French General Tax Code
In forceI.-The following are exempt from development tax:
1° Buildings and developments intended for use by a public service or public utility, the list of which is set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat. The benefit of the exemption is subject to the condition that the builder undertakes, for itself and its successors in title, to keep the building in the same use for a minimum period of five years from the completion of this construction;
2° The construction of residential and accommodation premises and their annexes mentioned in articles 278 sexies and 296 ter and, in French Guiana and Mayotte, the construction of the same premises, provided they are financed under conditions defined by decree ;
3° In agricultural holdings and cooperatives, the floor areas of production greenhouses, those of premises intended to shelter crops, house animals, store and maintain agricultural equipment, those of premises for the production and storage of products for agricultural use, as well as those of premises for the processing and packaging of products from the holding;
4° In leisure riding centres, the surface areas of buildings used for equestrian activities;
5° Constructions and developments carried out within the perimeters of operations of national interest provided for in article L. 102-12 of the town planning code when the cost of public facilities, the list of which is set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, has been charged to the builders or developers;
6° Constructions and developments carried out in the concerted development zones mentioned in article L. 311-1 of the town planning code, where the cost of public facilities, the list of which is set by a decree of the Conseil d'Etat, has been charged to the builders or developers. This list may be supplemented by a deliberation of the municipal council or the deliberative body of the public establishment for inter-communal cooperation valid for a minimum period of three years;
7° Constructions and developments carried out within the areas delimited by an urban partnership project agreement provided for in article L. 332-11-3 of the town planning code, within the time limits mentioned in this agreement, pursuant to article L. 332-11-4 of the same code;
8° Developments prescribed by a plan to prevent foreseeable natural risks, a plan to prevent technological risks or a plan to prevent mining risks on property built or developed in accordance with the provisions of code de l'urbanisme prior to the approval of this plan and charged to the owners or operators of these properties;
9° Reconstruction on the same plot of land, either to the same standard as a building destroyed or demolished less than ten years ago under the conditions set out in the article L. 111-15 of the town planning code, subject to 2° of article 1635 quater S of the present code, or of damaged premises including, with the same floor area, improvements made necessary in application of town planning provisions, as well as the reconstruction, on other land in the same commune or in neighbouring communes, of buildings of the same nature as damaged premises whose location has been recognised as extremely dangerous and classified as unbuildable. Where the reconstruction involves damaged premises, the taxpayer must justify that the compensation paid to repair the damage caused to the building does not include the amount of development tax normally payable on reconstructions;
10° Constructions with a surface area of less than or equal to 5 square metres;
11° Ancillary areas used for parking, built above or below buildings or integrated into the building, in a vertical plane.
II.-The low-cost housing organisations mentioned in article L. 411-2 of the French Construction and Housing Code, the semi-public companies mentioned in article L. 481-1 of the same code and the sociétés anonymes de coordination entre les organismes d'habitations à loyer modéré mentioned in Article L. 423-1-1 of the same code are exempt under 2° of I of this article:
1° For buildings constructed as a service of general interest as defined in the ninth to thirteenth paragraphs of article L. 411-2 of the Construction and Housing Code;
2° For other constructions, 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.
The benefit of the exemptions provided for in 3° and 4° of I of this article is subject respectively to compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) No 1408/2013 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 in the agriculture sector and 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.
III.-The exemptions provided for in 5° to 7° of I of this article do not apply to the portion of the development tax instituted, where applicable, by the départements or by the Ile-de-France region.
