VI | Yes | Yes |
| Own account with licence, trucks 7.5 t and above, Euro V or VI | No | Yes |
| Euro IV or older trucks, under any regime | No | No |
| Vans and trucks under 7.5 t | No | No |
Businesses that were already in difficulty in the financial year before 28 February 2026 are excluded too, except micro and small enterprises that are not in insolvency proceedings and have received no rescue or restructuring aid. Only diesel for traction counts, so fuel for refrigeration units is out.
If you are a distributor or wholesaler that is also registered as a haulier, check one point. The ministry’s decree refers to the Commission decision authorising the scheme, which admits only businesses whose main activity is road transport, and spot checks can come even after the credit has been granted. If transport is not your main activity, have your accountant assess it before you use the credit.
What it is worth: the formula and an example
The platform calculates the credit on the total for the period, not month by month, with this formula:
credit = 70% × (net spend on diesel for eligible vehicles − litres × €1.39415)The figure of €1.39415 is the average February 2026 price recorded by Italy’s energy ministry, €1.70087 per litre, net of VAT. Spend means invoice amounts, again net of VAT, for the diesel used by eligible vehicles only. Invoices with a price per litre below February’s are left out, and so is February refuelling invoiced in March.
| Month (2026) | Average pump price (€/l incl. VAT) | Theoretical credit per litre |
|---|---|---|
| February | 1.701 (reference) | – |
| March | 1.936 | €0.13 |
| April | 2.105 | €0.23 |
| May | 2.009 | €0.18 |
| June | 1.970 | €0.15 |
| July | 2.006 | €0.17 |
| August | 2.098 | €0.23 |
| September | 2.241 | €0.31 |
February is the official reference; the other months are our averages of the ministry’s weekly surveys, not its official monthly figure. The theoretical credit applies to a business that paid the average pump price.
An example with ten Euro VI tractor units
A hire-and-reward haulier runs ten Euro VI tractor units that use 35,000 litres a year each, so about 175,000 litres between March and August. At the average pump price its net spend was about €289,900, against the €244,000 it would have spent at February prices. The extra spend is therefore €45,900, and the theoretical credit at 70% is about €32,100, just over €3,200 per truck.
Two things cut it. The first is the price actually paid. A haulier that buys with a discounted fuel card or fills its own depot tank pays less than the pump price, while the February reference stays fixed: a discount of 5 cents per litre including VAT takes about €5,000 off the credit, or 16%. The second is pro-rating, which applies to everyone.
| Pro-rating | Credit in the example |
|---|---|
| 100% | €32,100 |
| 75% | €24,100 |
| 50% | €16,100 |
Why you will receive less than the formula says
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) has already said that total claims exceed the fund, so every credit will be cut in proportion. The fund for March to August is €386.2 million according to the platform page, raised to €397.6 million by the law converting Decree-Law 133, in force since 26 September. Decree-Law 193 of 23 October adds another €66.4 million. With more money the cut will be smaller, but the MIT page still says every amount will be scaled back to fit the fund, and the percentage has not been published.
The credit can fall further if the check in Italy’s national state aid register finds other aid on the same costs beyond the cumulation limits. The excise refund does not reduce it: the platform calculates the credit without it, and the two together must not exceed what you spent on diesel.
When it arrives and how to use it
- The MIT runs spot checks on whether businesses are in difficulty and on anti-mafia requirements, and checks cumulation in the national state aid register.
- It then grants the credit through one or more grant decrees, possible since 26 September, when the 26 August decree was published. They follow the order of submission, and a business that cancelled and resubmitted its claim takes the position of the second submission.
- The MIT sends the amounts to the Revenue Agency. The credit can be used from the tenth day after that, when it shows in the company’s tax drawer (cassetto fiscale) under “crediti agevolativi”; the granted amount also appears on the platform, in the claim details.
- It can only be used as an offset, on an F24 filed through the Revenue Agency’s online services, by 31 December 2026 and without the usual annual offset caps. It is not business income and does not count towards the regional business tax (IRAP).
The tax code is 7082, created by the Revenue Agency in resolution 40/E of 26 October 2026. On the F24 it goes in the “Erario” (state taxes) section, in the column for credits offset, and the reference year is 2026, the year of the spending, as shown in the tax drawer. The Agency checks that the business is on the list of beneficiaries sent by the MIT and rejects the F24 if the credit used exceeds the amount granted. Code 7060, which comes up in searches, was created in 2024 for an earlier diesel credit and does not apply here.
The real risk: using it by 31 December
The deadline is the weak point of the scheme. The credit can be used from the tenth day after the amounts reach the Revenue Agency. The grant decrees are coming out: on 4 November the MIT counted €375.6 million granted to 24,842 companies and expected to finish crediting the March-August amounts by the end of the week. If the credit is already in your tax drawer, you can use it from the F24 due on 16 November. If your amount only becomes usable in the first days of December, the F24 due on 16 December is still available, with payroll withholding, social contributions and, for monthly filers, November VAT. If it comes later, the credit becomes usable only after 16 December, and in practice only the VAT advance is left, due on Monday 28 December this year because the 27th falls on a Sunday. Under current rules any part with nothing to offset is lost, because the law provides neither a carry-forward nor a refund.
In early August Confartigianato’s Macerata branch reported that trade associations were pushing for a longer deadline. Decree-Law 193 of 23 October did not extend it for March to August: the longer deadline applies only to the new September credit, described below. Italian decree-laws lapse unless Parliament converts them into law within 60 days. For this one the deadline is 22 December, and the conversion law is the nearest chance to move the 31 December deadline.
So it pays to run the numbers now. Estimate the credit with the formula above, apply a cautious pro-rating and compare it with your December F24 liabilities. If the credit is larger, talk to your accountant before December. This matters most for businesses that submitted in the last days of the window, because with grants issued in order of submission they will be among the last to receive the credit.
1 September to 5 October: a separate credit, usable until 2027
Decree-Law 193 of 23 October 2026, in force since the 24th, rewrote this part. Decree-Laws 157 and 162 of September had extended the credit to September and October within the same scheme. Now the main credit goes back to covering March to August, and spending from 1 September to 5 October gets a separate credit, capped at €60 million for 2026. The October extension has been repealed: from 6 October, with excise duty back at the standard rate, there is no credit.
The new credit is offset on the F24 by 31 December 2027, a year longer than the March-August one. The decree does not say how or when to claim it. On 4 November the MIT announced that the creditocarburantetrasporto.adm.gov.it platform reopens by mid-November, with the procedure to be published on its website. As of 5 November there is no exact date.
Nor does Italy’s 2027 budget bill, as sent to Parliament, contain any diesel measure for road haulage: 2027 is only the year in which the September credit is used.
Pro-rating may be stricter. In September the price rise was the highest of the year, about €0.31 of theoretical credit per litre at pump prices, while €60 million for just over five weeks comes to about €51 million a month, less than March to August received.
Meanwhile, it makes sense to prepare the data the way the first window asked for it: total litres per month for eligible vehicles only, the list of their plates, invoices with their SdI e-invoicing identifier (for netting fuel cards, the invoice number prefixed with “net-”), and fuel for refrigeration units kept separate. That is where most errors happened. Among claims submitted by 15 September, the MIT counted 2,624 rejected for errors in the invoice file and 502 with a negative amount.
Vehicle leases: suspending payments until 31 March 2027
Decree-Law 193 adds a cash-flow measure for hire-and-reward hauliers on the Albo. On finance leases for vehicles used in the business, they can ask to suspend, in full or for the capital portion only, the payments falling due between 1 November 2026 and 31 March 2027. From the request until 31 March the leasing company cannot terminate the lease on the grounds of the suspension. The payment schedule is automatically extended by the same period, and interest for the period is paid as the contract provides, unless more favourable terms are agreed with the leasing company.
The suspension defers payments rather than cancelling them, and own-account operators are excluded, as they are from the credit. So are hauliers established abroad, unless they are registered on the Albo themselves. Before applying, factor the deferred payments into your cash-flow forecast, alongside the credit you need to offset by 31 December. For new vehicles taken on lease, Italian SMEs can use the Nuova Sabatini, which subsidises the interest.
If you are a foreign haulier
An EU haulier qualifies only with a permanent establishment in Italy. The MIT’s FAQ admits REN-registered businesses and foreign hauliers with an Italian permanent establishment, and nobody else. Diesel bought in other EU countries counts, entered with the invoice number followed by the supplier’s VAT number, while invoices from suppliers with a Swiss VAT number are left out. Legal representatives without an Italian digital identity (SPID or CIE) had to go through the platform’s help desk with a written delegation to a named person, which is worth arranging before the next window.
Without an Italian establishment, the excise refund remains. Hauliers established in other member states can claim it on diesel bought in Italy, sending the quarterly claim to the customs office assigned to their country.
If you are excluded: what is left
Own-account operators with trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above do not get the credit, but they do get the quarterly excise refund, like hire-and-reward hauliers. It is claimed from the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) in the month after each quarter, and it can be offset on the F24 with tax code 6740 or paid out in cash. For July to September the window closed on 2 November 2026, the first working day after 31 October. For October to December the claim is filed in January 2027: 31 January falls on a Sunday, and under the same rule the deadline would move to Monday 1 February, but ADM will set the date in its guidance note for the quarter. From 1 October, a claim you want to offset on the F24 can only be filed through ADM’s EDI online service, no longer by PEC or on paper, and businesses without access must apply for it first. Tacit approval, after which the credit can be offset, now takes 30 days.
The refund is the difference between the excise duty in force and the commercial diesel rate of €403.22 per 1,000 litres: €269.68 at the standard 2026 rate, down to €69.68 while the duty was cut to €472.90, from 1 April to 22 May. For July to September there were five amounts, from €129.68 to €269.68 per 1,000 litres depending on the day of refuelling, and the claim asks for each vehicle’s litres and kilometres split by period. For October to December, barring new cuts, there are four: €219.68 for refuelling from 1 to 5 October, when the duty was €622.90; €269.68 from 6 to 27 October; €229.68 from 28 October to 7 November, with the duty cut to €632.90; and €269.68 again from 8 November. The figure for 28 October to 7 November is our own calculation using ADM’s rule: the official amounts will come in its notice on the fourth quarter.
This has an effect few people notice. For businesses that get the refund, an excise cut does not lower the cost of diesel: net duty stays at €403.22 per 1,000 litres, and what they save at the pump they lose on the refund. ADM says as much in its guidance note of 30 September: for refund holders, the cuts have no effect on excise. The only gain is cash flow, because the cut is immediate and the refund comes months later. For a heavy truck on own account, then, Italy’s 2026 diesel measures did little. The excise cut was absorbed by a smaller refund, and the credit does not apply.
Vans and trucks under 7.5 tonnes get neither the credit nor the refund. For them the help is the excise cut at the pump. The first one ended on 5 October: from 26 September the duty was €622.90 per 1,000 litres, and on 6 October it went back to the standard €672.90, about 6 cents a litre more including VAT. A second cut applies from 28 October to 7 November. Under the decree of 27 October by the economy and environment ministries, published in the Official Journal the same day, the duty drops to €632.90 per 1,000 litres: 4 cents a litre less, 4.9 including VAT, funded with €38.7 million of extra VAT revenue from September. As of 5 November there is no extension, and without a new decree the duty returns to €672.90 from 8 November.
The litres you do not burn are worth more
The credit covers at most 70% of the price rise, before pro-rating and only for the months covered. A litre you do not burn is worth its full price: in September, even net of VAT and the excise refund, more than €1.60, over five times the theoretical credit. And from 2028 ETS2 will add a carbon price to every litre.
The seven levers to cut fleet fuel consumption start from kilometres, and the first step is knowing what each one really costs, with the correct cost-per-kilometre calculation. The rest comes down to routes: how many empty kilometres you run and how many vehicles each shift needs. OptivoRoute plans routes around the constraints of each delivery, from time windows to vehicle capacity. For a rough estimate for your own fleet, try the delivery route savings calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Does the diesel tax credit apply to own-account transport?
No. The decree of 26 August 2026, in the Official Journal since 26 September, limited the beneficiaries to hire-and-reward hauliers, EU hauliers with a permanent establishment in Italy and passenger transport, after the European Commission had ruled out own-account transport. Own-account operators with trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above keep the quarterly excise refund.
Do vans qualify for the diesel tax credit?
No. The scheme requires category N vehicles of 7.5 tonnes and above, or M2 and M3 buses, of emission class Euro V or Euro VI.
Can a foreign haulier claim the credit?
Only with a permanent establishment in Italy. Without one, the quarterly excise refund on diesel bought in Italy is still available to hauliers established in other EU member states.
Can I still claim for March to August?
No. The window on the ADM platform closed at 23:59 on 20 September 2026, and since then claims can no longer be changed or resubmitted.
When will the credit show in the tax drawer?
It becomes usable ten days after the MIT sends the Revenue Agency the amounts in the grant decrees, which follow the order of submission. It shows in the tax drawer under “crediti agevolativi”, and the amount granted also appears on the platform, in the claim details. The decrees are coming out: on 4 November the MIT counted €375.6 million granted to 24,842 companies, with the March-August amounts to be fully credited within the week.
What is the tax code for offsetting the credit?
It is 7082, created by the Revenue Agency’s resolution 40/E of 26 October 2026. It goes in the “Erario” (state taxes) section of the F24, in the column for credits offset, with 2026 as the reference year, and the F24 can only be filed through the Agency’s online services. Code 7060 belongs to an earlier credit and does not apply.
Can the credit be combined with the excise refund?
Yes. The platform calculates the credit without taking the refund into account, and together the two must not exceed what was spent on diesel.
Is the excise refund for hauliers still available in 2026?
Yes. The quarterly refund on commercial diesel remains for Euro V and Euro VI trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above, both hire-and-reward and licensed own-account. The claim goes to the Customs and Monopolies Agency in the month after each quarter: for July to September the window closed on 2 November 2026, and for October to December the claim is filed in January 2027. If you want to offset the refund, since 1 October the claim can only be filed through ADM’s EDI online service. The amount follows the excise duty in force: €269.68 per 1,000 litres at the standard 2026 rate, less while the duty is cut. For October to December, barring new cuts, it is €219.68 from 1 to 5 October, €269.68 from 6 to 27 October and from 8 November, and €229.68 from 28 October to 7 November (our calculation, pending ADM’s notice).
What happens if I do not use the whole credit by 31 December?
Under current rules the unused part is lost, because the law provides neither a carry-forward to the next year nor a refund. Decree-Law 193 of 23 October did not move the deadline for March to August, and the law converting it, due by 22 December, is the nearest chance to do so. The credit for spending from 1 September to 5 October, by contrast, can be used until 31 December 2027.
Is the credit taxable?
No. It is not business income, it does not count towards IRAP and it does not affect the deductibility ratios for interest and general expenses.
The next step
The credit covers just over seven months and arrives cut by pro-rating; diesel is paid for every day. If you want to see what kilometres cost you on your actual routes, talk to our team. For vehicles, a five-question incentive check shows which schemes you can access.
Official sources, in Italian. Article 3 of Decree-Law 33/2026 · Decree-Law 193 of 23 October 2026, Official Journal no. 247 · Revenue Agency, resolution 40/E of 26 October 2026 · MIT directorial decree 301 of 28 August 2026 · Ministerial decree of 26 August 2026, Official Journal no. 224 of 26 September 2026 · MIT, claim platform and FAQ · ADM, diesel benefits for the second quarter of 2026 · ADM, diesel benefits for the third quarter of 2026 · Ministerial decree of 27 October 2026 on the excise cut, Official Journal no. 250 · ADM, excise rates in force · Chamber of Deputies, question time of 7 October 2026. Amounts, windows and pro-rating percentages can change: check the rules in force with your accountant before counting on the credit.