French R&D Tax Credit Advisor | CIR, CII and JEI

CIR, CII and JEI Support for Innovative Companies - Hayot Expertise#

R&D is the engine of your startup or innovative SME. Do not miss out on France's exceptional innovation tax incentives. Given the administrative complexity, working with a specialist accounting firm is essential to secure your claims safely.

The 2026 Finance Act keeps all three innovation schemes — CIR, CII and JEI — broadly intact, but reinforces documentation requirements and audits. The number of CIR reviews by the tax authority and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research rose 23% between 2023 and 2025. In 2025 the CIR represented €7.3 billion of tax expenditure for the State, benefiting more than 27,000 companies — it remains the single biggest non-dilutive innovation funding tool in France. In that context, expert support is no longer optional: a well-documented file is your best protection.

• CIR (Crédit d'Impôt Recherche — R&D tax credit): recover up to 30% of eligible R&D costs (researcher salaries, depreciation of R&D equipment, approved subcontracting, technology watch). A major non-dilutive financing lever for fundamental research, applied research and experimental development.
• CII (Crédit d'Impôt Innovation — innovation tax credit): recover up to 20% of eligible costs for the design of innovative prototypes. Annual expenditure cap: €400,000, giving a maximum credit of €80,000. Reserved for SMEs within the EU definition (< 250 employees, turnover < €50M).
• JEI / JEC status (Jeune Entreprise Innovante — young innovative company): reserved for companies under 8 years old that invest heavily in R&D (> 15% of total costs), this status provides a full exemption from employer social charges on R&D personnel — the core benefit — plus local-tax exemptions (CFE and property tax) by local-authority vote. The former corporate-tax exemption (100% then 50%) now applies only to companies created before 1 January 2024; it was withdrawn for companies created from 2024.

The CII (Crédit d'Impôt Innovation) is reserved for SMEs in the EU sense (fewer than 250 employees, turnover under €50M or balance sheet under €43M). It returns 20% of the costs of designing prototypes or pilot installations of genuinely new products — and the rate rises to 30% for companies holding JEI status. Annual eligible spend is capped at €400,000, so the maximum credit is €80,000 (or €120,000 for a JEI). The CII covers the step between R&D and the market — new-product prototyping — whereas the CIR covers research and experimental development. The same project cannot draw on both schemes at once.

R&D personnel (main item)#

• Salaries and social charges of researchers and research technicians
• Director remuneration where directly involved in R&D work (capped)
• Temporary and fixed-term workers assigned to R&D projects

Depreciation and operating costs#

• Depreciation on equipment used for R&D (computers, servers, measuring devices)
• Operating costs: flat rate of 43% of personnel costs (administrative simplification)

Subcontracting#

• Subcontracting to approved research organisations (laboratories, universities, certified R&D startups)
• Cap: 2× own expenditure for public-sector subcontracting

Other expenditure#

• Patents: acquisition, filing, maintenance
• Technology watch: up to €60,000/year
• Attendance at scientific conferences and events

The headline benefit of JEI status is the full exemption from employer social charges on R&D personnel, capped at 4.5× the minimum wage per person per month. Take a startup with 10 developers on €50,000 gross each — a €500,000 payroll. The JEI employer-charge exemption is worth roughly €170,000 a year, a decisive lever to fund growth.

JEI status requires the company to be under 8 years old, an SME in the EU sense, independent, and to spend at least 15% of its deductible costs on R&D. The JEC (Jeune Entreprise de Croissance), created by the 2024 Finance Act, grants the same social exemptions with the R&D threshold lowered to 5%. And, as noted above, the CII rate is raised from 20% to 30% for companies holding JEI status.

Eligibility assessment of your tech projects#

Before any filing, we assess the viability of your projects against the Frascati Manual and tax authority doctrine. Not all software development qualifies as R&D: we distinguish standard development (ineligible) from eligible experimental development.

Technical rescrit filing and supporting documentation#

Working closely with our partner engineers, we build the technical files (prior art review, scientific approach, technological barriers) and financial dossiers to solidify your CIR/CII claim. The rescrit process obtains advance validation from the tax authority before filing your return.

Accounting security and audit defence#

We isolate R&D analytics in your accounts (project codes, employee time allocation, eligible expense tracking). In the event of an accounting review or a Ministry of Research inspection (dual review possible), we are physically at your side to defend the file.

1. Identification of eligible R&D projects (with your technical team)
2. Collection and qualification of expenditure (time sheets, invoices, contracts)
3. Technical report drafting (prior art, description of technological barriers)
4. CIR declaration (form 2069-A-SD attached to the tax return)
5. Credit or refund: the CIR is offset against IS due; if it exceeds IS, the balance is refunded by the state (immediate refund for startups < 3 years old or loss-making)

A reassessment with penalties can be fatal to a startup's cash position. CIR reassessments average 40 to 60% of declared amounts when the supporting file is insufficient. We act as a real protective barrier between the tax authority and your innovation.

Key risk areas:

• No documentation on technological barriers
• Confusion between standard development and eligible R&D
• Absence of per-project, per-employee time sheets
• Non-approved subcontracting declared as eligible

The real power comes from stacking the schemes. A young innovative SME can claim the CIR on its research and experimental development, the CII on its new-product prototypes, and JEI status to wipe out employer social charges on its R&D team — all at once, for distinct cost lines. Together they can cover 40% to 50% of total R&D costs, turning innovation spend into one of the most powerful non-dilutive funding levers available before any fundraising. We map which euro of spend belongs to which scheme, so nothing is double-counted and nothing is left on the table.

1. Qualification call (free, 30 min): your R&D projects and a first estimate of CIR/CII potential.
2. Eligibility audit: in-depth analysis, written report within 10 business days.
3. Engagement letter and plan: scope, timeline and coordination with your technical teams.
4. Technical file: built jointly by your engineers and ours.
5. Cross-review: checked by both our tax and technical specialists.
6. Filing: integrated into the tax package, with refund follow-up.
7. Secure archiving: supporting documents kept for at least 10 years.
8. Regulatory watch: updates on rates, conditions and audit practice.

• Tech startups (AI, SaaS, deeptech, biotech, medtech), where the CIR often covers 10–30% of the total R&D budget.
• Industrial SMEs running product or process innovation projects.
• Mid-caps with existing R&D looking to optimise and secure claims they already file.
• Tech-services companies developing proprietary software.
• Foreign-backed and newly created companies that want JEI status from day one — a common request from international founders building French R&D teams, who also need the claim explained to non-French investors and boards.

Case 1 — SaaS startup, 12 developers, €380k CIR. A three-year-old Paris startup (€2.2M turnover, 18 staff including 12 developers on AI projects) engages us for its first CIR. Our eligibility audit retains 3 of the 5 projects submitted. Eligible R&D costs: €1,267,000; CIR at 30%: €380,100. Run in parallel, JEI status exempts employer charges on 8 developers — a further €136,000 saving. Total cash preserved in one year: about €516,000, or 23.5% of turnover.

Case 2 — industrial SME, audit defence, reassessment cut by 37%. A 45-employee SME (€7.8M turnover) that claimed €150,000 of CII faces a tax audit; the inspector challenges 60% of the costs for want of documentation. Our intervention — a reinforced technical file, reasoned correspondence and a hierarchical appeal — brings the reassessment down to €56,000 from the €90,000 initially proposed, 37% avoided.

1. Declaring routine software development as R&D. API integration, a UX redesign or adapting an existing framework are generally not eligible; eligibility requires genuine technical uncertainty and a documented scientific approach.
2. Keeping no per-project, per-employee time sheets. This is the first document an auditor asks for — its absence almost always leads to a reassessment.
3. Including non-approved subcontractors. Only subcontracting to organisations approved by the Ministry of Research is eligible for CIR.
4. Skipping the rescrit. For grey areas (AI, software), the advance ruling is the only route to absolute legal certainty.
5. Waiting until year-end to document. Evidence must be gathered continuously throughout the year, not reconstructed afterwards.

• Innovation specialists: 40+ startups and innovative SMEs supported each year on CIR/CII/JEI.
• Dual expertise: tax (tax package, rescrit) and technical (partner engineers for the R&D files).
• Aligned fees: part success-based, so our interests match yours.
• Real audit defence: from the first analysis through to litigation if it comes to that — in 90% of the audits we have handled, the reassessment was dropped in full or in part.
• Constant monitoring of rate changes, doctrine and CIR case law.