● Covers 30% of all R&D costs up to €100 million, and 5% above this threshold. As of 2013, innovation expenses incurred by SMEs are also eligible for the research tax credit (up to €80,000 of tax credit a year).

● France’s research tax credit is also a powerful incentive for research partnerships, as all expenditure contracted out to public-sector bodies is double-counted, thereby effectively doubling the research tax credit. Salaries paid to junior final-year doctoral and post-doctoral research personnel on their first permanent contract are quadruple-counted when calculating the research tax credit for two years.

● The research tax credit and “innovative new company” (JEI) schemes have been fixed for five years to provide businesses with visibility and legal security.

● France’s public investment bank, bpifrance, offers two solutions to promote the use of the research tax credit by micro-enterprises and SMEs, by guaranteeing and pre-financing the research tax credit.

● More than 15,000 businesses have received the research tax credit, declaring €18.39 billion of research expenditure in 2011. Total tax relief for research tax credit recipients amounts to €5.17 billion.

● France is ranked first in Europe for corporate tax rates on R&D operations, taking into account tax bases, depreciation allowances, tax exemptions and tax credits. (Source: KPMG, Competitive Alternatives, 2012)

● France was ranked sixth in the world in 2013 for the average cost of employing a researcher once tax incentives are taken into account, with lower costs than in the United States, Japan and and Germany. (Source: French National Association for Technical Research) 2013

Sources :  http://www.sayouitofrance-innovation.com/