For some pensioners the August check is lower and the same reduction will return in September. However, it is not a general cut in pensions and, above all, there is still time to intervene before the suspension can turn into a definitive revocation
A pension that is slightly lower than expected, an item on the payslip that may go unnoticed and a deadline that falls when many offices and families are still dealing with summer holidays. For some pensioners, August 2026 brings with it an INPS withholding of 5%destined to be repeated also in the month of September, but the measure does not concern without distinction all those who receive a pension: it affects a specific audience, made up of holders of treatments that include income-related benefits and who, despite previous reminders, have not communicated the income information relating to the 2022.
The central point, therefore, is not only to realize that a few euros less have arrived in the current account, but to understand why that sum has been withheld and to act within the September 15, 2026date indicated by INPS as the deadline for regularizing the position through an income reconstitution application. After that date the consequences can become much more serious than the temporary reduction in August and September.
Because the August pension may be lower
The operation is part of the RED 2023 campaignrelating to income for the year 2022. The RED form is used by INPS to verify whether the economic conditions necessary to receive certain benefits linked to the income of the pensioner or, in some cases, of his family unit continue to exist. In fact, not all income automatically reaches the Institute through the tax information of the Revenue Agency and for some situations a specific communication from the interested party is necessary.
The procedure started this summer concerns pensioners resident in Italy who have not submitted the income declaration for 2022 as part of the campaign concluded on 31 March 2025. For these subjects, INPS has provided for the accruals of August and September 2026 a withholding equal to 5% of the gross amount of the pension paid in July 2026.
This means, to give a purely indicative example, that if the gross amount for July had been 1,200 euros, the withholding would be 60 euros on the August installment and another 60 euros on the September one. The percentage, therefore, is not calculated only on the ancillary benefit linked to income, but on the gross amount taken as reference by INPS for the suspension operation.
Who risks the 5% withholding
It is important to clarify a misunderstanding that can easily arise by reading only about the “pension cut”: the withholding does not apply to all pensionersbut those who receive pensions in which there are benefits linked to the income situation and for whom the required information on 2022 is missing.
The examples indicated directly by INPS include: the integration to the minimum wage, the social increase and the additional sum, i.e. the so-called fourteenthas well as other benefits whose entitlement or amount depends on income.
There is also a particularity for checks of very low amounts: for pensions up to 100 euros per month INPS does not apply the 5% withholding at this stage. This, however, does not mean that the failure to declare can be ignored, because once the deadline has passed the Institute will still be able to proceed with the revocation of the benefit and with the possible recovery of the sums not due.
How to understand if your pension is affected
The first document to check is the August pension payslip. The withholding tax is identified by a specific wording: “Withholding for failure to communicate income art. 35, paragraph 10-bis, Legislative Decree no. 207/2008”. The same reduction will also be applied to the September installment for those who remain in the suspension procedure.
The pensioners involved had already received a reminder and INPS also prepared a specific communication relating to the withholding and the new deadline. The documentation can be consulted in the personal area MyINPS and, when present in the Institute’s archives, the information is also sent to the pensioner’s PEC or email address.
And this is precisely one of the aspects that makes the case particularly relevant also for children, family members and caregivers who normally help parents or elderly relatives in managing social security practices: when faced with a lower check than usual, before attributing the difference to taxes, adjustments or other changes, it is advisable to check the entry on the payslip and verify any communications received from INPS.
What to do by September 15, 2026
The date to mark is September 15th. By that day the interested pensioner must send the missing income information to INPS through the named application “Reconstitution of income due to suspension of art. 35, paragraph 10-bis, Legislative Decree no. 207/2008”. The application can be submitted through the Institute’s online service or by contacting a patronage.
It is therefore not simply a question of presenting a new RED today as if it were part of a normal annual campaign: for those who have already reached the withholding phase it is necessary to follow the procedure income restoration due to suspensionexpressly indicated by INPS in the communication sent to interested parties.
Anyone who manages these tasks for an elderly parent would do well to check the payslip, MyINPS communications and income documentation relating to 2022 in time, contacting a charitable organization in case of doubts, because waiting until the last days of September would mean arriving beyond a deadline that the Institute expressly defines as the final deadline.
What happens after September 15th
This is the most delicate step. The 5% withholding tax applied in August and September represents the phase of suspension required by law and not necessarily the final consequence of failure to communicate. If the requested data does not arrive by September 15th, INPS will be able to proceed with the definitive revocation of income-related benefits received in 2022 and to the recovery of amounts which, after verification, may prove not to be due.
For this reason, a seemingly modest difference in the August check should not be underestimated. The 5% visible today on the payslip is above all a signal that the income position is not yet regularized in the eyes of the Institute and that there is a precise time window to intervene. Before September, therefore, the most useful check is not simply to check how much has arrived in the current account, but to understand Why the amount has changed: because in this case behind a few tens of euros withheld there may be a practice which, if left unresolved beyond September 15, 2026risks having much more important consequences on the check.
