Can housing bonuses be seized from debtors?

Pignoramento presso terzi e bonus edilizi

The third-party attachment can also extend to future credits, but can it affect the building bonuses that the taxpayer has accrued as a tax deduction over 10 years? Are building bonuses seizable? Seizure is an act by which a debtor’s property is forcibly taken to settle a debt.
Third-party attachment, in fact, targets the debtor’s movable property: directly on the salary with the seizure of the latter, or directly on the pension (in both cases, seizure occurs only for a fifth above the vital minimum).

Seizability of future credits

The Court of Cassation, with judgment 3184 of October 27, 2022, ruled on the seizure of future credits.
The Judges, called to rule on an appeal brought by the original creditor on the possibility of seizing from the debtor the debts owed to two companies resulting from a not yet final court ruling.

In the judgment, which upholds the appeal, the Supreme Judges state that:

“The execution by levy of execution against third parties can also concern future credits, not yet due, conditional, and even potential, with the sole limit of their connection to an identified and already existing legal relationship; therefore, even the credit for the payment of the price of the promising seller, arising from a preliminary contract, is capable of seizure under art.
543 of the Italian Civil Procedure Code, since – however possible, depending on its effective maturation on the realization of the negotiation program, whether spontaneous or coercive, under art.
2932 of the Italian Civil Code – it is specifically linked to an existing relationship and therefore has future satisfaction capacity, concretely foreseeable at the time of allocation.”

The future credit on which seizure can occur must be certain, liquid, and due.
In the case of the seizure of possible refunds, before proceeding with forced execution, it must be verified that the refund is due and that the amount has been quantified.

Seizability of building bonuses

Approaching the legislation regulating the seizure of future credits necessitates delving into building bonuses, as they are precisely future credits.
Building bonuses are not seizable by their very nature, as established by law.
These bonuses are not liquid since they can only be used in offsetting payments (by paying with form F24) or in annual deductions.
In both cases, only the assignee can use them, and if the reference quota is not recovered within a year, it cannot be refunded in subsequent years.

Therefore, building bonuses are not enforceable credits but merely a right to a deduction (which must also be verified based on possessing the requirements for the right).
Unlike refunds, building credits are a right to a deduction that does not provide actual cash but only a discount on the tax due.