Passing on your business premises in an SCI: gift, split ownership, Dutreil

Quick answer. To pass on business premises held in an SCI, the Dutreil pact and its 75% exemption do not apply if the SCI merely lets unfurnished property: it is a civil activity, excluded from article 787 B, and the 2026 finance law has tightened this point further. The effective levers are the gift of shares, the 100,000 euro allowance per parent and per child every 15 years, and split ownership which reduces the taxable base.

Many owners imagine passing on their business premises using the Dutreil pact, as for their company. This is a frequent mistake: a wealth SCI does not give the right to Dutreil. The right strategy rests on other tools, perfectly effective when well used. Let us see what works, what does not, and how to organise the transmission.

The Dutreil pact of article 787 B of the Tax Code allows company shares to be passed on with a 75% exemption of their value, under retention commitments.

But it is reserved for companies carrying on an industrial, commercial, artisanal, agricultural or liberal activity. An SCI that lets unfurnished premises carries on a civil wealth-management activity, expressly excluded from the scheme. The finance law for 2026, applicable to transmissions occurring from 21 February 2026, reinforced this exclusion by stating that managing one's own real-estate wealth does not give the right to the benefit.

There is a nuance: an SCI carrying on a genuine commercial activity, for example furnished rental qualified as commercial, could under strict conditions claim Dutreil. But this is not the case of a classic wealth SCI holding premises let unfurnished. Counting on Dutreil in that case leads to a reassessment.

The transmission of an SCI goes first through the gift of its shares, which benefits from a favourable tax framework.

Each parent can give each child up to 100,000 euros free of duty, and this allowance renews every 15 years (Tax Code art. 779). For a couple with two children, that means 400,000 euros transferable free of duty per 15-year period, that is, by repeating the operation, significant amounts over a lifetime. Above the allowance, duties follow the direct-line scale, progressive from 5% to 45%.

The SCI eases this strategy by turning the property into divisible shares, simpler to give in instalments than the asset itself. It is one of the major benefits of holding the premises in an SCI, developed in our comparison SCI or direct ownership of premises.

Split ownership strongly amplifies the efficiency of the gift of shares.

By giving only the bare ownership of the shares and keeping the usufruct, you transmit only a fraction of the value, calculated under the scale of article 669 of the Tax Code according to your age. For a donor aged 61 to 70, the bare ownership is worth 60% of the value of the shares, which reduces the gift-duty base by the same amount. You also keep the income as usufructuary.

On the death of the usufructuary, full ownership rebuilds itself on the bare owner's head with no additional duty. It is the central lever of wealth transmission, which we detail in our article on the split ownership of SCI shares to pass on to children, and whose calculation rests on the split-ownership scale.

The transmission of business premises held in an SCI is a field where false ideas cost dearly. Believing that Dutreil applies to a wealth SCI leads to a fragile structure and, in case of audit, to the loss of the benefit with penalties.

The robust strategy combines the gift of shares, the 100,000 euro allowance renewed every 15 years and split ownership. Starting early is decisive: the younger the donor at the time of the split, the lower the bare ownership and the more effective the operation, but the longer you wait, the more the window closes. We recommend planning these gifts over time, in line with the gift-division when there are several children, to freeze values and prevent conflicts.

A 63-year-old owner held his business premises in an SCI and wanted to pass them to his two children, thinking he would apply Dutreil. The analysis ruled out this route: the SCI let the premises unfurnished, a civil activity excluded from the scheme. The solution combined the gift of the bare ownership of the shares, valued at 60% under the age scale, and the 100,000 euro allowance per child. The owner kept the usufruct and the rents, passed on a reduced base, and prepared the rebuilding of full ownership on death. The duty saving was substantial, without resorting to an inapplicable scheme.