Capital subscription tax relief, JEI, JEIR, ESUS: the 2026 rates

Quick answer. The income-tax reduction for subscription to the capital of an SME (Tax Code art. 199 terdecies-0 A) is 18% of the payments, raised to 25% for social-utility solidarity firms (ESUS), 30% for young innovative companies (JEI) and 50% for breakthrough young innovative companies (JEIR). Payments are capped at 50,000 euros per year for a single person and 100,000 euros for a couple.

Investing in the capital of an unlisted SME gives a right to an income-tax reduction, whose rate has changed sharply with the innovation regimes. Between the base rate, the ESUS, the JEI and the JEIR, the benefit goes from single to triple. Understanding these rates and their conditions is essential for the investor as for the start-up raising funds. Here is the picture for 2026.

The scheme, sometimes called the Madelin reduction, rewards risk-taking in the capital of SMEs.

The tax reduction equals 18% of the payments made to subscribe in cash to the capital of an eligible SME, at incorporation or during a capital increase (Tax Code art. 199 terdecies-0 A). The subscription must be made in money, and the shares held for a certain time on pain of being challenged. It is the common base, on which the innovation regimes raise the rate.

This base rate applies to payments made over the period opened by the finance law, and remains the reference point to compare the other schemes.

Three regimes raise the rate above the 18% base, depending on the nature of the company.

For subscription to the capital of a social-utility solidarity firm (ESUS), the reduction is raised to 25%, for payments made up to 30 September 2026. For young innovative companies (JEI), the rate reaches 30% for payments made before 31 December 2028. Finally, for breakthrough young innovative companies (JEIR), a research-oriented category, the reduction climbs to 50%. These increases aim to channel savings towards innovation and social utility.

The reduction applies within annual payment caps.

The payments giving the right to the reduction are capped at 50,000 euros per year for a single, widowed or divorced person, and at 100,000 euros per year for a married or civil-partnership couple under joint taxation. The fraction of payments exceeding these caps can, under conditions, be carried forward to the following years. These caps, combined with the applicable rate, determine the maximum reduction amount per year.

The overall cap on tax niches must also be taken into account, as it may limit the combination of benefits in the same year.

The SME subscription relief is a powerful lever, especially in its raised versions for JEIs and JEIRs, but it must never take precedence over the quality of the investment. A 30% or 50% rate does not make up for a fragile project: the reduction lowers the entry cost, it does not guarantee the return.

Our approach, on the investor side, is to first check the target's eligibility for the targeted regime, then to integrate the reduction into the expected return, without making it the driver of the decision. On the start-up side raising funds, highlighting JEI or ESUS eligibility is a strong argument with subscribers, to combine with the structuring of the round, as we describe for love money and business angels and the pre-seed to series A raise.

An investor hesitated between two subscriptions, one in a classic SME, the other in a young innovative company. For an equal amount, the reduction went from 18% to 30% with the JEI, that is a clearly reduced entry cost. The analysis nonetheless recalled that the quality of the project came first: the JEI offered a better rate, but the risk had to be assessed for itself. The reduction was integrated into the expected return, within the payment cap, without becoming the sole decision criterion.