Gift Transfer Tax Exemption for Family Business Transfers
Purpose: A partial exemption from the gift and inheritance duties due when a business is transferred by gift. Beneficiaries indicated: companies with an industrial, commercial, craft, agricultural or liberal activity transferred on death or during the owner’s lifetime. The collective holding commitment can be made by a single person. The financial information and availability must be checked against the current official source before use.
The “Exemption from gift and inheritance duties for businesses transferred within the family (Dutreil pact)” scheme concerns companies with an industrial, commercial, craft, agricultural or liberal activity transferred on death or during the owner’s lifetime. The collective holding commitment can be made by a single person. Its application depends on the legal and tax situation, the nature of the activity and the rules in force. Before relying on it, check the conditions with the administration or competent body, particularly if the catalogue parameters are old or incomplete.
Funded by Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
Run a personalised scan to identify the public grants and funding your company may be able to access.
Who can apply
Beneficiaries indicated in the catalogue: companies with an industrial, commercial, craft, agricultural or liberal activity transferred on death or during the owner’s lifetime. The collective holding commitment can be made by a single person. Eligibility depends on the legal form, activity, area and the legal conditions actually applicable.
Eligibility conditions
Conditions taken from the catalogue: The shares must be covered by a collective holding commitment of at least 2 years in progress on the day of the transfer, made by the deceased or the donor, for themselves and their heirs, with other shareholders. Where shares transferred on death were not covered by such a commitment, one or more heirs or legatees can, between themselves or with other shareholders, conclude the commitment within 6 months of the transfer. The collective commitment must cover at least 10% of the financial and voting rights of the securities issued by the company if they are listed on a regulated market or, failing that, at least 17%, including the shares transferred; securities held by a company directly holding a stake in the company and party to the commitment are taken into account, and these percentages must be maintained throughout the commitment (the parties can sell or give the shares to each other). The commitment can be relied on against the tax authorities from the date the deed recording it is registered; for listed securities, it is subject to Article L. 233-11 of the French Commercial Code. The collective commitment is deemed to exist when the shares have been held for 2 years under certain conditions: this applies where the shares held for at least 2 years by an individual, alone or with their spouse or civil partner, reach the required thresholds, provided that person or their spouse or civil partner has for more than 2 years carried out their main professional activity in the company, or a management role where the company is subject to corporation tax. This deemed commitment also applies through an interposed company. The value of the transferred shares in that company benefits from the partial exemption in proportion to the real value of its gross assets represented by the holding under the collective retention undertaking. The exemption also applies where the company directly held by the taxpayer owns a stake in a company holding the shares under the undertaking; the partial exemption then applies to the value of the shares directly held, up to the fraction of the real value of its gross assets representing the indirect holding under the undertaking. The holdings must remain unchanged at each level of interposition throughout the collective undertaking, although an increase in the holding of interposed companies does not call the regime into question. One of the partners, heirs, donees or legatees must actually carry out their main professional activity in the company during the undertaking and for 3 years after the transfer if it is a partnership, or a management role if it is subject to corporation tax, by law or by option. From the transfer until the collective undertaking expires, the company must send, within 3 months of 31 December each year, a certificate that the conditions are met on that date. If the collective undertaking’s conditions are not met as a result of a merger, demerger or capital increase, the partial exemption granted on a prior gift or inheritance is not called into question if the signatories keep to the undertaking until its end, and the shares received must be kept until the same date. Nor is it called into question where the percentage condition is not met because shares are cancelled due to losses or judicial liquidation. Each heir, donee or legatee undertakes in the inheritance declaration or deed of gift, for themselves and their gratuitous successors, to keep the transferred shares for 6 years from the end of the above period. If this condition is not met because of a contribution partly paid by taking on an equalisation payment following a division, or an outright contribution of shares in a company with an industrial, commercial, craft, agricultural or liberal activity to a company whose sole purpose is to manage its own assets, consisting exclusively of holdings in one or more companies of the same group as the company whose shares were transferred and with a similar, related and complementary activity, the partial exemption is not called into question if: the receiving company is wholly owned by the individuals benefiting from the exemption (the donor may hold a direct, non-majority stake) and run directly by one or more of them, these conditions on assets, ownership and management being met after the contribution and until the end of the 6-year undertaking; the receiving company undertakes to keep the contributed shares until the end of that undertaking; and the heirs, donees or legatees who are partners in the receiving company keep the shares received in exchange until the end of that undertaking. If the 6-year condition is not met as a result of a merger, demerger or capital increase, the exemption is not called into question if the shares received are kept by the signatory until the end. Nor is it called into question where the percentage condition or the 6-year condition is not met because shares are cancelled due to losses or judicial liquidation. If the 6-year condition is not met because of a gift, the exemption is not called into question provided the donee(s) are descendants of the donor and continue the undertaking until its end. These provisions apply to a gift with retention of usufruct provided the usufructuary’s voting rights are limited by the articles of association to decisions on the allocation of profits. This exemption cannot then be combined with the reduction on duties for gifts of bare ownership (Article 790 of the CGI). They must be compared with the current text, any local decisions and the applicable forms before concluding on eligibility.
What the scheme covers
Operation or advantage described: A partial exemption from the gift and inheritance duties due when a business is transferred by gift. The exemption does not apply to the share of the market value of the company’s (or sub-subsidiary’s) shares representing assets not used exclusively for the industrial, commercial, liberal or agricultural activity (hunting and fishing rights, pleasure boats, passenger cars, certain jewellery and works of art, racehorses or show horses, wines and spirits, housing and residences). For tax and social exemptions, check the basis and the triggering event; for regional mechanisms, check the eligible costs or uses.
Amount and funding terms
Amount or advantage mentioned in the catalogue: exemption from gift and inheritance duties on 75% of the value of the company’s shares. Do not treat a tax or social exemption as a grant paid out; confirm the basis, caps and conditions for the year concerned.
How to apply
Recommended steps: 1) confirm the applicable text and official page; 2) check the area, legal form and criteria; 3) check the form, application date and documents; 4) keep the acknowledgement of submission and supporting documents. Check the rules in force under the 2026 Finance Act and the current holding commitments; check the main activity, the pact, management functions, timetable and shares concerned.
Timeline
No usable end date is recorded in the catalogue. Check the timetable and applicable conditions with the administration or operator. The transfer rules must be read in the light of the Dutreil doctrine updated in August 2026 and the 2026 legislative changes.
Key facts
- Funder
- Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
- Type of funding
- Tax exemption
- Status
- Ongoing
- Geographic scope
- All of France
Frequently asked questions
What kind of advantage is this?
The catalogue describes the scheme as follows: a partial exemption from the gift and inheritance duties due when a business is transferred by gift. It is a tax or social regime, an exemption or a relief mechanism; it should not be treated as a grant paid out if that is not its legal nature.
Does the 75% exemption apply unconditionally?
No. The partial exemption is subject to conditions relating in particular to the activity, holding commitments and management obligations. The tax doctrine was updated in August 2026: check the amended rules before any transfer.
What amount or rate can be applied?
The catalogue indicates: exemption from gift and inheritance duties on 75% of the value of the company’s shares. This parameter must be confirmed according to the year, the basis and the beneficiary’s situation.
Which steps and dates should be checked?
No usable end date is recorded in the catalogue. Check the timetable and applicable conditions with the administration or operator. The transfer rules must be read in the light of the Dutreil doctrine updated in August 2026 and the 2026 legislative changes. The current tax doctrine confirms the partial exemption from gift and inheritance duties on 75% of the value of the shares transferred, under conditions. The doctrine published in August 2026 reports 2026 legislative changes, notably on excluded assets and the length of the individual holding commitment. The procedure and deadlines must be confirmed before acting.
Official source
No official URL is available in our data for this grant.
Other grants of type “tax exemption”
ACRE: who can benefit from the exemption?
Ministère du Travail et des Solidarités, URSSAF
Innovation tax credit (ITC): rates, expenses and declaration
Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Espace, Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
Up to €400,000
Craft trades tax credit (crédit d’impôt métiers d’art): check eligibility before filing
Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
Up to €30,000
Other grants from Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
Aid for works on private property to connect to a fibre-optic network
Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
Up to €1,200
CODEFI and CIRI: support for companies in difficulty
Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté Industrielle, Energétique et Numérique
Related needs and funding
Competitive calls for projects
Ecological transition and CSR
Capital and investment funds
Support and acceleration
Diagnostics and audits
Takeover and transfer
Discover the funding that fits your company
Check your eligibility for public grants
This scheme is only one of the grants your company may be able to access. Run a personalised scan to identify the funding opportunities that match your activity, location and project.
See the opportunities identified by the scan, then access your personalised report.