Social Security contributions in case of conciliation for amounts not paid in the case of a title independent from previous contracts
The Supreme Court wishes to analyze once again if amounts of money used to end a contract are subject to contribution. They wish to take a new look at the principle according to which if an employer-employee transaction is foreign to the transaction between the employer and the Italian Social Security institution (the INPS), then the INPS can protest, saying that the non-declared transaction is illegal and that some money should be paid to the INPS in order to make the transaction legal.
With the exception of money paid to a worker in order to facilitate his or her leaving the company, according to Article 12 of Law 153/1969, all compensation paid to workers (in the form of money or goods) will be subject to Social Security contribution, if this compensation has to do with a working relationship.
The Italian Supreme Court also clearly stated that the principle expressed above will not be applied if the company can explicitly show that worker and employer have decided to end their preceding unlimited contract and to draw up a new one which is limited. This can only take place if the conditions of the new contract are different from the previous one, and such new conditions must include a novelty in the type of work being performed and in the professional title, pursuant to Article 1230 of the Italian Civil Code, characterized, however, not only by aliquid novi (new clauses in the contract), but also by animus novandi (unmistakable manifestation of the intention to carry out a new kind of work), as well as by causa novandi (common interest shared by both parties that the professional activity will be different) (see also Supreme Court Law number 5665, issued on March 9, 2010, and Law number 6081, issued on March 12, 2010).
