Since January 1st, 2004, French companies dealing with Research & Development projects have been authorized to benefit from the following tax and social incentives:
• exemption from corporate income tax (5 years), business tax (7 years) and real estate tax (7 years), • exemption from the employer’s part of the social contributions due for R&D employees, over a maximum period of 7 years.
The following conditions are required:
• less than 250 employees, • annual sales lower than 40 M€, • company less than 8 years old, • R&D expenses equal to or higher than 15% of the total annual expenditures, • half of the company’s equity must be owned either by individuals, by venture capital companies or by companies more than 50% held by individuals; these companies may be French or not, which is very attractive for French subsidiaries of foreign companies.
The system is also applicable to the French branches of foreign companies when the latter meet the above-listed conditions.This measure is part of the French current policy in favour of innovative small and medium-sized companies.
Since January 1st, 2004, French companies dealing with Research & Development projects have been authorized to benefit from the following tax and social incentives: