Posted Oct 6, 2022 11:10 AMUpdated on Oct 6, 2022 at 2:10 PM
In France, “the difficulties of business transmission persist since there are 14% of family transmissions against 50% in Germany and 70% in Italy”, underlines the report of the follow-up mission on the transmission of business of the Senate. This Thursday, its authors, Senators Michel Canévet (UDI), Remi Cardon (PS) and Olivier Rietmann (LR), present to the Senate Business Delegation eleven proposals aimed at securing and simplifying the rules in force.
There is urgency: in 2019, only 37,110 companies found a buyer compared to more than 45,800 in 2010. In 2020, the year when the Covid pandemic was in full swing, the figures fell by another 16%. “In France, we create a lot of companies, but the transmissions are not numerous enough, which creates a loss of know-how”, regrets Michel Canévet. About 700,000 companies would be taken over over the next ten years, according to the CPME.
In this context, the priority for the rapporteurs is to stabilize the law in force. And in particular, sanctuarize the Dutreil Pact, which entitles you to a partial exemption from gift duties, up to 75% of the value of the securities transmitted. “We are wary of the fate that could be reserved for him”, insists the elected representative of Finistère.
Note from the Economic Analysis Council
A note entitled “Rethinking the heritage” and published in December 2021 by the Council for Economic Analysis, a think tank attached to Matignon, sowed doubt by proposing a “very strong reduction, or even the abolition of Dutreil exemptions in favor of payment facility mechanisms […] “. This worries the senators. “All feedback from the field attests that the Dutreil Pact is an essential element of family transmission in France,” insists Michel Canévet.
Still unknown to business leaders, the device only concerns 2,000 transmissions each year. Hence the rapporteurs’ proposal to organize a major information campaign aimed at managers which “will not only help to facilitate transfers but also to protect this tax system”.
The three senators closed the door to a reinforcement of the tax exemption demanded by some to avoid opening a new front. They propose, on the other hand, to clarify, via a bill, the definition and scope of the leading holding company, a source of great legal uncertainty.
Lack of anticipation
Beyond that, the report suggests a series of measures and adjustments that should promote business transfers. Faced with the increasingly high age of leaders – a quarter of them are over 60 – he recommends the creation of a “council check for transmission” to encourage those over 55 to anticipate the transition witness before retirement.
Another proposal, more controversial: the repeal of the Hamon law of 2014 which obliges a boss planning to sell his company to inform his employees beforehand so that they can be candidates for the takeover. This provision “is responsible for many aborted operations”, according to Michel Canévet.
The objective of the rapporteurs nevertheless remains to facilitate the takeover of companies by employees. For this, they propose to perpetuate the tax credits and also to raise the tax allowances during a redemption, from 300,000 euros to 500,000 euros. This relaxation should be the subject of an amendment to the Finance Bill for 2023. Just like the proposal to harmonize the rate of registration fees on a purchase by setting it at 0.1% regardless of the form company legal.