Excise duty cuts extended until today, government works on flexible excise duty and a contribution from oil companies

The cut in excise duties on fuel, which was due to expire at midnight on August 24, 2026, has been extended by the Italian government until August 26, 2026: that is, until today. It is the third step in a story this newspaper has been following for days, and the point is no longer the extension itself, but the mechanism meant to replace it.

The flexible excise duty

The Minister of Economy, together with the Minister of Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, has activated the flexible excise duty mechanism. This is the tool that links the reduction in fuel taxes to the extra VAT revenue generated by rising oil prices: when crude oil prices rise, the VAT collected by the State on fuel increases, and that additional revenue is returned in the form of a discount on excise duty.

The constraint is arithmetical before it is political. The extra revenue for August will only be known once end-of-month data is available: until then, the funding remains a forecast, not a figure. This is why the Ministry of Economy is considering a bridging measure, with the stated goal of reaching a defined framework by early September.

The price at the pump

Petrol and diesel in Italy have exceeded 2 euros per litre, according to figures cited by specialized press. This is the threshold that makes it politically difficult to let the discount expire, and at the same time the one that fuels the extra revenue on which the discount is funded: the two figures move together, and this is both the strength and the limit of the mechanism. If the price of crude oil falls, the extra revenue shrinks and with it the funding, precisely when the discount would be less needed.

The third leg: the oil companies

Alongside the flexible excise duty, the government is considering a contribution agreed with oil companies. The wording used — agreed contribution, not imposed levy — describes a negotiated tool rather than a tax imposition. At the moment, there is no reported amount, calculation basis, or list of parties involved. This is the most uncertain part of the package and should be kept separate from the two measures already in place or activated.

External requests

The consumer association Assoutenti has asked for the cut to be extended at least until September 6, 2026: a date that coincides with the tail end of the summer return period and pushes the problem ten days beyond the current deadline. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, is asking for the flexible excise duty system to be made permanent, turning into a standing rule what has so far been activated for specific periods.

The two requests are not equivalent. The first concerns the duration of a stopgap measure; the second concerns the architecture of fuel taxation, and would mean that excise duty revenue becomes structurally variable depending on the price of oil, with effects on budget planning that none of the available sources quantify.

What we don’t know

We do not know the duration of the next extension, nor whether there will be one: the extension currently in force expires today. We do not know the amount of the extra VAT revenue for August, which will only be measurable with end-of-month data. We do not know the terms of the contribution under discussion with the oil companies. There is no published text of the measure that will govern the period after August 26.

The available sources are editorial reconstructions based on sources at the Ministry of Economy and government notes: none of them reproduces a complete document. The first verifiable element will be the publication of the act regulating the post-August 26 period, containing the duration, the funding, and the amount of the discount per litre.

Sources: Energia Oltre, Juorno.it, Today.it.