France: Budget Bill introduces super-depreciation tax concessions on capital goods

The French 2019 Finance Bill has introduced a 140% “super-depreciation” tax concession for SMEs (turnover below €50 million and fewer than 250 employees) intending to invest in robotics or systems for facilitating digital transformation.

According to the text of the bill, the measure will apply to orders acquired between 20 September 2018 and 31 December 2020 and with deliveries planned between January 2019 and the end of 2020.

Deliveries may however be postponed to 31 December 2022 if the order is issued by the end of 2020 and confirmed with a 10% deposit.

The assets covered by the incentives fall into seven categories: Robots and cobots; Systems for additive manufacturing (3D printers); Software used for design, production or processing operations; Integrated machines for intensive processing; Physical sensors for collecting data from the production facility, the production line or the company’s logistic system; Production machines managed by PLC or CNC; Equipment for augmented and virtual reality used for design, production or processing operations.