The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted by the European Union on 27 April 2016 and will come into force as of 25 May 2018. Therefore, on that same date, it will become applicable in France. Privacy Requirements The GDPR will apply to all companies and other organisations within the European Union. It will […]

As of 1 January 2018, the “wealth solidarity tax” (“ISF”) was repealed and replaced by the “real estate wealth tax” (“IFI”). While the basis for the ISF included a taxpayer’s entire asset base, the IFI includes only real estate assets and entitlements. Taxpayers affected The assessment applies to the real estate wealth of the tax […]

Deduction at source of personal income tax, while initially planned for 2018, will now not come into effect until 2019. One reason this additional time was provided was to determine certain aspects of the reform that was adopted in the context of the finance law for 2017. How deduction at source works Starting in January […]

Article 28 of the Finance Act for 2018 institutes a new system for taxing personal income and capital gains paid to individuals. Already used by a large number of countries in Europe (including Germany, Italy and Spain), the flat tax is termed a single fixed-levy withholding (or “PFU”) under French law. What is the PFU? […]

The Social and Economic Committee was introduced by an order dated 22 September 2017 with the purpose of simplifying dialogue between employer and employees, by (a) merging the staff representative bodies and (b) enabling the parties to set the powers of the Committee via enterprise-level agreements. What is the Social and Economic Committee? The Social […]

The tax on company cars has been altered both by the 2017 social security financing law and by the amending finance law for 2016. What is tax on company cars? The tax was created in 2006 and replaced the tax on passenger and company cars introduced in 1974. Based on two criteria – CO2 emissions […]

In the context of the European battle against money-laundering and the financing of terrorism, a new obligation came into force on 1 August 2017 for unlisted companies: they now need to file a document relating to their beneficial owners with the commercial court registry. Definition of beneficial owners This new obligation, introduced by ordinance 2016-1635 […]

The Finance Law for 2016, supplemented and simplified by the decision of the Minister for Action and Public Accounts on 15 June 2017, makes it mandatory to use secure POS software and systems as from 1 January 2018. General Principle The law targets any entity in France required to collect VAT (though exceptions may exist) […]

The pension reform that occurred in 2014 amended the schema for working while receiving a retirement pension, a schema that enabled retired people to continue working while receiving their pension entitlements. The principle of combining a job and a pension Any retired person under the general schema of French Social Security is permitted to continue […]

On 31 December 2016, the reverse-charge system of VAT for imports was extended to a wider group of companies. The principle of reverse-charging VAT When a French company imports a good coming from a country outside the European Union (EU), that generates payment of French VAT, which the customs department is responsible for collecting (as […]

Some rules concerning how paid holidays are accrued have been changed since the Labour Law of 8 August 2016 was adopted. For instance, now employees can take holidays as soon as they are hired. Holidays taken from time of hire Previously, an employee who started work on 1 June of Year N could not take […]

Since 1 January 2006, the “chèque emploi service universel” (or “universal service job cheque,” referred to by its French acronym of “CESU”) has been a way of compensating a household employee. It is possible for a works council or a company to make grants to employees and managers to finance the cost of this service. […]