The official statistics published for 2026 payments concern the otto per mille calculated from 2022 income. This lag must be preserved when reading the figures: the distribution year does not identify the year of taxpayers' income.
The mechanism allocates a fraction of total IRPEF revenue. The choice made in the return therefore does not assign an individualised fraction of the signer's personal tax to the beneficiary. It helps determine the collective allocation between the State and the religious denominations admitted to the scheme.
Interpreting the results therefore requires separating the number of choices from the amounts ultimately distributed. A change in overall revenue may affect allocations without, by itself, indicating a comparable change in expressed preferences. For the taxpayer, the decision concerns allocation of this collective revenue; it is not an additional personal payment whose amount can be claimed as deductible expenditure merely because the form was signed.
Not making a choice does not remove the corresponding share from this allocation: it is distributed in proportion to the choices expressed, subject to the particular arrangements for the beneficiaries concerned. The statistical table must thus distinguish valid choices, absence of a choice and anomalies; it cannot be used to calculate an individual's IRPEF reduction.