Welcome to Paris
As London and Brussels bicker over United Kingdom’s divorce proceedings from the European Union, France is working fast to make its capital an attractive destination for fleeing capital and businesses.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said officials are working on amending the country’s tax legislation and are adjusting expatriates’ status to attract London-based business that want to leave in order to continue benefiting from the EU common market.
Paris plans to lengthen the time during which application of partial tax exemptions for impatriates to increase from five to eight years, announced Manuel Valls at a forum organised by Paris Europlace, which promoting the Paris financial market place. This special tax arrangements, which currently already provides an exemption from the repatriation grant, applies to the French or foreign residents setting in France after having spent five years abroad.
“We want to have the most favorable impatriate regime in Europe”, said Manuel Valls. In his desire to facilitate the installation of individuals and companies in France, the Prime Minister also referred to setting up a ‘single entry point’ of information, which allow applicants to do business in France to be informed easily, in their own language, about the tax matters.
Still in the field of taxation, Manuel Valls recalled that the corporate tax rate would be gradually reduced to 28%, compared to the current 33.33%.
The Governor of the Bank of France François Villeroy Galhau indicated that the Authority of Prudential and Resolution (ACPR), which oversees the French financial system, would implement an expedited registration process for financial institutions already authorized in another European Union member state.
Hoping to convince the employees of the companies likely to consider relocating, Manuel Valls said that international sections would be opened in schools so that the children of expatriates could take courses in their mother tongue.
“To major international companies I say, ‘Welcome to Paris! Come invest in France’!” said Prime Minister Manuel Valls in an interview with Le Parisien, published on July.
By Eric Chenailler
Director International Business Services
