France Gives Startups Tax Breaks. And Now Wants to Take Them Back.

Monday, 18 October 2010 19:33

France Gives Startups Tax Breaks. And Now Wants to Take Them Back.

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So, that whole France.fr fiasco this summer was pretty embarrassing for France. But hey, at least the local entrepreneurs got the last laugh. Still, I would've thought France would be a little more careful about putting

its foot in its mouth, but maybe not. And this time there's unfortunately nothing particularly funny about the situation. Back in 2004, France introduced a special tax scheme, called the Jeune Entreprise Innovante (JEI), granting tax breaks for startups meeting a certain criteria (less than 8 years in age, 250 people maximum...) and investing no less than 15% of their turnover in R&D. In a country where it doesn't exactly rain VC funding, this definitely had a very positive impact and kept companies hiring at home.