Promised for months, the PACTE law was presented on June 18 to the French Ministers. Among the measures to encourage entrepreneurship, the transfer of SMEs should be simplified.

The PACTE law and the transmission of SMEs
French economic model in depth. At least that is what Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy and Finance, claims. Let’s remember that the text he presented to the France of Ministers, was drafted with the support of bosses of large companies and SMEs.
The 3 parts of the PACTE law
The PACTE law puts in place a series of measures to help businesses grow. The objective is to free up the growth of French companies and gain an additional point of GDP.
Three priority areas have been identified:
- Freeing up structures, by modifying the social thresholds. For example, the participation of an employer in the construction of housing, the contribution to the housing assistance fund or the obligation to establish internal regulations are raised to 50 employees.
- Revive investment in innovation and growth. How can we do this? By directing savings towards SMEs. The law plans to make the PEA-PME more attractive to investors, through participatory financing. Similarly, retirement savings will also be more oriented towards financing companies. The saver can now keep a single savings product throughout his career and deduct it from his income tax.
- To protect the company and better involve employees in the results. Employee savings plans will be extended to companies with fewer than 50 employees. Profit-sharing agreements may also be signed in companies with fewer than 250 employees.
The PACTE law and the transmission of SMEs
The PACTE law, in its section “freeing up structures”, undertakes to facilitate the transfer of SMEs. It gives the possibility to bounce back more easily after a failure. Let’s not forget that in the life of an entrepreneur, a failure is not an end in itself. It should allow you to learn from your mistakes in order to start again.
The judicial liquidation will now be implemented through a simplified procedure: from 6 to 15 months, depending on the size of the company and its turnover. In addition, the Dutreil pact (which allows, for the moment, a 75% reduction in transfer duties) will also be modified to encourage the transfer of family-owned SMEs. This will make it easier to transfer shares between members of the same family.
Read also: Family transmission, How to choose a buyer
in EuropeSimilar to this, the takeover by employees is strongly encouraged. The PACTE Act abolishes the minimum number of employees required to benefit from a tax credit.
In any case, if you are planning to transfer an SME in the near future, call on Actoria’s experts to help you make the most of these new laws.








