French General Tax Code
In forceThe professional activity of obtaining for others the tax benefits provided for in articles 199 undecies A, 199 undecies B, 199 undecies C, 217 undecies, 217 duodecies, 244 quater W, 244 quater X or 244 quater Y may only be exercised by companies listed in a public register kept by the State representative in the departments and collectivities designated by joint order of the ministers in charge of the budget and overseas departments and territories.
Only companies that meet the following conditions may be entered on this register:
1° Prove the professional competence of the directors and partners;
2° Be up to date with their tax and social security obligations;
3° Take out insurance against the pecuniary consequences of their professional civil liability covering all the risks relating to the setting up of operations carried out for the benefit of the tax advantages mentioned in the first paragraph of this article ;
4° Present, for each of the directors and partners, a bulletin no. 3 of the criminal record free of any convictions;
5° Provide proof of annual certification of their accounts by an auditor;
6° Have signed a code of ethics and comply with its provisions.
Entry on the register is valid for three years. Renewal of registration is subject to compliance with the conditions set out in 1° to 6°.
The operations carried out by these companies in application of the provisions mentioned in the first paragraph are declared annually to the tax authorities, regardless of the amount of the investment entitling it to the tax benefits mentioned in the first paragraph. For each operation, the nature and amount of the investment, its location, the conditions under which it is operated, the identity of the operator, the names and addresses of the investors, the amount of the base eligible for the tax advantage, the share of the tax advantage retroceded, where applicable, to the operator and the amount of the acquisition commission and any fees charged to clients are specified.
When the investment is operated in an overseas collectivity or in New Caledonia, the tax administration sends the information mentioned in the second sentence of the previous paragraph to the State representative.
When the amount of the investment exceeds the threshold above which the tax advantage is subject to the prior approval of the minister responsible for the budget, under the conditions defined in the articles mentioned in the first paragraph, and it is operated by a company in which more than 50% of the capital is held by one or more public persons, any involvement of the companies mentioned in the first paragraph is subject to them being put out to tender, under the conditions set by the decree mentioned in the penultimate paragraph. This competitive tendering is a condition for benefiting from the tax advantage.
The conditions for application of this article are set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.
This article does not apply to investments made before the date of promulgation of the loi n° 2011-1977 du 28 décembre 2011 de finances pour 2012, nor to operations for which the issue of an approval has been requested before that date. The eleventh paragraph of this article does not apply to transactions for which the companies mentioned in the first paragraph have been commissioned prior to the date of promulgation of the aforementioned Law no. 2011-1977 of 28 December 2011.
