French General Tax Code
In forceI.-Subject to II of this article, the municipalities and their public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation with their own tax status may, by a general decision taken under the conditions defined in article 1639 A bis, exempt from business property tax :
1° Agricultural cooperative companies and their unions as well as agricultural collective interest companies that employ between more than three and less than eleven employees;
2° Agricultural and wine cooperatives, for their activities other than winemaking and regardless of the marketing method used, when the corresponding salaried workforce is between more than three and less than eleven people.
The number of employees is assessed in accordance with the procedures set out in I of article L. 130-1 of the Social Security Code. Notwithstanding the same I, the period to be used to assess the number of employees is the penultimate year preceding the year of taxation. However, when a company already benefiting from the exemption provided for in this article notes that it has crossed the workforce threshold mentioned in 1° or 2° of this I determined in accordance with the procedures provided for in II of Article L. 130-1 of the Social Security Code, this circumstance causes it to lose the benefit of this exemption.
II.-The exemption provided for in 1° and 2° of I of this article does not apply to:
1° Agricultural cooperative societies, their unions and agricultural collective interest companies whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market or offered to the public on a multilateral trading facility subject to the II of Article L. 433-3 of the Monetary and Financial Code or at least 20% of whose capital is held by non-cooperating members, within the meaning of 1 quinquies of Article 207 of this code, and holders of cooperative investment certificates where the articles of association provide that they may be remunerated;
2° Agricultural collective interest companies in which more than 50% of the capital or votes are held directly or through subsidiaries by members other than those mentioned in 1° to 3° of Article L. 522-1 of the Rural and Maritime Fishing Code.
III.-To benefit from the exemption provided for in I of this article, companies must submit a request, within the timeframe provided for in article 1477, to the tax department responsible for each of the establishments concerned. If this application is not submitted within this timeframe, the exemption will not be granted for the year in question.
The exemption applies to items falling within its scope and declared within the deadlines set out in the same article 1477.
IV.-The exemption provided for in I 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.
