If you run trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above for hire or reward in Italy, in September you could claim a tax credit on the rise in diesel prices between March and August 2026. The window closed on 20 September. Three steps now decide how much you will actually receive: pro-rating, because claims exceed the fund; the grant decrees, issued in order of submission; and a very short deadline to use the credit, 31 December 2026.
This guide covers who qualifies and who does not (own-account transport was dropped after the scheme had started), how the credit is calculated, with a worked example based on real prices, how to avoid losing part of it at year-end, and what is known about September and October, which the law now covers but for which no window has opened yet. There is also a section for foreign hauliers.
At a glance
- It goes to hire-and-reward hauliers in Italy’s electronic register of road transport operators (REN), to EU hauliers with a permanent establishment in Italy and to bus operators, for Euro V and Euro VI vehicles only: trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above, and M2 and M3 buses.
- It is worth up to 70% of the extra spend compared with the average February price. At average pump prices for March to August that comes to about €0.18 per litre, before pro-rating.
- It can only be offset against taxes and contributions on the F24 payment form, by 31 December 2026, and it is not taxable. Under current rules, whatever is not used by then is lost.
- September and October are covered by law with €37.2 million more, but no window to claim them has opened yet.
Who qualifies and who does not
The credit comes from Article 3 of Decree-Law 33 of 18 March 2026. At first the law referred to every goods haulier entitled to the quarterly excise refund on commercial diesel, including own-account transport with a licence, and the first implementing decree, of 23 May, included them all. Then the European Commission’s competition directorate stated that the temporary state aid framework for the Middle East crisis does not cover own-account transport. The decree of 26 August, published in Italy’s Official Journal (Gazzetta Ufficiale) on 26 September, narrowed the beneficiaries accordingly.
| Who | 2026 diesel tax credit | Quarterly excise refund |
|---|---|---|
| Hire and reward, trucks 7.5 t and above, Euro V or VI | Yes | Yes |
| Own account with licence, trucks 7.5 t and above, Euro V or VI | No | Yes |
| Euro IV or older trucks, under any regime | No | No |
| Vans and trucks under 7.5 t | No | No |
Businesses that were already in difficulty in the financial year before 28 February 2026 are excluded too, except micro and small enterprises that are not in insolvency proceedings and have received no rescue or restructuring aid. Only diesel for traction counts, so fuel for refrigeration units is out.
If you are a distributor or wholesaler that is also registered as a haulier, check one point. The ministry’s decree refers to the Commission decision authorising the scheme, which admits only businesses whose main activity is road transport, and spot checks can come even after the credit has been granted. If transport is not your main activity, have your accountant assess it before you use the credit.
What it is worth: the formula and an example
The platform calculates the credit on the total for the period, not month by month, with this formula:
credit = 70% × (net spend on diesel for eligible vehicles − litres × €1.39415)The figure of €1.39415 is the average February 2026 price recorded by Italy’s energy ministry, €1.70087 per litre, net of VAT. Spend means invoice amounts, again net of VAT, for the diesel used by eligible vehicles only. Invoices with a price per litre below February’s are left out, and so is February refuelling invoiced in March.
| Month (2026) | Average pump price (€/l incl. VAT) | Theoretical credit per litre |
|---|---|---|
| February | 1.701 (reference) | – |
| March | 1.936 | €0.13 |
| April | 2.105 | €0.23 |
| May | 2.009 | €0.18 |
| June | 1.970 | €0.15 |
| July | 2.006 | €0.17 |
| August | 2.098 | €0.23 |
| September | 2.241 | €0.31 |
February is the official reference; the other months are our averages of the ministry’s weekly surveys, not its official monthly figure. The theoretical credit applies to a business that paid the average pump price.
An example with ten Euro VI tractor units
A hire-and-reward haulier runs ten Euro VI tractor units that use 35,000 litres a year each, so about 175,000 litres between March and August. At the average pump price its net spend was about €289,900, against the €244,000 it would have spent at February prices. The extra spend is therefore €45,900, and the theoretical credit at 70% is about €32,100, just over €3,200 per truck.
Two things cut it. The first is the price actually paid. A haulier that buys with a discounted fuel card or fills its own depot tank pays less than the pump price, while the February reference stays fixed: a discount of 5 cents per litre including VAT takes about €5,000 off the credit, or 16%. The second is pro-rating, which applies to everyone.
| Pro-rating | Credit in the example |
|---|---|
| 100% | €32,100 |
| 75% | €24,100 |
| 50% | €16,100 |
Why you will receive less than the formula says
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) has already said that total claims exceed the fund, so every credit will be cut in proportion. The fund for March to August is €386.2 million according to the platform page, raised to €397.6 million by the law converting Decree-Law 133, in force since 26 September. The pro-rating percentage has not been published yet.
The credit can fall further if the check in Italy’s national state aid register finds other aid on the same costs beyond the cumulation limits. The excise refund does not reduce it: the platform calculates the credit without it, and the two together must not exceed what you spent on diesel.
When it arrives and how to use it
- The MIT runs spot checks on whether businesses are in difficulty and on anti-mafia requirements, and checks cumulation in the national state aid register.
- It then grants the credit through one or more grant decrees, possible since 26 September, when the 26 August decree was published. They follow the order of submission, and a business that cancelled and resubmitted its claim takes the position of the second submission.
- The MIT sends the amounts to the Revenue Agency. The credit can be used from the tenth day after that, when it shows in the company’s tax drawer (cassetto fiscale) under “crediti agevolativi”; the granted amount also appears on the platform, in the claim details.
- It can only be used as an offset, on an F24 filed through the Revenue Agency’s online services, by 31 December 2026 and without the usual annual offset caps. It is not business income and does not count towards the regional business tax (IRAP).
As of 30 September the Revenue Agency has not yet created the tax code the F24 needs. Its list of 2026 resolutions includes the code for the twin credit for fishing businesses (7080), not the one for road haulage. Code 7060, which comes up in searches, was created in 2024 for an earlier diesel credit and does not apply here.
The real risk: using it by 31 December
The deadline is the weak point of the scheme. The credit can be used from the tenth day after the amounts reach the Revenue Agency, and in early August Confartigianato’s Macerata branch expected the review to close by 15 December. If the decrees arrive in the first days of December, the F24 due on 16 December is still available, with payroll withholding, social contributions and, for monthly filers, November VAT. If they come close to 15 December, the credit becomes usable after that date, and in practice only the VAT advance is left, due on Monday 28 December this year because the 27th falls on a Sunday. Under current rules any part with nothing to offset is lost, because the law provides neither a carry-forward nor a refund. In early August the same branch reported that trade associations were pushing for a longer deadline; as of 30 September there is no extension.
So it pays to run the numbers now. Estimate the credit with the formula above, apply a cautious pro-rating and compare it with your December F24 liabilities. If the credit is larger, talk to your accountant before December. This matters most for businesses that submitted in the last days of the window, because with grants issued in order of submission they will be among the last to receive the credit.
September and October: covered by law, no window yet
Decree-Law 157 of 10 September extended the credit to September with €16 million, and Decree-Law 162 of 17 September to October with another €21.2 million. The MIT page still covers March to August only, so the two new months will need a new window, and there is no date yet.
Two numbers point to stricter pro-rating. In September the price rise was the highest of the year, about €0.31 of theoretical credit per litre at pump prices, while the funds are smaller: €16 million for September and €21.2 million for October, against an average of about €66 million a month for March to August.
Meanwhile, it makes sense to prepare the data the way the first window asked for it: total litres per month for eligible vehicles only, the list of their plates, invoices with their SdI e-invoicing identifier (for netting fuel cards, the invoice number prefixed with “net-”), and fuel for refrigeration units kept separate. That is where most errors happened. Among claims submitted by 15 September, the MIT counted 2,624 rejected for errors in the invoice file and 502 with a negative amount.
If you are a foreign haulier
An EU haulier qualifies only with a permanent establishment in Italy. The MIT’s FAQ admits REN-registered businesses and foreign hauliers with an Italian permanent establishment, and nobody else. Diesel bought in other EU countries counts, entered with the invoice number followed by the supplier’s VAT number, while invoices from suppliers with a Swiss VAT number are left out. Legal representatives without an Italian digital identity (SPID or CIE) had to go through the platform’s help desk with a written delegation to a named person, which is worth arranging before the next window.
Without an Italian establishment, the excise refund remains. Hauliers established in other member states can claim it on diesel bought in Italy, sending the quarterly claim to the customs office assigned to their country.
If you are excluded: what is left
Own-account operators with trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above do not get the credit, but they do get the quarterly excise refund, like hire-and-reward hauliers. It is claimed from the Customs and Monopolies Agency (ADM) in the month after each quarter (for July to September, from 1 October to 2 November 2026), and it can be offset on the F24 with tax code 6740 or paid out in cash. From 1 October, a claim you want to offset on the F24 can only be filed through ADM’s EDI online service, no longer by PEC or on paper, and businesses without access must apply for it first. Tacit approval, after which the credit can be offset, now takes 30 days. The refund is the difference between the excise duty in force and the commercial diesel rate of €403.22 per 1,000 litres: €269.68 at the standard 2026 rate, down to €69.68 while the duty was cut to €472.90, from 1 April to 22 May. For July to September there are five amounts, from €129.68 to €269.68 per 1,000 litres depending on the day of refuelling, and the claim asks for each vehicle’s litres and kilometres split by period.
This has an effect few people notice. For businesses that get the refund, an excise cut does not lower the cost of diesel: net duty stays at €403.22 per 1,000 litres, and what they save at the pump they lose on the refund. ADM says as much in its guidance note of 30 September: for refund holders, the cuts have no effect on excise. The only gain is cash flow, because the cut is immediate and the refund comes months later. For a heavy truck on own account, then, Italy’s 2026 diesel measures did little. The excise cut was absorbed by a smaller refund, and the credit does not apply.
Vans and trucks under 7.5 tonnes get neither the credit nor the refund. For them the help was the excise cut at the pump, which is shrinking: from 26 September to 5 October the duty is €622.90 per 1,000 litres, against the standard €672.90.
The litres you do not burn are worth more
The credit covers at most 70% of the price rise, before pro-rating and only for the months covered. A litre you do not burn is worth its full price: in September, even net of VAT and the excise refund, more than €1.60, over five times the theoretical credit. And from 2028 ETS2 will add a carbon price to every litre.
The seven levers to cut fleet fuel consumption start from kilometres, and the first step is knowing what each one really costs, with the correct cost-per-kilometre calculation. The rest comes down to routes: how many empty kilometres you run and how many vehicles each shift needs. OptivoRoute plans routes around the constraints of each delivery, from time windows to vehicle capacity.
Frequently asked questions
Does the diesel tax credit apply to own-account transport?
No. The decree of 26 August 2026, in the Official Journal since 26 September, limited the beneficiaries to hire-and-reward hauliers, EU hauliers with a permanent establishment in Italy and passenger transport, after the European Commission had ruled out own-account transport. Own-account operators with trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above keep the quarterly excise refund.
Do vans qualify for the diesel tax credit?
No. The scheme requires category N vehicles of 7.5 tonnes and above, or M2 and M3 buses, of emission class Euro V or Euro VI.
Can a foreign haulier claim the credit?
Only with a permanent establishment in Italy. Without one, the quarterly excise refund on diesel bought in Italy is still available to hauliers established in other EU member states.
Can I still claim for March to August?
No. The window on the ADM platform closed at 23:59 on 20 September 2026, and since then claims can no longer be changed or resubmitted.
When will the credit show in the tax drawer?
It becomes usable ten days after the MIT sends the Revenue Agency the amounts in the grant decrees, which follow the order of submission. No dates have been published; in early August Confartigianato’s Macerata branch expected the review to close by 15 December.
What is the tax code for offsetting the credit?
As of 30 September 2026 it has not been created. The Revenue Agency will do so with a resolution, and until then the credit cannot be offset. Code 7060 belongs to an earlier credit and does not apply.
Can the credit be combined with the excise refund?
Yes. The platform calculates the credit without taking the refund into account, and together the two must not exceed what was spent on diesel.
Is the excise refund for hauliers still available in 2026?
Yes. The quarterly refund on commercial diesel remains for Euro V and Euro VI trucks of 7.5 tonnes and above, both hire-and-reward and licensed own-account. For July to September the claim goes to the Customs and Monopolies Agency from 1 October to 2 November 2026, and from 1 October, if you want to offset it, only through ADM’s EDI online service. The amount follows the excise duty in force: €269.68 per 1,000 litres at the standard 2026 rate, less while the duty is cut. For July to September it ranges from €129.68 to €269.68, depending on the day of refuelling.
What happens if I do not use the whole credit by 31 December?
Under current rules the unused part is lost, because the law provides neither a carry-forward to the next year nor a refund. In August trade associations were pushing for a later deadline, which had not come by 30 September.
Is the credit taxable?
No. It is not business income, it does not count towards IRAP and it does not affect the deductibility ratios for interest and general expenses.
The next step
The credit covers eight months and arrives cut by pro-rating; diesel is paid for every day. If you want to see what kilometres cost you on your actual routes, talk to our team. For vehicles, a five-question incentive check shows which schemes you can access.
Official sources, in Italian. Article 3 of Decree-Law 33/2026 · MIT directorial decree 301 of 28 August 2026 · Ministerial decree of 26 August 2026, Official Journal no. 224 of 26 September 2026 · MIT, claim platform and FAQ · ADM, diesel benefits for the second quarter of 2026 · ADM, diesel benefits for the third quarter of 2026. Amounts, windows and pro-rating percentages can change: check the rules in force with your accountant before counting on the credit.