Politics · Italy · 10 hrs ago
Italy’s top court limits pension repayment for some Quota 100 retirees
Italy’s Supreme Court has limited pension repayments for people who retired under the Quota 100 scheme and then worked before reaching the standard old-age pension age.
Quota 100 let people retire early if they met age and contribution requirements by the end of 2021.
Its rules generally barred recipients from combining their pension with work income, with a limited exception for occasional self-employment earning up to €5,000 a year.
In the case before the court, a retiree did collaborative work in 2020, and the social security agency, INPS, demanded repayment of the full year’s pension.
The court ruled that the repayment must match the income earned, rather than cover all pension payments for that year.
It upheld the finding that the work fell under the ban, even though the pay was below €5,000, because the work was not considered occasional.
The case returns to Bari’s appeals court to determine the amount the retiree must repay.
Italy’s Supreme Court ruled that some retirees who breached Quota 100’s work-income ban need repay only an amount equal to their work earnings, not a full year of pension.
The ruling rejects the national social security agency INPS’s demand for the entire annual pension.
The court upheld the view that the retiree’s work was not occasional work covered by the exception to the ban.
The case concerns a pensioner who carried out paid collaborations in 2020 and earned less than €5,000.
The Court of Appeal of Bari must now recalculate the amount to be repaid.
- Who
- Italy’s Supreme Court ruled on a pensioner’s case against the national social security agency, INPS.
- What
- The court limited repayment to an amount equal to the income earned from work, rather than the full annual pension.
- When
- The ruling, judgment No. 26864, was published on 14 October 2026.
- Where
- The case will return to the Court of Appeal of Bari for recalculation.
- Why
- The court said the pension and work income cannot be received together, but the law does not provide for suspending a full year of pension.
INPS
Italy’s Supreme Court
Repayment
INPS
INPS sought repayment of the entire annual pension.
Italy’s Supreme Court
The court limited repayment to the amount earned from work.
Application of the work ban
INPS
INPS argued the pensioner’s collaborations breached the ban on combining Quota 100 pension and work income.
Italy’s Supreme Court
The court upheld the view that the work was not occasional work covered by the exception.
The pensioner carried out paid collaborations while receiving a Quota 100 pension.
The Supreme Court published judgment No. 26864, limiting repayment to the amount earned from work.
The case was sent back to the Court of Appeal of Bari to recalculate the amount.
- Judgment
- No. 26864/2026
- Work year
- 2020
- Work earnings
- Less than €5,000
- Next court
- Court of Appeal of Bari
- Quota 100 eligibility
- At least 62 years old and 38 years of contributions, with requirements met by 31 December 2021
3 sources
What people are saying
a consequence of the ban which, in the silence of the law, cannot be affirmed
such a disruptive and markedly punitive effect would have required an explicit textual basis