French General Tax Code
In force1. Companies operating either a daily newspaper, or a publication with a monthly frequency at most devoted for the most part to political and general information, or an online press service recognised pursuant to the article 1 of law no. 86-897 of 1 August 1986 reforming the legal status of the press, largely devoted to political and general information, are authorised to set aside a provision deductible from taxable income for financial years ending on or after 1 January 1997 and until 31 December 2023, with a view to meeting the following expenses:
a) Acquisition of equipment, furniture, land, buildings, insofar as these assets are strictly necessary for the operation of the online press service, newspaper or publication, and acquisitions of holdings in companies whose principal activity is the publication of a newspaper or publication mentioned in the first paragraph or the operation of an online press service mentioned in the same paragraph, or in companies whose principal activity is to provide services for these companies in the fields of information, paper supply, printing or distribution ;
b) constitution of databases and acquisition of the equipment necessary for their exploitation or for the transmission of such data;
c) Capitalised expenditure attributable to research, technological development and innovation for the benefit of the online press service, newspaper or publication.
The companies mentioned in this 1 may deduct capital expenditure incurred for the same purpose.
2. The sums deducted under 1 are limited to 30% of the profit for the financial year concerned for all publications and for recognised online press services and to 60% for daily newspapers. For the application of the previous sentence, the limit is calculated, for companies operating a recognised online press service and carrying out other activities, solely on the basis of the profit derived from this online press service. This percentage is increased to 80% for dailies with a turnover of less than €7,600,000. The sums deducted from taxable profits in application of paragraph 7 are not taken into account when calculating the limit set in the previous sentence.
Daily newspapers are defined as publications with a departmental or regional circulation devoted mainly to political and general information, appearing at least once a week and whose selling price does not exceed that of the majority of daily newspapers by 75%. A decree by the Minister for the Economy and Finance sets the conditions for this assimilation.
2 bis. A Conseil d'Etat decree specifies the characteristics, in particular content and editorial area, of the publications and online press services mentioned in 1 and 2 that are considered to be devoted to political and general information.
3. The sums deducted or withheld from taxable income under 1 may only be used to finance a fraction of the cost price of the fixed assets defined therein.
This fraction is equal to 40% for all publications and for recognised online press services and 90% for daily newspapers and similar publications defined in the second paragraph of 2.
4. Publications that are pornographic, perverse or incite to violence appearing on a list drawn up, following the opinion of the Commission de surveillance et de contrôle des publications destinées à l'enfance et à la jeunesse, by an order of the Minister of the Interior, are excluded from the benefit of the provisions of this article.
5. Press companies do not benefit from the regime provided for in 1 for the part of the newspapers or publications that they print outside a Member State of the European Union or another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
6. Fixed assets acquired using the profits or provisions mentioned in this article are deemed to be depreciated for an amount equal to the fraction of the purchase price or cost price which has been deducted from the said profits or provisions.
Sums deducted in application of 1 and allocated to the acquisition of non-depreciable assets are carried forward, in equal parts, to the taxable profit for the financial year during which these assets are acquired and for the four following financial years.
7. Without prejudice to the application of the provisions of the fifteenth paragraph of 5° of 1 of Article 39, provisions not used in accordance with their purpose before the end of the fifth year following the year in which they were set up shall be deducted from the profits subject to tax in respect of the said year, increased by an amount equal to the product of these provisions by the rate of late payment interest provided for in Article 1727.
8. The benefit of the provision referred to in 1 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.
