The Ministry of Finance is planning to review the Pacte Dutreil. The objective would be to stimulate the transmission of business in 2018. Actoria provides an update.
Facilitating the transfer of a company
As a reminder, the Pacte Dutreil is a device that allows one to benefit from an exemption of transfer duties within the framework of a family business transfer. Today, the Ministry of Finance is talking about making the system a little more flexible to facilitate family transfers. The idea would be to modify the criteria to benefit from this advantageous tax exemption. Thus, the beneficiary would no longer have to maintain management functions within the company. Only the conservation of the securities and the development of the company would be sufficient.
The Le Maire Pact would modify the transfer of business
Bruno Le Maire is working on a Pact, or an Action Plan for the Competitiveness and Transformation of the Economy. Although some ideas have been put forward, no decision has been taken. And for good reason, six working groups were first formed to consult with key stakeholders. Since the fall of 2017, they have brought together deputies and business leaders. They have made it possible to compile a list of innovative proposals accessible at www.pacte-entreprises.gouv.fr and organized around 6 major themes:
- creation, growth, transmission and rebound
- value sharing and corporate social responsibility
- funding
- digitization and innovation
- simplification
- conquering the international market
Until February 5, 2018, any citizen who wishes to do so is invited to comment on these proposals and to put forward new ideas. In addition to making the Dutreil Pact more flexible, we discover that the Action Plan could also provide for facilitating the transmission of companies to employees. Nothing concrete is proposed, except the will “‘to examine the modalities according to which these provisions could be made more attractive, in particular in case of takeover of the company by a holding company held by the employees”. The objective is to draft the Action Plan and the bill in February, in order to present it to Parliament in the spring.
So what do we retain from these intentions? We see a political will to facilitate the transfer of companies. A subject that will become an essential part of economic news in 2018. Notably because of the ageing of the population. We appreciate the desire to make the procedures less costly and to offer more space to entrepreneurs to “bounce back”.
