Crédit d'Impôt Recherche, CIR (French Research Tax Credit)
30% of your R&D expenditure refunded, up to €100M of eligible spend.
Innovation Tax Credit (CII)
The CII extends the CIR past research: it funds the design of new products. The scheme is open to SMEs only, and often goes unused because the boundary with the CIR is left unclear.
In brief
Key figures
20%
of eligible costs.
€400,000
of costs, capped per company per year (mainland France).
SME
fewer than 250 staff, turnover < €50m or balance sheet < €43m.
Stackable
with the CIR, on separate costs.
The scheme
What is it?
The Innovation Tax Credit is for SMEs working on the design of new products. Where the CIR requires resolving a scientific uncertainty, the CII looks at a product that is not yet available on the market and that performs better technically, in eco-design, in ergonomics or in its features.
The costs must relate to designing prototypes or pilot plants for that new product, before it goes on sale.
In practice the hard part is drawing the line between CIR and CII, and never claiming the same cost twice. We draw that line project by project, and we document it.
Higher rates apply in the overseas departments and in Corsica. 20% in mainland France, 60% in the DOM, 40% for small and 35% for medium-sized companies in Corsica.
Eligibility
Are you eligible?
- Be an SME within the EU definition: fewer than 250 staff, and turnover below €50m or a balance sheet total below €43m.
- Not be a business in difficulty within the meaning of article 2 of the GBER.
- Design a new product, not yet available on the market.
- Show better performance technically, in eco-design, in ergonomics or in its features.
- Incur costs on designing prototypes or pilot plants.
- Not yet have put the product on sale.
Eligible base
Which costs can be claimed?
Staff costs
Staff assigned to designing prototypes or pilot plants.
Depreciation
Fixed assets and equipment used for that work.
Intellectual property costs
Patents, plant variety certificates, designs and models tied to the prototype or pilot plant.
Subcontracting
Work entrusted to approved bodies.
How we work with you
From qualification to defending the claim
Diagnosis & scoping
We identify the scope of your eligible projects and claimable costs, together with your technical teams.
Scientific qualification
We check that your work meets the tax authority's criteria: state of the art, technical barrier, experimental approach.
Valuation & calculation
We collect the accounting data and calculate your claim, line by line.
Technical justification
We write the scientific and financial file documenting every declared cost.
Filing & follow-up
We prepare the forms, support the filing and track the refund until it reaches your account.
Support during audits
We defend your file before the tax authority or the Ministry of Research experts.
Frequently asked questions
FAQ
The CII is a tax scheme open to SMEs only. It funds 20% of the cost of designing prototypes or pilot plants for new products, on up to €400,000 of costs a year.
Any SME within the EU definition, meaning fewer than 250 staff and turnover below €50m or a balance sheet below €43m, that is not in difficulty and that incurs costs designing a new product not yet on sale.
The CIR funds work that resolves a scientific uncertainty and is open to any company. The CII funds the design of a new product not yet available on the market and is open to SMEs only. A given cost can be claimed once, under one scheme or the other, never both.
No. The CII does not make eligibility conditional on filing a patent. It rests on the product being new and on it performing better, technically, ergonomically, functionally or environmentally, than what the market already offers.
Yes, provided the costs are kept strictly apart. R&D phases fall under the CIR; prototype or pilot-plant design phases fall under the CII. One euro of cost can never feed both bases.
Costs of staff assigned to designing the prototype, depreciation on the equipment used, patent and equivalent-title costs tied to the prototype, and subcontracting to approved bodies.
The CII base is capped at €400,000 of costs per company per year in mainland France, which at the 20% rate gives a maximum credit of €80,000. Higher rates apply in the overseas departments and in Corsica.
The CII is not conditional on the product succeeding commercially: it funds the prototype design phase. Eligible costs incurred before the project is dropped remain claimable, provided they are documented properly.
Related schemes
Explore the other levers
IP Box — Reduced Tax Rate on Intellectual Property Income
10% corporate tax instead of 25% on your patent and software income.
Dossier BPI (Bpifrance Application) — Bpifrance Innovation Funding
Bpifrance grants, repayable advances and loans, from prototype to market launch.
Benjamin Chemoul & David Jian
Partners & chartered accountants
Information provided for guidance only, up to date as of 2 September 2026. It does not constitute tax advice.