France Announces Extra COVID-19 Tax Support For Hit Industries

On April 24, 2020, the French Government announced that it has decided to extend tax and other financial support to companies in sectors most affected by the COVID-19 lockdown measures, including catering, tourism, events, sports, and cultural activities.

Specific tax measures include that small and very small enterprises in these sectors will receive an automatic deferral of social tax payments for the period from March to June 2020.

Medium-sized and large enterprises in these sectors will not benefit from an automatic deferral of their social contributions. However, they will be able to request to spread social tax payments over a longer period, as well as apply for tax debt cancellation. These applications will be considered by the tax authorities on a case-by-case basis.

The Government also intends to discuss with local authorities the possibility that the real estate contribution for companies (CFE) can be deferred, and tourist tax payments can be suspended for 2020.