News · Business taxation · – 29 July 2026

Capital gains on operating assets: spreading disappears in 2026

TOPIC
The 2026 Budget Law rewrites Article 86, paragraph 4, of the TUIR and changes the tax arithmetic of disposals.

Until 2025 a business realising a capital gain on an operating asset held for at least three years could choose to spread it in equal instalments over up to five tax periods. Article 1, paragraphs 42 and 43, of Law no. 199 of 30 December 2025 abolished that option for tangible and intangible operating assets: Article 1(43) provides that the new rules «apply to gains realised from the tax period following the one current at 31 December 2025», and from that tax period the gain is included in full in the income of the year of realisation.

Spreading survives for gains on the sale of a business, or of a business division, held for at least three years, while a sole trader selling a business held for more than five years keeps the option for the tassazione separata (separate taxation regime) under Article 17, paragraph 1, letter g), of the TUIR. Instalments already running on earlier gains continue under the original schedule.

IN PRACTICE
Review the timetable of planned disposals and update the calculation of tax advances: the second sentence of the same Article 1(43) requires the previous period’s tax to be taken as the amount that would have been determined by already applying the new rules. The cash-flow effect of a sale is concentrated in a single year, with an immediate impact on the deferred tax recognised in the accounts.

Summary note by the CommercialistiAvvocati network, based on specialised legal and practice sources. The text does not reproduce original contributions and does not constitute professional advice.

← Back to news Contact the network