Services subcontracted as part of an R&D project are entitled to the Tax Credit Research (CIR-Crédit Impôt Recherche), under certain conditions.
Requirements
Service providers must be approved by the Ministry of Research and must be located in France, in a member state of the European Union or in the European Economic Area (EU, Norway and Iceland).
In a recent decision (CE, 9th and 10th ch. réunies, July 22, 2020, n°428127, FNAMS), the judges of the “Conseil d’Etat” considered that when a company entrusts an external organization with the execution of services that are essential to the realization of research operations that it conducts, the corresponding expenses can be taken into account for the determination of the amount of its tax credit, even if the subcontracted services, considered separately, would not qualify as research operations.
Calendar
To benefit from this approval, a file detailing an R&D project must be submitted according to a schedule established by the Ministry of Research
Initial application
In the case of a first application, the file must be sent to the Ministry of Research between 15th December N and 15th March N+1.
Renewal
The application for renewal of an approval must be addressed to the Ministry of Research and must be submitted between September 1 and November 30 of the last year granted.
Written by
Plamen Petkov
