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Third-sector entities: from 2026 the accounts also matter for tax

Third-sector entities from 2026: which accounts to prepare, RUNTS filing, 6% commerciality test tolerance, secondary activities, volunteers’ notional costs.

From 1 January 2026, entities entered in the Registro unico nazionale del Terzo settore (RUNTS, the national single register of third-sector entities) whose financial year coincides with the calendar year apply the tax regime of the Codice del Terzo settore (Third Sector Code). The annual accounts become the document through which the entity demonstrates, activity by activity, that it remains non-commercial and keeps its attività diverse (secondary activities) within the statutory limits: the format of the accounts, accounting by activity and filing are now a tax matter as well, starting with the accounts for the 2026 financial year.

The framework

The rules are set out in Legislative Decree no. 117 of 3 July 2017 (Codice del Terzo settore, CTS). Title X, which contains the tax regime, was subject to authorisation by the European Commission. Article 8 of Decree-Law no. 84 of 17 June 2025, converted into law by Law no. 108 of 30 July 2025, made it applicable from the tax period following the one in progress on 31 December 2025 (Article 104, paragraph 2); authorisation is now required only for Article 77 (Article 101, paragraph 10). The guidance of the Agenzia delle entrate (Italian Revenue Agency) is set out in circular 1/E of 19 February 2026.

• Annual accounts (Article 13, as amended by Law no. 104 of 4 July 2024): as a rule, a balance sheet (stato patrimoniale), a rendiconto gestionale (statement of activities) and a relazione di missione (mission report), following the formats laid down by the Ministerial Decree (DM) of 5 March 2020, with accounting standard OIC 35 for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2021. Entities without legal personality with income of up to 300,000 euro may prepare a rendiconto per cassa (cash-basis statement). For all entities with income of up to 60,000 euro, the rendiconto per cassa may present receipts and payments in aggregate form (Article 13, paragraph 2-bis), following the format laid down by the DM of 18 February 2026: this is an option, not an obligation.
• Transparency and organo di controllo (supervisory body): the annual accounts and the fundraising statements must be filed with the RUNTS within 180 days of the year end (Article 48, paragraph 3); a bilancio sociale (social report) is required where income exceeds 1 million euro. Where annual income exceeds 100,000 euro, all remuneration paid to members of the governing and supervisory bodies, senior managers and members, whatever the amount, must be published on the entity’s website or on that of its rete associativa (network association) (Article 14, paragraphs 1 and 2). An organo di controllo is always required in foundations and, in associations, when for two consecutive financial years they exceed two of the three thresholds: 150,000 euro of total assets, 300,000 euro of income, 7 employees (Article 30).
• Attività di interesse generale (activities of general interest) and the commerciality test: these are non-commercial if the consideration received, including public contributions paid as consideration, does not exceed actual costs, namely the direct, indirect, general, financial and tax costs attributable to the activity (Article 79, paragraph 2), with a tolerance of 6% for no more than three consecutive tax periods (paragraph 2-bis).
• Status of the entity: it becomes commercial if the income from activities carried on as a business, excluding sponsorships carried on within the limits of the attività diverse (DM 107/2021), exceeds its non-commercial income (paragraph 5). As a transitional measure, in the first two tax periods following the one in progress on 31 December 2025, that is 2026 and 2027 for entities whose financial year coincides with the calendar year, a change of status, in either direction, takes effect from the following tax period (paragraph 5-ter).
• Attività diverse (Article 6 CTS; Article 3 of Ministerial Decree no. 107 of 19 May 2021): revenues not exceeding 30% of total income or 66% of total costs, including the costi figurativi (notional costs) of volunteers entered in the register.

What changes in concrete terms

An associazione di promozione sociale (APS, social promotion association) runs a summer camp: direct costs of 40,000 euro plus 8,000 euro of general costs, hence actual costs of 48,000 euro. It collects 46,000 euro from families, who are not members, and 4,000 euro from the municipality as consideration, 50,000 euro in total. The surplus of 2,000 euro is 4.17% of costs, within the tolerance: the activity remains non-commercial. With receipts of 51,500 euro the surplus would be 3,500 euro, or 7.29%, and the activity would become commercial. In this comparison volunteer hours do not count: what matters are the actual costs under Article 79, paragraph 2, which do not include notional costs.

The same entity has income of 200,000 euro and a bar on its premises, open to the public, with revenues of 70,000 euro, 35% of income. The 30% of income limit is exceeded, but 90,000 euro of recorded costs plus 30,000 euro of volunteer work at its notional value make 120,000 euro, 66% of which is 79,200 euro: the bar remains a secondary attività diversa. Without the notional costs the limit would be 59,400 euro and the bar would exceed it. Here the hours do count, provided the volunteers are entered in the register and the hours actually worked are valued at the gross hourly pay set for the same job grade by the collective agreements referred to in Article 51 of Legislative Decree no. 81/2015.

From 2026, pro loco (local tourism promotion associations), bands and choirs, whether or not entered in the RUNTS, lose the flat-rate regime of Law no. 398 of 16 December 1991 (Article 102, paragraph 2, letters e) and f), CTS). Organizzazioni di volontariato (ODV, voluntary organisations) and APS may apply the flat-rate regime of Article 86 CTS (revenues of up to 85,000 euro, as a rule those of the previous year, with taxable income equal to 1% or 3% of revenues); the flat-rate regime of Article 80, by contrast, is an option available to all non-commercial entities, including these.

In practice

• Governing body, preferably by the end of 2026: decide, by a minuted resolution, the format of the 2026 accounts according to legal personality, income and the nature of the activity.
• Treasurer, during the year: separate accounts for activities of general interest, attività diverse and fundraising, with a documented criterion for allocating shared costs.
• When preparing the accounts: document in the relazione di missione, or at the foot of the rendiconto per cassa, the secondary and instrumental nature of the attività diverse (Article 13, paragraph 6); keep on file the commerciality test schedule for each activity and the volunteers’ timesheets by job grade.
• Directors, within 180 days: filing with the RUNTS; for the 2026 financial year, by 29 June 2027 (Article 48, paragraphs 3 and 5).
• Above 100,000 euro of income, every year: publish remuneration on the website and keep it up to date (Article 14, paragraph 2).
• To be retained: resolutions setting fees, agreements with public bodies, the statement for each fundraising campaign.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using the rendiconto per cassa when the entity, having legal personality and income above 60,000 euro, must prepare accrual-basis accounts.
• Reading the 100,000 euro threshold as a remuneration threshold: it is the income threshold, above which all remuneration is published.
• Including notional costs in the comparison between consideration and actual costs: they count instead for the attività diverse limit.
• Setting fees without first budgeting actual costs: after three consecutive years of tolerated surplus, in the fourth year it is enough for consideration to exceed costs for the activity to become commercial.
• Counting among commercial income, in the test that determines the entity’s status, sponsorships carried on within the limits of the attività diverse (DM 107/2021).
• Filing late: the RUNTS office issues a formal notice setting a deadline of 30 to 180 days and, if the entity fails to comply, removes it from the register (Article 48, paragraph 4).
• Still applying Law no. 398/1991 in 2026 to a pro loco, a band or a choir.

References

Legislative Decree no. 117 of 3 July 2017, Articles 6, 13, paragraphs 2, 2-bis and 6, 14, 30, 48, 79, 80, 86, 89, paragraph 1, letter c), 101, paragraph 10, 102, paragraph 2, letters e) and f), and 104, paragraph 2

Decree-Law no. 84 of 17 June 2025, Article 8, converted into law by Law no. 108 of 30 July 2025

Law no. 104 of 4 July 2024

Law no. 398 of 16 December 1991

Legislative Decree no. 81 of 15 June 2015, Article 51

Ministry of Labour Decree of 5 March 2020 (Gazzetta Ufficiale, GU, no. 102 of 18 April 2020)

Ministerial Decree no. 107 of 19 May 2021, Article 3

Ministry of Labour Decree of 18 February 2026 (GU no. 67 of 21 March 2026)

OIC 35 (February 2022, amendments of 2 March 2023)

Agenzia delle entrate, circular 1/E of 19 February 2026