Ordinance No. 2015-682 of June 18, 2015, concerning the simplification of employers' social security declarations, was issued pursuant to Law No. 2014-1545 of December 20, 2014, on simplifying business operations, which authorized the government to take measures to simplify tax reporting obligations.
This ordinance removes the reference to the special tax reduction and credit declaration from the Tax Procedures Code, which now refers to a single declaration (Art. L. 172 G of the Tax Procedures Code).
The filing deadlines for certain annual tax returns for professionals have been harmonized. The deadline for filing these returns is set at the second day following May 1 for tax credits and reductions calculated for fiscal years ending on or after December 31, 2015. This applies to declarations submitted for:
- Income tax: traders and industrialists, agricultural operators placed under an actual tax regime and persons carrying out a non-commercial activity;
- Corporate tax: if the financial year ends on December 31 or if no financial year ends during a year, the declaration of profit or loss must be filed no later than the second working day following May 1;
- the tax on advertising broadcast by radio and television;
- business property taxes.
The simplification also extends to the reporting requirements for the tax on precious metals, jewelry, works of art, collectibles, and antiques (Article 150VM of the French General Tax Code (CGI)) and for taxes levied to fund the agricultural workers' compensation fund (Article 1622 of the CGI). In practice, these declarations will have to be made using different forms. For example, for the tax on precious metals, VAT-registered professionals can, in particular, submit their declaration on the annex to their monthly or quarterly revenue declaration for VAT calculation. These new provisions will apply to tax returns filed on or after February 1, 2016. As
of January 1 , 2016, the return for withholding tax on salaries, wages, pensions, annuities, income, and gains paid to individuals not tax residents of France must be filed no later than the 15th of the month following the calendar quarter in which the payment was made (Article 1671 A of the French General Tax Code). Similarly, for fiscal years ending on or after December 31, 2015, the return for withholding tax on income from shares and similar income, the beneficiaries of which do not have their actual residence or registered office in France, and on interest and income from bonds, must be filed no later than the fifteenth day of the fourth month following the close of the fiscal year (Article 1673 bis of the French General Tax Code).
Distributions of dividends from equity investments made by a company within a tax group to another company within the same group are included in the list of income exempt from the reporting requirement for distributions paid on or after January 1, 2015 (Article 242 ter of the French General Tax Code).
Finally, the value of negative goodwill arising from a merger no longer needs to be included in the monitoring reports attached to the income statements for fiscal years ending on or after June 20, 2015 (Article 54 septies I of the French General Tax Code).
