Gender Equality Certification 2025 and Social Contribution Exemption – INPS Operational Guidelines

With message no. 3804 of 16 December 2025, the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS), in agreement with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies and the Department for Equal Opportunities of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, provided the operational instructions for submitting applications for the social contribution exemption linked to obtaining the Gender Equality Certification in 2025.

The measure, established by Article 5 of Law No. 162/2021, consists of an exemption from the payment of social security contributions payable by the employer, up to 1% of the total contributions due and within the maximum limit of €50,000 per year, to be used over a period of 36 months.

Private employers who meet the requirement of having obtained the Gender Equality Certification by 31 December 2025 may submit their application by 30 April 2026 through the “Incentives Portal” available on the official INPS website.

INPS reminds that the exemption is granted within the annual spending limit of €50 million and that, should the available resources be insufficient, the benefit will be proportionally reduced for all employers who have submitted a potentially eligible application.