Pensions, fringe benefits to be communicated by February 21st: what they are and who must do it

The INPS has announced with a message the instructions on when and how employers will have to communicate to the body the data on the fringe benefits paid in 2023 to employees who have stopped working due to retirement.
He did it with message no.
32/2024 in which he explained that compliance is essential to allow INPS to carry out the activities as withholding agent, necessary to carry out the tax adjustment.
Here is all the info.
Fringe benefits to be communicated by 21 February INPS invites employers who have provided fringe benefits to employees who stopped working in 2023 due to retirement, to communicate the data by 21 February.
INPS is called upon to carry out tax withholding activities, based on the information provided by employers.
For these compensations, the expanded cash principle applies, which establishes that compensation paid by 12 January 2024 still falls within the previous tax period (year 2023).
To ensure effective implementation of these obligations, it urges employers to make the communication by February 21st.
The transmission must necessarily take place electronically using the «Corporate Benefit Communication» application.
All communications arriving after 21 February, INPS writes, will not be subject to an end-of-year tax adjustment, but to adjustments to the 2024 single certifications.
In the annotations of these certifications, the taxpayer will be informed of the obligation to submit the declaration of incomes.
What are fringe benefits When talking about corporate welfare, we cannot fail to mention fringe benefits.
These are compensations that go beyond the regular salary paid by the employer in kind.
These are not offered in the form of money but in the form of goods and services.
Remuneration in kind is established by article 2099, paragraph 3 of the Civil Code: "the worker can also be remunerated in whole or in part [with participation in profits or products, with commission or] with benefits in kind", it is read.
Fringe benefits, constituting part of the salary, therefore contribute to the formation of income from employment.
Among the types of fringe benefits we can find the company car, shopping vouchers or other things such as: insurance policies granting loans; purchases of company shares (so-called stock options); accommodation that is made available to the employee; company cell phone; shopping vouchers; shopping vouchers; cafeteria service; health care.
In the last two years the exemption threshold for fringe benefits has undergone several fluctuations.
Previously the threshold was set at 258.23 euros.
Then the Aid-bis Decree, which came into force on 10 August 2022, raised this threshold to 600 euros.
Then the Quater Aid Law Decree published in the Official Journal on 18 November 2022 raised this threshold to 3,000 euros for the same tax period.
In 2023 the tax-free threshold returned to 258.23 euros, except for employees with dependent children, in favor of whom the Labor Decree extended the increase in the exemption threshold to 3,000 euros for 2023.
read also Fringe benefits 2024, what they are and new exemption limits