Practical regulations
How to manage building bonuses in a condominium
Building renovation bonuses remain one of the most delicate areas of condominium management: they involve assembly resolutions with specific quorums, the choice between allocating costs by ownership shares or by actual expenditure, mandatory payment traceability, and a body of documentation that must hold up to scrutiny years later. A procedural error, even a purely formal one, can jeopardize the tax deduction for the entire building, not just for a single owner. This guide walks through the steps a property manager must oversee, from convening the assembly to archiving supporting documents, with the goal of reducing the risk of disputes and keeping the process verifiable at any point, even long after the work is completed.
Resolutions: quorums and correct minute keeping
Article 1120 of the Italian Civil Code governs innovations and eligible interventions such as energy efficiency upgrades, removal of architectural barriers, and anti seismic measures, setting a reduced quorum for each category compared to ordinary majority decisions. The minutes must record not only the vote outcome but also the technical description of the work, the estimated cost, the chosen cost allocation criterion, and, where applicable, the option for credit transfer or invoice discount communicated by interested owners.
A practice that reduces disputes is attaching the detailed estimate and the technical report from the professional in charge to the minutes, so there is a clear link between what was resolved and what was actually carried out. Software such as AmministraPro allows the digital minutes to be linked directly to technical documents and estimates, keeping everything in the same electronic file for the intervention.
Allocating deductions: ownership shares or actual cost
The general rule, unless a different allocation table has been approved for the building or for common parts with differentiated use, is allocation according to ownership shares, consistent with Article 1123 of the Civil Code. For work affecting parts not shared by everyone, such as a staircase serving only some floors, the criterion of Article 1124 or the specific tables already in use for those parts applies instead.
Some interventions combine multiple cost categories, such as a centralized heating system, the facade, and structural parts. In these cases the portion of expenditure attributable to each type of work must be distinguished, because tax deductions can carry different percentages and ceilings depending on the intervention category. Allocation should therefore be documented item by item, not as a single aggregate amount, so each owner can correctly report their share in their tax return.
Documentation and payment traceability
Payments for subsidized interventions must go through a bank transfer bearing the required regulatory references, the correct payment reason, the tax code of the person entitled to the deduction, and the VAT number or tax code of the entity that carried out the work. An error in the transfer reason is among the most frequent causes of disputes during audits, so it is worth preparing a standard template to give all owners before payments begin.
For the condominium, it is advisable to keep, in addition to invoices, the assembly minutes, the ownership share allocation table applied, the sworn technical report when required, communications regarding credit transfer or invoice discount, and receipts for the traceable bank transfers. Keeping these documents in a digital archive organized by intervention, rather than by single invoice, makes both reporting to owners and any later audit easier.
Credit transfer and invoice discount: what changes for the manager
When owners opt for credit transfer or invoice discount, the property manager becomes the collection point for individual choices: each owner can independently decide whether to transfer the credit, use the discount, or keep the direct deduction, and these choices must be gathered, verified, and communicated to the supplier or financial institution with the relevant forms.
It is useful to prepare a summary table that cross references, for each owner, the ownership share of the cost, the tax option chosen, and the status of the communication, so any inconsistency can be identified before final submission. Managing this information digitally within the condominium software, with AmministraPro, reduces the risk of transcription errors between the minutes, the allocation plan, and the tax communications.
Frequently asked questions
Who must approve building bonuses in a condominium: is a simple majority enough?
It depends on the type of intervention. Article 1120 of the Civil Code sets reduced quorums for energy efficiency upgrades, removal of architectural barriers, and anti seismic measures, generally lower than the majority required for ordinary innovations. For extraordinary maintenance work that does not fall into these categories, the ordinary quorums of Article 1136 apply instead. The property manager, with the assistance of the appointed technician, must verify which category the intervention falls into before convening the assembly, indicating the relevant quorum on the agenda.
How are deductions allocated when the work concerns only some owners?
If the work concerns common parts used by all owners, the general ownership shares apply under Article 1123. If it concerns common parts with limited use, such as a staircase or elevator serving only some units, the specific allocation table for that part applies, as provided by the third paragraph of Article 1123 or by Article 1124 for staircases and elevators. The assembly resolution must expressly state which criterion applies, to avoid later disputes over cost allocation.
What happens if one owner chooses credit transfer and another chooses the direct deduction?
Each owner can independently choose the tax option for their own share of the cost, regardless of the choices made by other owners. The property manager must collect the individual options, verify the completeness of the supporting documents, and submit the necessary communications separately for each owner, keeping distinct traceability for those who transfer the credit, those who opt for the invoice discount, and those who keep the direct deduction on their tax return.
What documents must the condominium keep after the work is completed?
In addition to paid invoices, the condominium should keep the assembly minutes with the resolution approving the work, the ownership share allocation table applied, the technical report from the professional when required for that category of intervention, receipts for bank transfers with the correct payment reason, and documentation relating to any credit transfers or invoice discounts. Organizing these documents in a single file per intervention, as AmministraPro allows, simplifies both routine reporting to owners and any later audit.
Does an error in the bank transfer reason jeopardize the deduction for the whole condominium?
An error in the bank transfer reason can create difficulties in verifying payment traceability and, in the event of an audit, may require additional documentation to demonstrate the payment was made correctly. For this reason it is good practice for the property manager to give all owners a correct template for the payment reason before payments begin, checking the first transfers made so any recurring errors can be corrected promptly before they are repeated across subsequent installments.
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