Taxpayers can be exempt from payment of the CFE by right (automatically) or optional (upon request, with community approval).

Exemptions by right

The following individuals and organizations are exempt from the TFC by right and in permanent :

• Craftsmen and craftsmen working either for individuals with materials supplied or on their behalf with materials belonging to them, whether or not they have a sign or shop, when they use only the apprentice competition(s) aged 20 years or less at the beginning of the apprenticeship. They can get help from their Civil partnerships, partners and children.
• Taxi or ambulance drivers, owners or tenants of 1 or 2 cars, maximum 7 seats (excluding the driver's seat), whether they drive or manage themselves, provided that the 2 cars are not in service at the same time and that they respect the statutory tariffs
• Independent Home Sellers (VDI), for their total gross remuneration of less than €7,651
• Cooperatives and unions of businesses cooperatives of craftsmen, cooperatives businesses and unions of businesses cooperatives of boatmen, maritime cooperatives businesses
• Major seaports, autonomous ports, ports managed by local and regional authorities, public establishments or businesses with mixed economies (except recreational ports)
• Certain fishermen, artisanal fishing businesses and maritime registrants
• Farmers, certain employer groups and certain GIE: titleContent
• Certain agricultural cooperatives and their unions
• Zoological establishments for their agricultural activity (animal care and educational shows and activities)
• Co-operative and Participatory businesses (Scop)
• Private institutions of first and second degree education under contract with the State and of higher education under contract or recognized as being of public interest
• Teachers of humanities, science and the arts of pleasure and primary teachers who teach personally, either at home or at the home of their pupils, or in a room without a sign and without special facilities
• Painters, sculptors, engravers and draftsmen considered as artists and selling only the product of their art. This includes graphic artists provided that their activity is limited to the creation of graphic works.
• Photographers and authors, for their activity relating to the production of photographs and the transfer of their works of art or copyright
• Authors, composers, choreographers, copyright translators, and certain categories of performing artists (live performances)
• Lyrical and dramatic artists
• Press activities: periodical publishers, online press services, specialist press broadcasters
• Midwives and caregivers (unless they are nurses)
• Lawyers who have followed the training course sanctioned by the CAPA, the exemption is limited to 2 years from the start of activity
• Doctors and health workers opening a sub-office in a medical desert or in a commune of less than 2,000 inhabitants
• Sportsmen for the sole practice of a sport
• Professional unions, whatever their legal form, and their unions for their activities relating to the study and defense of the collective material or moral rights and interests of their members or of the persons they represent
• HLM organizations and owners or tenants renting or subletting part of their personal dwelling occasionally at a reasonable price (or furnished, provided that the dwelling is the sub-tenant's principal residence)
• Operators of classified tourist furniture or bed and breakfasts (unless otherwise decided by the municipality), provided that these premises form part of their personal dwelling (main or secondary residence outside the rental periods) and do not constitute the principal or secondary dwelling of the tenant
• Companies for their biogas, electricity and heat production through methanization
• Social activities (except mutual societies, their unions, and provident societies)
• Companies created in a urban basin to be dynamised (BUD) between 1^er January 2018 and December 31, 2022 and are exempt from income tax or business tax. The exemption is limited to 7 years from the creation.
• Companies located in a Priority Development Area (PRA) between 1^er January 2019 and December 31, 2022 and are exempt from income tax or business tax. The exemption is limited to 7 years from the creation.
• Local and regional authorities, public institutions and government bodies

Optional exemptions

Optional exemptions shall be subject to approval of recipient communities of the contribution. These exemptions are generally temporary.

The companies benefiting from the optional exemption from CFE are:

• Companies located in the following areas:
  - Regional aid zones (RBAZs)
  - Investment aid zones for small and medium-sized companies
  - Rural Revitalization Areas (ZRR) and areas France ruralités revitalization (FRR)
  - Sensitive urban areas (SZs)
  - Priority areas of city policy (QPV)
  - First generation urban free zones
  - Second generation urban free zones
  - Urban Free Zones-Third Generation Entrepreneurs
  - Defense Restructuring Areas (ZRD)
  - Employment pools to be revitalized (BER)
  - Free zones of activities (FZs) in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Reunion or Mayotte
• Companies located in Corsica
• Rural doctors, paramedics and veterinarians
• Young Innovative companies (JEI) and young university companies (JEU)
• Independent record shops (mainly engaged in the retail sale of phonograms)
• Retail establishments selling new books with reference independent library label
• live performance companies national theaters, theatrical tours, symphony concerts, musical performances and varieties
• Municipal credit unions

Where the taxpayer is entitled to an exemption, he shall make an application, as the case may be, in the statement no. 1447-M-SD (amending declaration) or in theAnnex No 1447-E Attach to Declaration No. 1447-M-SD.

In addition, the company must attach a statement no. 1465-SD where the exemption concerns regional aid areas, investment aid areas for small and medium-sized companies and rural regeneration areas.

The application must be made to the company Tax Office (SIE) on which it is based.

Amending Declaration 1447-M-SD (CFE)

Amending Declaration, Annex 1447-E (CFE)

Specific amending declaration 1465-SD (CFE)

In addition, on the deliberation of the municipalities, the establishment creations and extensions may be exempted from tax for a period of 3 years from the year following the year in which it was created or from^e year following the year in which the extension of establishment occurred.

The creation of an establishment means any new establishment of a company in a municipality where it is not regarded as a change of operator.

The extension of establishment means the net increase in the taxable amount compared with that of the previous year multiplied by the coefficient, applicable for the reference period of the CFE, either of annual updating of the rental values for business premises or of annual flat-rate increase for industrial establishments.

In order to benefit from this exemption, the company must also statement no. 1447-M-SD, for each exempt establishment, to be sent to the tax department to which the establishment is subject. It has to be done before 1^er May of the year following that in which the establishment was extended.

Amending Declaration 1447-M-SD (CFE)

The companies liable to pay the CFE are not not required to report annually their tax bases.

However, 1447-M statement-SD shall be carried out by the company in any of the following :

• The company claim for exemption : land use planning, live performance companies or young innovative company, for example
• The company wants to report a change elements known to the administration, in particular:
  
  • Increase or decrease in space area
  • Change in the number of employees (tax credit, artisan reduction...)
  • Variation of a taxing element (power or number of installations)
  • Threshold Exceeded €100,000 turnover (for naked rental activities)
  • Termination or closure of an installation or establishment

The declaration must be addressed to the company tax department (SIE) on which the company depends before the 2nd^e working day following 1^er May (until May 3, 2024 for the 2025 CFE).

Amending Declaration 1447-M-SD (CFE)

Calculation of the CFE

The CFE is calculated differently depending on whether the company has premises (or land) for the exercise of its activity.

Reduction of the tax base

For the calculation of the CFE, the rental value is small from:

• 30% for industrial establishments
• 50% for pollution abatement facilities: local authorities may increase this reduction to €100.
• 50% for energy-saving or noise-reducing equipment: local authorities may increase this reduction to 100%.
• 1/3 for airports
• 100% for specific port handling facilities or facilities which have been the subject of a transfer of rights in rem to a terminal operator, for the first 2 years in respect of which the goods enter the taxable amount of that operator. The rate shall be reduced to €75, 50% and 25% for each of the following 3 years.
• 25% in case of establishment in Corsica

In addition, the company liable to pay the CFE benefits from a reduction of its tax base (rental value or turnover) in the following cases:

• Craftsman (not fully exempt from CFE) employing up to 3 employees: reduction of 75% per 1 employee, 50% for 2 employees and 25% for 3 employees (excluding apprentices). This reduction applies on condition that the remuneration for work (profit, wages paid and social contributions) represents more than 50% of the craftsman's overall turnover including VAT.
• If established in Corsica: reduction of 25%

Additional tax and management fees

In addition to the amount of the CFE thus calculated, there is a additional fee to the CFE. It is fixed at 1.12% of the amount of the CFE and cashed for the benefit of CCI France and the regional chambers of commerce and industry.

Some companies are exempt of this tax:

• Craftsmen registered in the trades register and not included on the voters list of the chamber of commerce in their riding
• Agricultural cooperatives and Sica
• Fishermen and artisanal fishing businesses
• Furnished rentals
• Head of institution and pensioner

In addition, the company must pay management costs of local taxation equivalent to 1% the amount of the CFE and the additional tax.

The company liable to pay the CFE shall receive a paperless tax notice (and not by mail) on its online tax account. This tax notice indicates the amount of the CFE and the time limit for settling it.

Payment terms vary by amount of CFE settled in the previous year by the company.

In case of assignment or transfer of the company, the new operator must subscribe to a 1447-C-SD statement (initial declaration) before 1 January of the year following the year of the change. The declaration must be sent to the company Tax Office (SIE).

Initial Declaration 1447-C-SD (CFE)

If the change takes place during the year, the former operator remains liable for the full year. The new operator is then not taxable.

For the 2 years following the year of the change, the new operator is taxed on the rental value of the real estate that he disposed of (for the exercise of his activity) on December 31 of his first year of activity.