Emergency measures to deal with the crisis

Two types of measurements:

The "special Covid 19" emergency measures proposed by the State, to respond to immediate cash flow difficulties.

Objective : Immediately alleviate the impact of the crisis on cash

Common law emergency measures to get out of the crisis.

Objective : Cope with difficulties – Organize the way out of the crisis by setting up a spreading of debts negotiated with creditors – manage the cessation of payments

The "special Covid 19" emergency measures proposed by the State, to respond to immediate cash flow difficulties

The solidarity fund

Announcement by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Lemaire of March 17, 2020 – pending the decree or order for immediate practical application.

The two conditions for benefiting from this solidarity fund

Be an eligible company (A company whose activity has been closed (the decree of March 14, modified by the decree of March 15) or a company that loses 70% of its turnover, it being specified that this loss will be determined by comparing sales of March 2019 and March 2020.
Have a turnover of less than 1 million euros

The form of aid provided by the solidarity fund:

Quick, simple, automatic help on a simple declaration of 1,500 euros. This aid will be paid by the General Directorate of Public Finances.
An anti-bankruptcy system for companies that employ at least one employee : additional financial support would be paid to avoid bankruptcy

Postponement of URSAFF contribution deadlines

Postponement of the March 15 deadline , in whole or in part, for the employer's or employee's share, for a period of up to 3 months

Case n°1 : The February 2020 DSN has not been filed. It can then be until today, March 16, with payment modulation in this DSN.
Case n°2 : The February 2020 DSN has already been submitted. It is still possible to modify your Urssaf payment (be careful, only if the employer is due on the 15th) until Thursday March 19 at 12:00 p.m., on the urssaf website (practical terms: http:// www .dsn-info.fr/documentation/telepaiement-services-urssaf.pdf ) .
Case n°3 : If the employer pays his contributions outside the DSN , without direct debit (SEPA direct debit). He can either not proceed with the payment of his contributions, or reduce the amount paid by making a transfer of lesser importance.
Case n°4 : The decision to defer the payment of the contributions concerns only the employee contributions , the employer wishing to pay the employer contributions. The employer can then connect to his online space on urssaf.fr and report his situation via messaging: "New message" / "A declarative formality" / "Declare an exceptional situation".

Postponement of the payment of direct taxes to the SIE

Postponement of the IS installment of March 15 or June 15 / Postponement of the CFE monthly payment

Case no. 1: The company has already given the payment instruction for its March 15 deadline. She can possibly try to get closer to her bank to oppose the SEPA direct debit.
Case n°2: The payment has already been made; the debit is effective. The company then has the option of requesting reimbursement from the SIE. A request form for payment delay or tax rebate has been specifically created to respond to the Covid 19 crisis.

Postponement of VAT payment? Neither the press releases, nor the form prepared by the ministry to request payment delays, deal with indirect taxes, and in particular, with VAT. The State confirms that only direct taxes seem to be affected by the emergency measures specific to Covid 19, VAT not being affected by the deferral measures. However, in certain situations, such as the closure of shops or restaurants, compensation could be considered between the VAT due in February (payment to be made between 19 and 21 March), with a possible credit of TVA whose forecast results for the month of March 2020 suggest that it would be available at the end of March. Such modulation cannot be implemented without the agreement of the SIE and only upon presentation of accounting data justifying the modulation made.

Direct tax rebate: These rebates will only be decided by the tax authorities after an individual examination of the requests. For this, a request justified by the circumstances and supported by accounting data (the presentation of a quantified forecast setting out the difficulties encountered and the plan for spreading the debts) must be presented.

Mobilization of Bpifrance

Granting of a Bpifrance guarantee for cash loans granted by a French bank, granted to companies for the consequences of the Coronavirus. Guarantee with banks up to 90% for loans of 3 to 7 years; Guarantee with banks up to 90% for authorized overdrafts over 12 to 18 months.
Extension of conventional guarantees for investment loans to accompany the reorganizations carried out by the banks, with no management fees.
Reorganization of medium and long-term loans granted by Bpifrance , on request justified by the context. BPIFrance accepts the suspension of loan installment payments as of today, March 16, 2020.
Contribution of exceptional cash: Atout loans for SMEs or ETIs (see below); Bpifrance mobilizes the invoices and adds a cash credit of 30% of the mobilized volume.
A toll-free number has been set up by Bpifrance to support businesses: 0 969 370 240. An online request form is available on the website www.bpifrance.fr

Bpifrance's "Asset Loan"

An exceptional cash loan set up by BpiFrance : loan without guarantee on the assets of the company or the manager, dedicated to companies going through a difficult time linked to the Covid-19 health crisis.

Eligible companies: VSEs, SMEs and ETIs according to European definition / 12 months of activity minimum / All sectors of activity, except exclusions (SCI, financial intermediation companies, property development and rental companies, agricultural companies with a turnover of less than €750,000, and companies in difficulty)
Expenditure financed: a one-off cash requirement, an exceptional increase in WCR, linked to the economic situation
Amount: From €50,000 to €5,000,000 for SMEs. Up to €30,000,000 for ETIs
No guarantee on the assets of the company or its director
Duration / amortization: From 3 to 5 years. Deferred capital amortization up to 12 months
Financial conditions: Fixed or variable rate
Terms: Financial partnership (1 for 1). Quarterly maturities, financial amortization of capital

Simplified and reinforced partial unemployment

This system allows the employer to:

First possible measure : temporarily close all or part of your establishment;
Second possible measure : reduce the working hours practiced in the establishment or part of the establishment below the legal working time.

Two steps: 1) Request for authorization from the Direccte to use the partial activity scheme, after consulting the CSE if necessary. 2) Once this authorization has been obtained, the employer submits a request for compensation for partial activity. See our detailed note on this subject

Negotiation tools:

1. For the rescheduling of bank loans: Credit Mediator

These reschedulings must be negotiated with the credit institutions, some having already announced that they would accept, almost automatically, a 6-month postponement of the repayment deadlines. The credit mediator may intervene for the following reasons in particular: denunciation of an overdraft or line of credit and/or refusal to reschedule a debt

1. For negotiations with customers or suppliers: Business Mediator

The Business Mediator provides free assistance to businesses experiencing economic difficulties related to disputes caused by the consequences of the health crisis. See our detailed note on your options when it comes to renegotiating your contracts.

Other emergency measures announced and dedicated to businesses

Some can only be implemented with certainty after the adoption of a law.

- Postponement of bank maturities for 6 months free of charge (pending a law or decree, subject to the agreement of the banking institution)
- Postponement of rents for commercial leases for VSEs, self-employed, auto-entrepreneurs (pending a law or decree, subject to the agreement of the lessor)
- Suspension of water, gas and electricity bills for VSEs, self-employed, auto-entrepreneurs

Common law emergency measures to get out of the crisis

Common law measures aim to enable companies to emerge from the crisis by implementing medium and long-term solutions. These systems make it possible to go further, through a deeper and more comprehensive process of preventing and dealing with difficulties.

Ad hoc mandate / Justice conciliator

Companies may request the appointment of an ad hoc representative or a conciliator by the President of the Commercial Court, in order to negotiate the necessary efforts with the creditors. These players specialize in situations of financial and economic difficulty. They will intervene independently, transparently and in a constructive spirit to establish a diagnosis of the company and propose suitable solutions, while encouraging creditors to make the necessary efforts to allow the survival of the company. In both cases, the objective pursued is to obtain: payment deadlines; new loan repayment schedules; rebates and reductions in contributions and taxes. These procedures are confidential and govern the duration of the negotiations, with a protective system for the company (eg during the time of the negotiations, the banking establishments or the Urssaf can voluntarily suspend their collection procedures).

Condition sine qua non : not to be in a state of suspension of payments (for the ad hoc mandate), or at the very least, with regard to conciliation, not to have been so for more than forty-five days.

Judicial safeguard

A preventive procedure to help a company deal with its insurmountable difficulties before it becomes insolvent. The objective is to enable the company to continue its activity (if necessary by carrying out its reorganization), to maintain employment and to discharge its debts. The procedure begins with the opening of an observation period (between 6 months and 18 months) during which an economic and social assessment of the company is drawn up with a view to defining its possibilities of recovery (inventory of assets, state of receivables, etc). At the end of this period, a continuation plan is drawn up and should enable the company to settle its debts while relaunching its activity.

Legal redress

This is a procedure, to which the safeguard rules are applied, and which is open to companies which have been in a state of insolvency for less than 45 days. The objective is to allow an in-depth restructuring of the company so that the activity can be relaunched, that employment is preserved as well as possible, while carrying out a clearance of debts. This procedure also begins with the opening of an observation period. At the end of this period, several options:

The activity is no longer viable, the procedure is converted into judicial liquidation ;
The activity is viable, a continuation of the activity is possible . Some assets will be sold, others will be retained. A continuation plan will be drawn up to allow the company to settle its debts (over a maximum period of 10 years) while relaunching its activity.

In the event of continuation, the priority objective is to demonstrate that after the implementation of the plan, the activity of the company is sufficiently profitable to allow the continuation of the current activity (see a development of this one) while by making payment of the installments of the debt agreed on the date of the opening of the procedure (generally reduced due to the discounts and reductions obtained).