I. – The municipalities in whose territory one or more priority neighbourhoods for city policy are located or their public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status may exempt from the business property tax by deliberation taken under the conditions of Article 1639 A bis the creation or extension of establishments carried out in one or more of these priority neighbourhoods, up to a limit of a net taxable base set for 2023 at €30,630 and updated each year according to the change in prices. Only establishments with fewer than 150 employees are eligible for this measure.
The exemption applies to companies that employed fewer than 250 employees during the reference period used to calculate the tax base and whose annual turnover during the same period did not exceed €50 million, or whose balance sheet total at the end of the same period did not exceed €43 million. The number of employees to be taken into account is assessed by reference to the average number of employees over the period. The turnover to be taken into account may be corrected to correspond to a full year and, for a parent company of a group referred to in Article 223 A or Article 223 A bis, means the sum of the turnover of each of the companies that are members of this group.
The exemption provided for does not apply to companies in which 25% or more of the capital or voting rights are controlled, directly or indirectly, by one or more companies that do not meet the conditions set out in the previous paragraph. For the purposes of determining this percentage, the holdings of venture capital companies, venture capital mutual funds, specialised professional funds covered by article L. 214-37 of the Monetary and Financial Code as it read prior to Ordinance No. 2013-676 of 25 July 2013 amending the legal framework for asset management, professional private equity funds, sociétés de libre partenariat, sociétés de développement régional, sociétés financières d’innovation and sociétés unipersonnelles d’investissement à risque are not taken into account provided that there is no arm’s length relationship within the meaning of Article 39(12) between the company in question and the latter companies or funds.
The decision sets the rate of exemption, its duration and the priority neighbourhoods concerned.
The decision covers the entire share due to each municipality or public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation with its own tax system. It may not have the effect of postponing the application of the common law taxation system for more than five years.
I bis to I quinquies. – (Repealed)
I quinquies A. – Unless otherwise decided by the municipality or the public establishment for inter-municipal cooperation with its own tax system under the conditions provided for in I of Article 1639 A bis, companies are exempt from business property tax for the creation and extension of establishments that they carry out between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2023 in the employment areas to be redynamised defined in 3 bis of Article 42 of Law no. 95-115 of 4 February 1995 on regional planning and development.
The exemptions provided for in the first paragraph apply for five years from the year following the creation or, in the case of the extension of an establishment, from the second year following the latter, to the entire share due to each municipality or public establishment for intercommunal cooperation with its own tax system.
In the event of a change of operator during the exemption period, the exemption is maintained for the remaining period and under the conditions laid down for the predecessor.
For the application of the above provisions, the deliberations of the communes and their public establishments for inter-communal cooperation with their own tax system may only relate to all the establishments created or extended.
The benefit of the exemptions is subject to compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid. However, at the option of companies carrying out the operations mentioned in the first paragraph in regional aid areas, the benefit of the exemptions is subject to compliance with Article 14 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty.
The option mentioned in the fifth paragraph is irrevocable for the duration of the exemption. It must be exercised, depending on the case, within the time limit set for filing the annual return relating to the first year in respect of which the exemption takes effect or the provisional business property tax return referred to in article 1477.
I quinquies B. – Communes and public inter-communal cooperation establishments with their own tax system may, by a decision taken under the conditions provided for in I of article 1639 A bis, exempt companies from business property tax for the creation and extension of establishments located within the perimeter of the defence restructuring zones mentioned in 1° and 2° of 3 ter of article 42 of law no. 95-115 of 4 February 1995 on land use planning and development, which are carried out during a period of six years beginning on the date of publication of the decree provided for in the last paragraph of the same 3 ter or, if this second date is later, on 1 January of the year preceding that for which the territory is recognised as a defence restructuring zone by this decree.
The exemption provided for in the first paragraph applies, for a period of five years from the year following the creation or, in the case of an establishment extension, from the second year following the latter, to the entire share due to each municipality or public establishment for intercommunal cooperation with its own tax system.
In the event of a change of operator during the exemption period, the exemption is maintained for the remaining period and under the conditions provided for the predecessor.
For the application of this I quinquies B, the deliberations of municipalities and their public inter-municipal cooperation establishments with their own tax system may only relate to all establishments created or extended.
The benefit of the exemption provided for in the first paragraph is subject to compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid. However, at the option of companies carrying out the operations mentioned in the first paragraph in regional aid areas, the benefit of the exemption provided for in the first paragraph is subject to compliance with Article 14 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty.
The option mentioned in the fifth paragraph is irrevocable for the duration of the exemption. It must be exercised, depending on the case, within the time limit set for filing the annual return relating to the first year in respect of which the exemption takes effect or the provisional business property tax return referred to in article 1477.
I sexies. – Unless otherwise decided by the municipality or the local authority with its own tax system, establishments that are created or extended between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2014 in the zones franches urbaines-territoires entrepreneurs mentioned in B du 3 de l’article 42 de la loi n° 95-115 du 4 février 1995 d’orientation pour l’aménagement et le développement du territoire as well as establishments existing on 1 January 2006 in the zones franches urbaines-territoires entrepreneurs mentioned in the second paragraph of the same B are exempt from business property tax up to the limit of the net taxable base set, for 2023, at €82,626 and updated each year according to the change in the price index. The exemptions apply when the following conditions are met:
1° The company must employ no more than fifty employees on 1 January 2006 or on the date of its creation or establishment if later and either have achieved a turnover of less than €10 million during the reference period or have a balance sheet total of less than €10 million ;
2° Its capital or voting rights must not be held, directly or indirectly, to the extent of 25% or more by a company or jointly by several companies with a workforce of more than two hundred and fifty employees and with an annual turnover excluding tax of more than €50 million or an annual balance sheet total of more than €43 million. For the purposes of determining this percentage, holdings in venture capital companies, venture capital mutual funds, specialised professional funds covered by article L. 214-37 of the Monetary and Financial Code as it read prior to Order 2013-676 of 25 July 2013 amending the legal framework for asset management, professional private equity funds, sociétés de libre partenariat, sociétés de développement régional, sociétés financières d’innovation and sociétés unipersonnelles d’investissement à risque are not taken into account provided that there is no arm’s length relationship within the meaning of Article 39(12) between the company in question and the latter companies or funds.
For the purposes of 1° and 2°, turnover must be reduced or extended, as appropriate, to twelve months. The thresholds apply, for existing establishments, on the date on which the zone is delimited and, for subsequent creations and extensions, on the date of establishment in the zone. The company’s workforce is assessed by reference to the average number of employees during that financial year. For the parent company of a group referred to in Article 223 A or Article 223 A bis, turnover is assessed by adding together the turnover of each of the companies that are members of this group.
For establishments existing on 1 January 2006 referred to in the first paragraph, the exempt base includes, where applicable, within the limit provided for in this paragraph, the tax elements corresponding to the establishment extensions that took place during 2005.
The exemption applies for a period of five years from 2006 for the establishments mentioned in the first paragraph that exist on that date or, in the case of the creation of an establishment, from the year following the creation or, in the case of the extension of an establishment, from the second year following the extension, on the entire share due to each municipality or public inter-municipal cooperation body with its own tax system and applies under the conditions provided for, in the version of this code in force on 31 December 2009, in the seventh paragraph of I ter, the last three sentences of the first paragraph and the ninth, tenth and eleventh paragraphs of I quater, the last sentence of the third paragraph and the sixth paragraph of I quinquies. The benefit of the exemptions taking effect in 2006 in the zones mentioned in the second paragraph of B of 3 of Article 42 of the aforementioned Law no. 95-115 of 4 February 1995 and those taking effect from 2013 in the urban free zones-entrepreneurial territories defined in the same B is subject to compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) no. 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid.
I septies. – Unless otherwise decided by the local authority or the public establishment for inter-communal cooperation with its own tax system, adopted under the conditions provided for in I of Article 1639 A bis, establishments that are the subject of a creation or extension between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2023 in the priority neighbourhoods for city policy defined in Article 5 of Law No. 2014-173 of 21 February 2014 on programming for the city and urban cohesion, as well as establishments existing on 1 January 2017 other than those belonging to a company that meets the conditions provided for in 1° to 3° of this I septies, in its wording prior to Law No. 2016-1918 of 29 December 2016 on Amending Finance Acts for 2016, located in these same neighbourhoods are exempt from business property tax up to the amount of the net taxable base set, for 2023, at €82,626 and updated each year according to the change in the price index.
For the exclusive application of this exemption, when the boundary of a district corresponds to a public road, the establishments located on each of the edges of this road are deemed to be located in the priority district.
For a period of five years from 2017 for establishments existing on that date or, in the case of the creation of an establishment, from the year following the creation or, in the case of the extension of an establishment, from the second year following the extension, the exemption applies to the entire share due to each territorial authority or public establishment for inter-communal cooperation with its own tax system.
At the end of the exemption period and for the three years following its expiry, the net taxable base of the establishments mentioned in the first paragraph of this I septies is subject to a reduction. The amount of this allowance is equal, in the first year, to 60% of the exempt base of the last year of application of the exemption provided for in the second paragraph, to 40% in the second year and to 20% in the third year. This allowance may not reduce the tax base for the year in question by more than 60% of its amount in the first year, 40% in the second year and 20% in the third.
For establishments that are being set up, the benefit of the exemption is subject to the existence, on 1 January of the year in which they are established, of the city contract provided for in Article 6 of the aforementioned Act no. 2014-173 of 21 February 2014.
In the event of a change of operator during the exemption period, the exemption is maintained for the remaining period and under the conditions laid down for the predecessor.
The exemption applies when the following conditions are met:
1° The company carries on a commercial activity;
2° It employs fewer than fifty employees and either achieved an annual turnover excluding tax of less than €10 million during the reference period, or has a balance sheet total of less than €10 million ;
3° 25% or more of its capital or voting rights are not held, directly or indirectly, by a company or jointly by several companies with more than two hundred and fifty employees and with annual sales excluding tax of more than €50 million or an annual balance sheet total of more than €43 million. For the purposes of determining this rate, holdings in venture capital companies, venture capital mutual funds, specialised professional funds covered by article L. 214-37 of the Monetary and Financial Code, as it read prior to Order no. 2013-676 of 25 July 2013 amending the legal framework for asset management, professional private equity funds, sociétés de libre partenariat, sociétés de développement régional, sociétés financières d’innovation and sociétés unipersonnelles d’investissement à risque are not taken into account provided that there is no arm’s length relationship, within the meaning of Article 39(12) of this Code, between the company in question and the latter companies or funds.
For the application of 2° and 3° of this I septies, turnover is reduced or extended, where applicable, to twelve months. The number of employees in the company is assessed, for each financial year, in accordance with the procedures set out in I of Article L. 130-1 of the Social Security Code. When a company already benefiting from the exemption provided for in this article notes that its headcount threshold has been exceeded, as determined in accordance with the procedures set out in II of article L. 130-1 of the Social Security Code, it loses the benefit of this exemption. For the parent company of a group referred to in Article 223 A of this Code, turnover is assessed by adding together the turnover of each of the member companies of this group.
The benefit of the exemptions is subject to compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid.
II. – To benefit from the exemptions provided for in I, I quinquies A, I quinquies B, I sexies and I septies taxpayers shall declare, each year, under the conditions provided for in Article 1477, the items falling within the scope of the exemption.
When an establishment meets the conditions required to benefit from one of the exemptions provided for in articles 1464 A, 1464 B, 1464 D, 1464 F, 1464 G, 1464 I, 1464 I bis, 1464 M, 1465, 1465 A, 1465 B, 1466 B, 1466 B bis or 1466 D and those provided for in I, I quinquies A, I quinquies B, I sexies or I septies the taxpayer must opt for one or other of these schemes. The option, which is irrevocable, must be exercised within the deadline set for filing the return relating to the first year in respect of which the exemption takes effect.
For the application of I, I quinquies A, I quinquies B, I sexies and I septies:
a) Two exemption periods may not run simultaneously;
b) (Repealed);
c) The amount of exempt bases may not exceed each year, for the same establishment, the amount provided for in I, I quinquies A or I quinquies B;
d) for the assessment of the exemption condition set in I concerning the number of employees, the reference period to be used is the year mentioned in article 1467 A.
III. – (Repealed)
IV. – The reporting obligations of the persons and organisations concerned by the exemptions provided for in this article are set by decree.