The Minister of Economy Bruno Lemaire recently defended the research tax credit. He considers that this often criticized tool "makes our country attractive" and "allows to improve innovation and investment in innovation".
The minister has asked a group of parliamentarians to find ways to save public spending for the 2023 budget, which should be presented on September 26 at the Council of Ministers. This parliamentary group is proposing, among other things, to change the research tax credit in order to encourage spending on the ecological transition.
A research tax credit to encourage research spending in the environmental field?
This proposal is not new, since it was introduced in the February report of the Conseil des prélèvements obligatoires. The CPO proposed several scenarios for the evolution of the CIR (with a variable budgetary impact) in order to improve its efficiency. It suggested the creation of a "green" tax credit to encourage research spending in the environmental field.
But 3 difficulties seem to emerge:
- Define what would be green R&D;
- The compatibility of this instrument with European law on state aid;
- The adaptation of the tax audit accordingly.
The Council identified two types of mechanisms: one, coercive, consisting of making the granting of the CIR conditional on a research project that does not harm the environment. The other, an incentive, consists of increasing the rate of the CIR for research expenditures in favor of the environment.
At this stage, these are only guidelines, which are likely to meet with some reluctance and complications in their implementation. It will therefore be interesting to follow the parliamentary work on this subject.
The limits of the "green CIR
3 difficulties seem to emerge:
- Define what would be green R&D;
- The compatibility of this instrument with European law on state aid;
- The adaptation of the tax audit accordingly.
The Council identified two types of mechanisms: one, coercive, consisting of making the granting of the CIR conditional on a research project that does not harm the environment. The other, an incentive, consists of increasing the rate of the CIR for research expenditures in favor of the environment.
At this stage, these are only guidelines, which are likely to meet with some reluctance and complications in their implementation. It will therefore be interesting to follow the parliamentary work on this subject.
The green CIR is finally not on the horizon for 2023
The parliamentary group charged by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Lemaire with investigating the possibility of a green tax credit has come up against the complexity of implementing such a system.
"Technically and legally, it seems complicated" says a member of the majority. The door opened by the Minister of the Economy thus seems to be closing.
The difficulties of such a greening had already been the subject of a study in the CPO report of February. Moreover, certain sectors of activity seem to be excluded and are therefore concerned about such a reform (e.g. the health sector).
An employer source believes that by adding additional conditions to the eligibility of the CIR, it could be requalified as state aid, and an authorization from Brussels would then be required, which could call into question the entire system.
Jean-René Cazeneuve, deputy of the Gers and rapporteur of the budget indicates that : "We still share the objective of better targeting these tax expenditures towards the ecological transition, but we believe it is essential to give companies time. We want to give a signal to businesses, but we do not want to introduce binding measures as early as the 2023 budget. "
It seems that the green research tax credit will not be introduced in 2023. It will surely be discussed during the parliamentary discussions of this fall to better return in the years to come.
