TFR vs Pension Fund Calculator

From 1 July 2026, the Legge di Bilancio 2026 directs a new hire's TFR, and any contractual contributions tied to it, automatically into the pension fund named by their CCNL, unless the worker opts out within 60 days of being hired. Domestic workers are excluded from the rule. It only changes where the money defaults to; the fund still compounds and pays out under the same rules this calculator models, so running your own numbers before the window closes is exactly what the deadline is for.

The gap comes from how the two principals are taxed, not from returns alone. The fund's payout rate falls from 15% to a 9% floor as your participation years grow, while the employer's tassazione separata approximation, your average IRPEF rate, usually sits well above that band, often between 23% and 43%. In the zero-return case worked out for this calculator, a flat salary, no inflation, and no fund growth at all, the fund still ends ahead of the employer purely on that asymmetry.

Article 2120 of the civil code revalues the employer-held stock each year at a fixed 1.5% plus 75% of the ISTAT FOI inflation index, taxed annually at 17% under the substitute-tax regime. This calculator uses your own inflation assumption in place of a live FOI feed, which keeps the projection under your control and free of monthly data maintenance, at the cost of not tracking the actual index month by month. A negative inflation assumption never pushes the rate below its fixed 1.5% component, matching how the coefficient behaved in the negative-FOI year of 2020.

The withholding on the contributed principal starts at 15% for a payout taken within 15 years of participation and falls by 0.30 percentage points for every year beyond that, down to a 9% floor at 35 years; this calculator applies that schedule as if the full position were taken as capital. From 1 July 2026 the law caps the capital share at 60% for most positions, with the rest paid as an annuity or under a new erogazione frazionata option taxed on a separate schedule starting at 20% and falling to a 15% floor. Those newer mechanics affect timing, not the rate on the capital share modeled here, and are covered only as background, not as a separate branch of this calculator.

Most Italian collective agreements (CCNL) define the employer's matching contribution as a percent of gross salary, conditioned on the employee also contributing their own money; moving your TFR alone, with no personal contribution, usually does not unlock any match at all. The advanced section lets you enter that employer contribution rate for the scenario where your CCNL or a personal arrangement grants one on top of the TFR flow, but it defaults to zero because that is the common case.

Since 2007, employers with at least 50 employees do not hold TFR left with them directly: they transfer it monthly to INPS's Fondo di Tesoreria, which revalues it under the identical formula this calculator uses for the employer branch. The worker's outcome from leaving TFR with the employer is unaffected either way, so this calculator does not need a separate input for company size.

TFR left with the employer is paid out in full at every job change, and part of it can be advanced under art. 2120 rules for documented needs like buying a first home or medical expenses. Money moved into a pension fund is locked until retirement, with only narrow exceptions, such as a riscatto for specific hardships or a partial anticipazione after eight years of participation for a home purchase or medical costs. The net difference this calculator shows is, in part, the price of that lost flexibility, not a free lunch.

It assumes a standard single-employer position, uses one effective tax rate for the fund's annual result rather than splitting out the government-bond carve-out, and applies the capitale payout schedule to the whole position rather than modeling the 60/40 capital-and-annuity split or the frazionata schedule in detail. Riscatto, anticipazioni, and any payout taken under pre-reform rules in the first half of 2026 are out of scope. The cost presets (negoziale, aperto, PIP) are COVIP averages, not any specific fund's number: check your own fund's indicatore sintetico di costo on COVIP's ISC comparatore before relying on the projection. For how much to contribute to a fondo pensione and what it saves on tax, see the fondo pensione calculator.