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Since the beginning of 2013, companies have been able to benefit from the CICE , which corresponds to a tax credit equal to 4% of the amount of remuneration lower than 2.5 times the minimum wage. The refund is immediate and no longer chargeable to income tax.
The CICE is beneficial to all companies that employ employees because the system is based on the calculation of remuneration: salaries not exceeding 2.5 times the Smic, paid leave allowances, benefits in kind, bonuses, etc. except the sums paid in respect of profit-sharing, profit-sharing and company savings plans.
The minimum wage is taken into account for the duration of work provided for in the contract for the period when the employees are present in the company if the latter are not full-time or are not employed on a year-round basis.
Companies that come under a real tax system, subject to corporate or income tax, can benefit from it. Companies that benefit from a tax exemption scheme on profits can also benefit from it (young innovative companies, companies located in urban free zones or rural revitalization zones, etc.).
The purpose of the CICE is to finance the improvement of competitiveness (investment, research, innovation, training, recruitment, prospecting for new markets, etc.) but must not aim to finance an increase in distributed profits or increase the remuneration of people. exercising a management function.
The rate of 4% for remuneration for 2013 will be reduced to 6% for remuneration paid in subsequent years.
The tax credit is deducted from income tax for the year in which the remuneration was paid. In partnerships, it will be transmitted to the partners in proportion to their participation in the company.
If there is an unallocated surplus, it constitutes a debt which may be used to pay the income tax due for the following three years.
However, it may be reimbursed immediately for the benefit of companies that meet the community definition of SMEs (less than 250 employees and turnover of less than €50 million or balance sheet total of less than €43 million), to young innovative companies, to new companies and to companies which are the subject of a procedure of safeguard, reorganization or judicial liquidation.
To benefit from the CICE, employers must comply with certain reporting obligations with their Urssaf and the tax authorities:
• declaration of the tax credit base, with the declaration of the remuneration concerned by the CICE when establishing the each statement of Urssaf contributions,
• special declaration enabling the amount of the tax credit to be calculated with the tax authorities.
For companies subject to corporation tax, they must declare their CICE when filing their balance sheet n°2572, i.e. the 15th of the 4th month following the end of the financial year (for example, for a fiscal year ending on September 30, or April 15 for a fiscal year ending on December 31).
For companies subject to income tax, they must declare their CICE when filing their “tax return”, ie the first working day following May 1st.
The amount of the tax credit must then be reported on tax return no. 2042.
The public service website states that to improve its cash flow, the company can sell its CICE claim to a credit institution, which becomes its owner. In addition, the debt “in germ”, i.e. calculated the same year of the payment of the remuneration on which the tax credit is based and before the liquidation of the tax in N+1, can also be assigned to a credit institution.
Once the future receivable has been assigned, the assigning company can only deduct from its tax the part of the receivable not assigned (i.e. the difference between the amount assigned and the amount actually recorded of the tax credit, when filing the declaration ). For example, if a company sells in July 2013 a future receivable (representative of the CICE estimated for the year 2013) of €30,000 to a bank and the actual amount of its tax credit, reported on its corporate tax return in March 2014, is €40,000, the company can claim a €10,000 tax credit (€40,000 – €30,000).
There can only be one assignment per calendar year. The company may not carry out several partial transfers in the same year. The pre-financing is backed by a partial guarantee scheme from Oséo/BPI for certain SMEs. It is up to the credit institution to request this guarantee, without the company having to take any particular steps itself.
Process update for 2016:
Today its rate is 6% of the remuneration paid.
In the overseas departments, the rate is 7.5% for remuneration paid in 2015, then 9% from 2016.
The basis for this tax credit is made up of gross remuneration subject to contributions social benefits, paid during a calendar year, on the basis of the legal working time (i.e. 151.67 hours for a month, or 1,820 hours annually).
The remuneration taken into account is that used to calculate the employer’s social security contributions: basic salaries, payment of overtime or additional hours, bonuses, paid leave allowances, benefits in kind, etc. Bonuses paid to trainees are excluded
.
The economie.gouv.fr website offers a tax credit simulator: http://www.economie.gouv.fr/ma-competitivite/simulateur-credit-dimpot-pour-competitivite-et-lemploi
DAMY Law Firm – 2020 update
