I. – Industrial, commercial or agricultural businesses taxed on the basis of their actual profits or exempt pursuant to Articles 44 sexies, 44 sexies A, 44 octies A, 44 duodecies, 44 terdecies to 44 septdecies may benefit from a tax credit in respect of the research expenditure they incur during the year. The rate of the tax credit is 30% for the portion of research expenditure less than or equal to €100 million and 5% for the portion of research expenditure in excess of this amount. The first of these two rates is increased to 50% for research expenditure incurred in operations located in an overseas department. For the expenses mentioned in k of II, the tax credit rate is 30%. This rate is increased to 60% for the expenses mentioned in the same k incurred on farms located in an overseas department. This same rate is increased to 35% for medium-sized businesses and 40% for small businesses respectively for the expenditure mentioned in the said k incurred on farms located on the territory of the Corsican collectivity.
When the partnerships mentioned in articles 8 and 238 bis L or groups mentioned in articles 239 quater, 239 quater B, 239 quater C and 239 quater D are not subject to corporation tax, the tax credit may, subject to the provisions of the last paragraph of I of Article 199 ter B, be used by the members in proportion to their rights in these companies or groupings.
The threshold of 100 million euros mentioned in the first paragraph of this I is assessed by taking into account the expenditure mentioned in a to j of II of this article and the expenditure mentioned in 1 of A of II of article 244 quater B bis.
II. – The research expenses giving rise to entitlement to the tax credit are:
a) Depreciation allowances for fixed assets, created or acquired when new and allocated directly to carrying out scientific and technical research operations, including the design of prototypes or pilot installations. However, depreciation allowances for buildings acquired or completed before 1 January 1991 and for buildings for which planning permission was granted before 1 January 1991 are not taken into account;
a bis) In the event of a claim affecting the fixed assets referred to in a, the depreciation allowance corresponding to the difference between the insurance compensation and the cost of reconstruction and replacement;
b) Staff costs relating to researchers and research technicians directly and exclusively assigned to these operations. When this expenditure relates to persons holding a doctorate, within the meaning of Article L. 612-7 of the Education Code, or an equivalent diploma, they are taken into account for double their amount during the first twenty-four months following their first recruitment provided that the employment contract of these persons is open-ended and that the number of salaried research staff in the company is not less than that of the previous year;
b bis) The additional remuneration and fair prices mentioned in 1 and 2 of l’article L. 611-7 of the Intellectual Property Code, for the benefit of employees who are the authors of an invention resulting from research operations;
c) other operating expenses incurred in the same operations; these expenses are set at a flat rate of the sum of 75% of the depreciation allowances mentioned in a and 43% of the personnel expenses mentioned in the first sentence of b and b bis;
This percentage is set at:
1° and 2° (repealed for expenditure used to calculate the tax credit from 1 January 2000).
3° 200% of staff costs relating to persons holding a doctorate, within the meaning of article L. 612-7 of the Education Code, or an equivalent diploma during the first twenty-four months following their first recruitment on condition that the employment contract of these people is for an indefinite period and that the number of salaried research staff in the company is not less than that of the previous year.
d) (repealed)
d bis) Expenditure incurred in carrying out operations of the same nature entrusted to bodies approved by the Minister for Research in accordance with procedures defined by decree, or to scientific or technical experts approved under the same conditions. For organisations established in a Member State of the European Union, or in another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area that has entered into an administrative assistance agreement with France to combat tax fraud and evasion, approval may be issued by the French minister responsible for research or, where a similar system exists in the country in which the organisation to which the research operations are entrusted is established, by the entity competent to issue approval equivalent to that for the French research tax credit.
These expenses are retained up to a limit of three times the total amount of other research expenses giving entitlement to the tax credit, before application of the limits provided for in d ter;
d ter) The operations mentioned in d bis are carried out directly by the organisations to which they have been entrusted. By way of derogation, these organisations may use organisations mentioned in the same d bis to carry out certain work required for these operations.
The expenditure mentioned in d bis is included in the basis for calculating the research tax credit up to an overall limit of €2 million per year. This limit is raised to €10 million for research expenditure corresponding to operations entrusted to the organisations mentioned in d bis, provided that there is no arm’s length relationship within the meaning of Article 39(12) between the company benefiting from the tax credit and these organisations.
e) Costs of taking out and maintaining patents and plant variety certificates;
e bis) The costs of defending patents and plant breeders’ certificates, as well as, up to a limit of €60,000 per year, premiums and contributions or the share of premiums and contributions relating to legal protection insurance contracts providing for the payment of expenses incurred, excluding those arising from a possible conviction, in the context of disputes relating to a patent or plant breeder’s certificate of which the company is the holder ;
f) Depreciation allowances for patents and plant variety certificates acquired with a view to carrying out research and experimental development operations;
g) Standardisation expenses relating to the company’s products, defined as follows, for half of their amount:
1° Salaries and social charges relating to periods during which employees take part in official standardisation meetings;
2° Other expenses incurred in connection with these same operations; these expenses are set at a flat rate of 30% of the salaries mentioned in 1°;
3° Under conditions set by decree, expenses incurred by the head of a sole proprietorship, the persons mentioned in I of l’article 151 nonies and corporate officers for their attendance at official standardisation meetings, up to a fixed daily rate of €450 per day of attendance at said meetings ;
h) Until 31 December 2024, expenditure relating to the development of new collections incurred by industrial companies in the textile-clothing-leather sector and defined as follows:
1° Staff costs relating to stylists and style office technicians directly and exclusively responsible for designing new products and to production engineers and technicians responsible for producing prototypes or unsold samples;
2° Depreciation allowances for fixed assets created or acquired when new that are directly allocated to carrying out operations referred to in 1°;
3° Other operating expenses incurred in connection with these same operations; these expenses are set at a flat rate of 75 per cent. 100 of the staff costs mentioned in 1°;
4° The costs of registering designs and models.
5° The costs of defending designs and models, up to a limit of €60,000 per year;
i) Until 31 December 2024, expenditure relating to the development of new collections entrusted by industrial companies in the textile-clothing-leather sector to approved stylists or style offices in accordance with procedures defined by decree;
j) Technology watch expenditure incurred when carrying out research operations, up to a limit of €60,000 per year.
k) Until 31 December 2024, expenditure incurred by companies that meet the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises given in Annex I to 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 and defined as follows:
1° Depreciation allowances for fixed assets created or acquired new and assigned directly to carrying out design operations for prototypes or pilot facilities for new products other than the prototypes and pilot facilities referred to in a;
2° Expenditure on staff directly and exclusively assigned to carrying out the operations referred to in 1°;
3° (Repealed) ;
4° Depreciation allowances, costs of taking out and maintaining patents and plant variety certificates and costs of registering designs and models relating to the operations mentioned in 1° ;
5° The costs of defending patents, plant variety certificates, designs and models relating to the operations mentioned in 1°;
6° Expenses incurred in carrying out the operations mentioned in 1° entrusted to approved companies or design and engineering offices in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down by decree.
The expenses mentioned in 1° to 6° are included in the basis for calculating the research tax credit up to an overall limit of €400,000 per year.
For the application of this k, a new product is considered to be a tangible or intangible asset that meets the following two cumulative conditions:
– it is not yet made available on the market;
– it is distinguished from existing or previous products by superior performance in terms of technology, eco-design, ergonomics or its functionalities.
The prototype or pilot installation of a new product is a good that is not intended to be placed on the market but to be used as a model for the production of a new product.
To be eligible for the tax credit referred to in the first paragraph of I, the expenses provided for in a to k must be expenses deducted for the purposes of determining income tax or corporation taxable income under the conditions of ordinary law and, with the exception of the expenses provided for in e, e bis, j and the expenses mentioned in 4° and 5° of k, correspond to operations located within the European Union or in another State party to the agreement on the European Economic Area that has concluded an administrative assistance agreement with France to combat tax fraud and evasion.
(Expired).
II bis. – 1. The benefit of the fraction of the tax credit that results from taking into account the expenses provided for in h and i of II of this article 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.
For the application of the first paragraph of this 1, partnerships and groupings referred to in Articles 8,238 bis L, 239 quater, 239 quater B and 239 quater C that are not subject to corporation tax must also comply with the aforementioned Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013. The fraction of the tax credit mentioned in the first paragraph of this 1 may be used by the shareholders of these companies or the members of these groupings in proportion to their rights in these companies or groupings if they meet the conditions for application of this same regulation and provided that they are taxpayers subject to corporation tax or natural persons participating in the operation within the meaning of 1° bis of I of the article 156.
2. The benefit of the fraction of the tax credit resulting from the expenses mentioned in k of II of this article being taken into account is subject to compliance with Articles 2,25 and 30 and with 1, a of 2 and 3 of Article 28 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.
3. The benefit of the increased rates mentioned in I for the tax credit that results from taking into account the research expenditure provided for in a to k of II incurred on farms located in an overseas department is subject to compliance with Article 15 of the aforementioned Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014.
III. – Public subsidies received by companies in respect of operations qualifying for the tax credit are deducted from the bases for calculating this credit, whether they are definitively acquired by them or repayable. The same applies to sums received by the companies, organisations or experts mentioned in d bis or 6° of k of II, for the calculation of their own tax credit. Where these grants are repayable, they are added to the tax credit calculation bases for the year in which they are repaid to the organisation that paid them.
For the purposes of calculating the tax credit, the amount of expenditure incurred by companies with third parties in respect of consultancy services for the granting of the benefit of the tax credit is deducted from the bases for calculating the tax credit up to:
a) The amount of the sums remunerating these services set in proportion to the amount of the tax credit that can benefit the business;
b) The amount of the expenditure thus incurred, other than those mentioned in a, which exceeds the higher of the following two amounts: either the sum of €15,000 excluding tax, or 5% of the total expenditure excluding tax mentioned in II less the public subsidies mentioned in III.
III bis. – Companies that incur more than €100 million in research expenditure referred to in II attach to their research tax credit declaration a statement describing the nature of their current research work, the progress of their programmes, the direct or indirect material and human resources devoted to it, the proportion of PhD graduates financed by this expenditure or recruited on the basis of it, the corresponding number of full-time equivalents and their average remuneration, as well as the location of these resources.
Companies that incur an amount of research expenditure referred to in II in excess of €10 million but not exceeding €100 million attach to their research tax credit declaration a statement specifying, for the financial year in respect of which the declaration relates, the proportion of doctorate holders financed by this expenditure or recruited on the basis of this expenditure, the corresponding number of full-time equivalents and their average remuneration.
On the basis of the information contained in the statements, it is possible to determine the proportion of doctorate holders financed by this expenditure or recruited on the basis of this expenditure, the corresponding number of full-time equivalents and their average remuneration.
On the basis of the information contained in the statements mentioned in the first two paragraphs of this III bis, the Minister responsible for research publishes each year, when the Finance Bill for the year is submitted to Parliament, a summary report presenting the use of the research tax credit by its beneficiaries, particularly with regard to the policy of companies in terms of recruiting people with a doctorate.
IV., IV. bis, IV. ter, V. (Obsolete provisions).
VI. – A decree lays down the conditions for the application of this article. It shall adapt its provisions to the case of financial years of unequal duration or which do not coincide with the calendar year.
>