We provide you information depending on 3 different situations:
- If you are experiencing difficulties in paying your rent for November 2020, we introduce you 2 schemes which should be of interest to you;
- If you would like to apply for Solidarity Fund assistance for October 2020, we have put together a tutorial to guide you through the process;
- If you are on the territory of Sète Agglopôle Méditerrannée, we explain the characteristics of its assistance from the COVID Emergency Fund.
1.1. A tax credit to encourage lessors to cancel part of the rents (Draft Finance Law for 2021)
This mechanism would be designed to encourage lessors and prevent them from being confronted with non-payment or non-payment by the tenant; at the same time, it would enable companies to benefit from considerably reduced, if not total, rents.
Lessors concerned:
Natural persons or legal entities under private law (including companies that are exempt from income or corporation tax).
Tenants concerned:
Tenants renting premises that are subject to a ban on receiving the public during the containment period beginning on 30 October 2020 or carrying out their main activity in a sector mentioned in Appendix 1 of Decree 2020/371 of 30 March 2020.
As an exception, the lessor should justify (by any means) the difficulties of the tenant business when it is operated by an ascendant, descendant, or member of the lessor’s tax household, or when there are dependent links between them.
Tax credit:
For lessors of businesses with less than 250 employees, this scheme would result in a tax credit of 50% of the sums abandoned.
It would apply:
- for the calculation of the income tax due by the taxpayer for the calendar year in which the abandonment or definitive renunciation of rents was granted, including in the event of a financial year-end during the calendar year;
- for lessors liable for corporation tax, the tax credit would be set off against the tax due for the financial year in which the abandonment or definitive renunciation of rents was granted.
If the amount of the tax credit exceeds the tax due for that year, the excess would be refunded.
Note: by derogation, the tax credit would be deductible from the tax due for the year 2021 (i.e. in 2022). This appears as part of the draft Finance Act for 2021; but we will not really be fixed until the Finance Act is promulgated in January 2021.
This would be an incentive scheme; all you would have to do is ask your lessor’s approval, without being able to impose it on him.
You will find a template of letter to be sent to your lessor by clicking here: Demande d’annulation du Loyer de Novembre 2020.
1.2. The L’OCCAL system in the Occitanie region
The Region, in partnership with the Bank of the Territories, the departments, the metropolises and the EPCIs of Occitania have implemented this scheme which offers aid through 3 components: Treasury / Investment / Rental aid.
Beneficiaries:
Shops with commercial premises open to the public, which are undergoing an administrative closure.
- Individuals and legal entities, micro enterprises, VSEs, SMEs with less than 20 employees as a priority, independent status.
- Associations employing one or more employees
- Taxi (only flat rate for health investment under component 2)
Rental aid:
Flat-rate grant of the amount of rent payable for the month of November 2020 for their business premises, capped at €1,000.
Please note: this does not include rent due to a member of the applicant’s family, to an SCI in which the applicant or a member of his/her family is a majority shareholder, or to a local authority.
The application form must be completed and filled in online at https://mesaidesenligne.laregion.fr/.
For more information on this scheme, you can write to loccal@laregion.fr or call 0805 18 19 20 for the CCIR (tourism, industrial and commercial enterprises) or 0806 80 39 00 for the CRMA for crafts.
2. Request for assistance from the Solidarity Fund of October 2020
The October 2020 Solidarity Fund aid has undergone changes compared to the previous months, potentially raising its amount to a higher threshold.
Consult our October 2020 Solidarity Fund application tutorial.
3. COVID emergency fund of Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée
Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée has reactivated its COVID Emergency Fund, with a one-off lump-sum grant of €2,000.
Beneficiaries:
All self-employed or independent companies with less than 10 employees:
- established in the Bassin de Thau;
- whose turnover is less than €500,000;
- up to date with their tax and social security contributions;
- having ceased their activity due to an administrative closure imposed by Decree n° 2020-1310 of 29 October 2020 prescribing the general measures necessary to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic within the framework of the state of health emergency.
How to make the request?
1. Consult the following link for the list of mandatory attached files to be collected and sent: https://www.agglopole.fr/le-fonds-durgence-covid-de-sete-agglopole/
2. Send these compulsory documents by e-mail to urgence-covid@agglopole.fr
3. Make your request before 31 December 2020
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!
