Dutreil Pact: Reporting obligations and certificates to maintain the exemption

The 75% % exemption under the Dutreil agreement is not granted simply by a declaration of intent. Documents must be submitted to the tax authorities at two points. On the day of submission: a copy of the commitment agreement, the company's certificate, and the individual holding commitment. After submission: a company certificate, provided within 30 days of a request, followed by the submission of the documents within three months of the expiry of the individual commitment or the tax authorities' request.

The BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances) specifies that failure to comply with these obligations may result in the recapture of the granted exemption. This page does not cover: the text of the articles in Appendix II to the French General Tax Code (CGI) cited by the BOFiP (not reviewed at the source), an official certificate template, the inheritance tax return form and its filing deadline, or the situation of non-residents.

Two periods, two sets of plays

The BOFiP refers, for these obligations, to articles 294 bis and 294 ter of Annex II to the CGI (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-30, version of 10/08/2026).

On the day of the handover: the three pieces

Heirs, donees, or legatees of shares or stock in companies referred to in Article 787 B of the French General Tax Code (CGI) must submit the required documents to the relevant tax office. These documents must accompany the inheritance tax return, the declaration of a manual gift, or the deed of gift, depending on the type of transfer. The deadline is the same as that stipulated for registering the inheritance tax return or the deed of gift. The Official Tax Bulletin (BOI) does not specify this deadline.

The deed or certificate indicates the identity of the partners who have entered into the commitment with the deceased or the donor, the number of securities they have jointly submitted to the commitment, and the corresponding percentages of capital and voting rights.

The individual commitment lasts six years for transfers starting from February 21, 2026. It lasted four years before that date. According to the BOFiP (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-10, paragraph 330), it is made for an inheritance in the inheritance tax return or in a deed registered separately, and for a gift in the deed of gift.

Manual donation: paper form

Since January 1, 2026, declarations of gifts made by hand must be submitted electronically, with some exceptions. According to economie.gouv.fr, this exception applies to declarations of gifts of property exempt under the Dutreil scheme (articles 787 B and 787 C of the French General Tax Code). In this case, a paper form (form no. 2735) must be filed in duplicate with the tax office responsible for the recipient's place of residence.

The specific cases provided for by the BOFiP

For the last three cases, the relevant documents are detailed in the indicated paragraph. The BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances) addresses these transactions in BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-20, subject to certain conditions. For gifts to the donor's descendants, pursuant to paragraph i of Article 787 B, the exemption is not revoked provided that the new donee(s) are descendants of the donor and that they continue the commitment until its expiry (paragraph 200). For a merger or division, the exemption applied before the transaction is not revoked if the persons subject to the holding obligations retain the securities they received until the expiry of the commitments (paragraph 160). These conditions are detailed in the BOI, on a case-by-case basis.

After submission: the certificate within 30 days, the documents within 3 months

After transmission, taxpayers are subject to a reporting obligation: "either in response to a request from the administration, or spontaneously at the end of the individual securities retention period" (paragraph 40). This page only addresses these two triggers.

• The company's certificate. It is provided "on request of the heir, donee or legatee and within thirty days of such request" (paragraph 42). It indicates the identity of the person who fulfills or has fulfilled the condition of principal activity or managerial function.
• Intermediary companies. Each one provides their certificate, under the same conditions (paragraph 44).
• Sending it to the administration. It takes place "within three months of the end of the individual conservation commitment mentioned in c of article 787 B of the CGI" or, where applicable, of the request from the tax authorities (paragraph 75).

The two deadlines are distinct: 30 days from the request for the company's certificate, three months from the end of the individual commitment (or the service's request) for sending the documents.

The risks of an incomplete application

The BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances) indicates that failure to comply with these obligations may result in the revocation of the granted exemption (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-30, paragraph 1). The consequences of a revocation of the exemption are described in BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-20: they include the payment of additional transfer taxes, with late payment interest as per Article 1727 of the French General Tax Code (CGI). These paragraphs of the BOI primarily concern transfers and thresholds that have not been met. For the consequences of failing to submit documents in your file, please refer to this BOI and the specific circumstances of your case.

Before any additional taxes are collected, the tax authorities invite the taxpayer to submit written observations within thirty days. A claim may be filed after notification of the collection notice.

The managerial function condition is treated separately. If it has not been met, there is forfeiture of the regime of article 787 B (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-20, paragraph 70).

The sole proprietorship: a similar system

For the transfer of a sole proprietorship (Article 787 C of the French General Tax Code), the beneficiary undertakes to retain ownership for six years (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-40, paragraph 170). The BOFiP (French Official Tax Bulletin) provides for two separate certificates.

• Proof of possession. It is attached to the declaration or deed filed with the competent tax office. It certifies that the business has been held for more than two years by the deceased or the donor when it was acquired for consideration (paragraph 170).
• Certificate of compliance with the commitment. It certifies that the individual undertaking to retain the business has been respected since the date of transfer and that one of the persons concerned is indeed continuing to operate the business. It must be sent within three months of the request from the tax authorities or, as the case may be, of the expiry of the individual undertaking to retain the business (paragraph 180).

Numerical example (fictitious profile)

Situation. On March 15, 2027, a company director gifted shares in his unlisted SAS (simplified joint-stock company) to his daughter, valued at €1,200,000. The two-year collective commitment was signed on January 10, 2026; it was therefore in effect on the date of the gift, which occurred after February 21, 2026. Calculation assumption: the six-year individual commitment begins upon the end of the collective commitment (BOI-ENR-DMTG-10-20-40-10, paragraph 330). This rule applies when the collective commitment is not deemed to have been fulfilled; for commitments deemed to have been fulfilled, paragraph 370 of the same BOI provides for other starting points.

Issue. The exemption of 75 % applies to a value of €900,000. It depends on documents to be submitted on two dates, one of which is several years after the donation.

Strategy. Place the dates for submitting the documents on a single calendar, before signing.

Result. Calculation based on the above assumptions:

In this timeline, the company's response can arrive no later than 8 days before the document submission deadline. For comparison, under the previous four-year term and with the same starting point, the end of the individual commitment would have been January 10, 2032. This profile is hypothetical. The dates are calculation assumptions; the exact calculation can be found in the commitment agreement and in the BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances). It does not indicate any outcome specific to your situation.

What changes depending on your situation

• The nature of the transfer: inheritance, donation or manual gift (paper form no. 2735 for a manual gift of exempt property).
• The date of transmission: before or on or after February 21, 2026, for the duration of the individual commitment.
• A commitment made before or after death, or deemed to have been made.
• The presence of intermediary companies, a contribution to a holding company, or a merger or division operation.

The rule depends on your situation. No results are guaranteed.