Spa bonus 2021: how it works, affiliated facilities

The funds allocated so far amount to a total of 43 million euros which are intended to finance unit vouchers of a maximum value of 200 euros for the purchase of spa treatments to be carried out from a list of accredited facilities.

Who can get the spa bonus and how much it amounts

Adults who are resident in the national territory, regardless of their income, can book a single voucher even if the amount of the services purchased is less than the maximum limit of 200 euros. No.Should the purchase price of the spa services be higher than said maximum limit, the excess amount will be fully charged to the user.

The voucher cannot be transferred to third parties either free of charge or in exchange for a cash consideration, it does not contribute to the user’s taxable income and is not relevant for the purpose of calculating the ISEE value.

Which spas do you accredit for the bonus

To be eligible for the benefits, the spa services:

• they must be provided by accredited thermal institutions according to the procedure described below;
• they must not already be borne by the National Health Service, other public bodies or subject to additional benefits recognized to the user, without prejudice to any deductions provided for by current tax legislation on the cost of the spa service that may not be covered by the voucher.

A list of accredited structures is being published on the Mise and Invitalia website.

The role of Invitalia

The Ministry of Economic Development has indicated the National Agency for the attraction of investments and business development Spa – Invitalia, an “in house company” of the Ministry, as the manager of the intervention on the basis of an agreement that will be stipulated between the parties, the cost of which is borne by the same fund established for the facilitation up to a maximum limit of 2 per cent of the available resources.

Invitalia is responsible for the creation and management of a specific IT procedure that must be used by the thermal institutions interested in accreditation.

Spa accreditation procedure

The “thermal entities” decree considers the subjects, registered in the register of companies, which operate in the thermal sector and curative mineral waters, with the Ateco 2007 code 96.04.20 «Thermal establishments».

For the accreditation of the spa, the legal representative must:

• access the IT platform managed by Invitalia with their SPID credentials;
• enter the personal data of the spa and the details of the authorization to open the activity;
• enter the data necessary for the purpose of providing reimbursements to the spa for the vouchers used by users;
• attach a copy of the authorization to open the spa activity and the necessary substitute certification declarations, issued pursuant to art. 47 decree of the President of the Republic 28 December 2000, n. 445, in which the possession of the requisites necessary for carrying out the activity of supplying the spa services is certified and in which the commitment is made to promptly communicate any changes connected to the suspension or closure of the activity;
• upload the declaration with which the spa body undertakes to acquire the consent, from users, to the processing and transfer of data to Invitalia pursuant to articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR regulation;
• send the request for accreditation.

Following the carrying out of its own checks, Invitalia may:

• proceed with accreditation, notifying the spa and updating the list of spa facilities where the voucher can be booked, which will be made available in the special section dedicated to the intervention on the Invitalia website;
• communicate to the spa the negative outcome of the request, motivating the non-acceptance in compliance with the procedures referred to in the law of 7 August 1990, n. 241.

How to ask for the spa bonus

Those interested in the spa bonus must make a prior reservation at one of the accredited spa institutions which, upon receipt of the bonus, will have to carry out the following activities:

• access the IT platform managed by Invitalia with the SPID credentials of the legal representative of the spa or his delegate;
• enter the information relating to the request for the voucher made by the user, including consent to the processing and transfer of data to Invitalia pursuant to articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR regulation. In this phase, the information system verifies that, for the specific user, there are no already active reservations or previous use of the voucher;
• send the voucher reservation request.

The IT platform (after checking the residual availability of financial resources) issues a confirmation of the reservation made, which is assigned a unique identification code.

Provision of spa services and payment of the voucher

The provision of spa services must take place within a maximum of sixty days from the booking of the voucher, otherwise its validity expires and the sums fall within the availability of the fund.

In this phase, the spa must carry out the following activities:

• access the IT platform managed by Invitalia with the SPID credentials of the legal representative of the spa or his delegate;
• select the reservation referring to the user;
• enter the start date of the spa services that are the subject of the reservation.

At the end of the treatment cycle by the user and, in any case, no later than forty-five days from the start date of the provision of the spa services, the spa, after issuing the relevant invoice, may request a refund of the value of the voucher used. by the user by carrying out the following activities:

• access the IT platform managed by Invitalia with the SPID credentials of the legal representative of the spa or his delegate;
• select the reservation of the voucher referring to the user;
• enter the data relating to the provision of the spa services provided, including the details and the amount of the invoice issued as well as the amount of the voucher actually used by the user;
• upload the required attachments including:
  • the invoice issued by the spa for the provision of spa services, containing the unique code assigned to each booking;
  • the declaration, made by the same spa, certifying that, for the user who is the holder of the invoice, consent has been acquired for the processing and transfer of data pursuant to articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR regulation, to Invitalia;
  • further statements made by the legal representative of the spa certifying compliance with the regulations governing this intervention.

If the procedure is correctly completed, Invitalia proceeds, within the month following the submission of the refund request, to the disbursement of the amount corresponding to the voucher on the current account of the thermal institution indicated in the request for accreditation, without prejudice to the greater terms. connected to the possible performance of control activities.

In the event of a negative outcome of the checks, Invitalia does not proceed to disburse the requested voucher to the spa, which is understood, to all intents and purposes, to be revoked.

The Ministry of Economic Development, with a notice published on the websites of the same Ministry and Invitalia, communicates:

• the start of the voucher booking operations
• the exhaustion of available financial resources
• updated information on the consistency of the Fund’s current financial resources.

Conclusions

Despite the laudable initiative of wanting to support a sector deeply affected by the emergency provisions relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic, my impression is that, once again, a too bureaucratic and elaborate mechanism has been created that places procedural obligations on the spas useless and complex that will require the training of (at least) one resource for the management of vouchers and the correct use of an IT platform of dubious utility. How much will the implementation and management of the procedures related to the entire IT process cost to the spa in terms of direct and indirect costs? Less than two hundred euros in practice seems difficult.

So what is the use of an incentive that costs more than the benefit?

Furthermore, the use and access to the bonus become complex even for potential customers who, in turn, will have to:

• keep up-to-date on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development and / or Invitalia on the opening time for booking vouchers and on the list of accredited facilities;
• contact the accredited structures to request the reservation without any certainty about the outcome of the same.

There is indeed a great need for streamlining, rationalization and optimization of the services offered by the Public Administration.

It is true that the original provision was contained in a 2020 Decree, prior to the presentation of the PNRR, but it is equally true that it constitutes a shining example of a mechanism destined not to have the effects for which it was designed.

It would have been enough to leave on top:

• to the citizen who wished to take advantage of the vouchers, the cost of the relative reservation on a dedicated computer application, as was done in the last year for bonuses of all kinds;
• to the spa institution the burden of accrediting itself on the same platform by simultaneously entering the data necessary to receive the transfer for the payment of the vouchers and that of issuing an invoice with contextual indication on the same of the following elements:
  • start and end date of the spa service
  • actual amount of the voucher used
  • unique booking code
• to the bodies in charge the necessary checks that do not seem at all facilitated by the obligations imposed on the thermal institutions.