Name in original language
Crédit d'Impôt Recherche (CIR)
Initiative overview
Administered by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MESR) and the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP), the CIR has been a permanent fixture of French innovation policy since 1983 (reformed significantly in 2008). The credit is calculated at 30% on qualifying R&D expenditure up to a threshold of EUR 100M per year, and at 5% for expenditure above that threshold. The credit is fully payable as a cash refund to newly created companies, SMEs, and companies in financial difficulty within the first 3 years; other companies may carry it forward up to 3 years and then receive a cash refund. Qualifying expenditure includes: personnel costs (researchers and technicians), depreciation of R&D equipment, subcontracted R&D (to approved organisations), patent costs, costs of technology monitoring, and can include certain AI-related data and compute costs where they form part of an eligible R&D project. AI companies using the CIR typically claim on: AI model development and training; algorithm R new AI product or process development; and AI-driven scientific research. In 2022 approximately 24,000 firms claimed CIR, generating approximately EUR 7B in annual tax credit. Young Innovative Companies (JEI) benefit from additional exemptions on top of CIR.
