12.02.2013 - Family allowances, both valid and expired ones

It happens more often than you think that people forget to submit an application for a family allowance to their employer or that when they change the employer, they are certain to lose the allowances that have not been requested on time.

In reality the time in which one is supposed to claim a family allowance expires after 5 years and the application might be also submitted to your previous employer, naturally, for the period of time when you were still their employee and, if you are still entitled to receive these allowances, to the present employer as well.

Another thing that discourages potential requestors is the conviction that the limit of income which permits them to receive a family allowance is so low that they find it unlikely to find themselves among those who can take advantage of it.

The first necessary step to take will be then to check what are the family income limits.

First of all, it is crucial for every year in which you were entitled to a family allowance you have not yet applied for, to (concerns all family members):

• Procure the modello 730, the modello UNICO or the CUD certification respectively;
• Verify the income received from dependent employment;
• Verify the existence of any other incomes.

Important: the complete family income must consist of not less than 70% of income received from dependent employment.

Once your income class is verified, it is possible to find out in the following charts what would be the level of your allowance.

Since we have mentioned five years as an application deadline, we present you the charts related to the years 2008-2013, specifying the income classes and the number of family members.

• 2008/2009;
• 2009/2010;
• 2010/2011;
• 2011/2012;
• 2012/2013.

If you pass the test, you need to submit the request to:

• your employer, in case if you are an employee, using a relevant template. Consequently, the employer is obliged to pay you the allowance for the period of your work, even if the request was submitted after the work contract had been terminated but no later than 5 years afterwards;
• INPS in case if you are a member of a domestic service staff, an agricultural worker in employment with a fixed-term contract, a worker subscribed to a special fund for self-employed workers or being entitled to any other welfare provisions.

The application must be submitted to INPS using one of the following options:

• WEB – telematic services available for those who have a PIN code to the INPS’s website – service ‘Invio OnLine di Domande di prestazioni a Sostegno del reddito’;
• Contact Center – a free of charge phone number 803164 for fixed phone lines or number 06164164 for mobile phones, according to the network charge;
• Patronage – with the use of telematic services suggested by themselves

N.B.: Every change in the amount of income and/or in the number of family members during the period of the family allowance must be communicated within 30 days.