Houdart A&C helps you to choose the most suitable taxation regime for your company and operations as pertains to income tax, VAT and overall tax obligations. As part of our full-service contract or to address specific ad hoc issues, you can rely on our partners’ technical expertise: they provide sound advice regarding available taxation options and credits in order to optimise your business while complying with current laws.
Taxation rules are based on current laws and legal precedents set by courts and may be dependant on accountancy and legal decisions or the business sector. Specific taxation aspects are not always taken into acount in accountancy, and conversely, certain accountancy options can have consequences on taxable income. Accountancy and taxation are complex, diverging and constantly changing systems. Certain decisions can significantly affect your business. When properly managed, however, they provide financial opportunities.
Judicious taxation advice as part of our full-service contract
Whether we provide your company with full-service accounting or just audit services for management and administrative accounting, our firm’s teams provide corporate taxation assistance. Our designated filing tools guarantee secure operations for the following:
- periodic and annual VAT declarations,
- annual income statements,
- regional economic contributions (cotisation economique territoriale, CET),
- Intrastat declarations for trade in goods or services,
- other types of taxes related to your business.
As part of the firm’s full-service contract, we also file individual income tax and property wealth tax returns for directors.
In addition to reporting, Houdart A&C advises its clients on how current taxation laws apply to and affect their businesses and determine the most suitable corporate taxation options under tax legislation and case law. We provide the following services:
- continuous corporate taxation advice;
- tax optimisation as regards income, asset management and investments;
- pinpointing and preparing of tax credit dossiers and/or exemptions;
- solutions regarding estate settlements, company or asset transfers;
- business valuation for sales, mergers, acquisitions, and asset transfers between companies;
- tailored legal and financial framework proposals;
- audit and litigation assistance;
- advice for ad hoc issues.
Technical expertise for ad hoc issues
Tax audits
We analyse your company’s entire tax cycle, or a specific stage. Our goal is to verify your tax returns comply with tax law.
Tax consolidation
Companies may benefit from overall group taxation whereby the parent company pays off corporate tax for all tax group members, provided the right conditions are met. However, tax group members may also be penalised by less advantageous effects regarding some taxation aspects. Are you the head of a group made up of at least two companies? At Houdart A&C, we provide services that assess the opportunities and consequences of forming a tax group.
Innovative startups
Are you setting out your business plan? Want to conduct periodic reporting? Perhaps you are on the verge of launching a fundraising campaign? Are you assessing your status as a potential Innovative Startup (jeune entreprise innovante, JEI) or seeking potential tax credits? Houdart A&C specialises in all the above, delivering premium, technical and responsive service. We support our clients that qualify for such tax rulings. We also help to determine the base for calculating tax credit amounts, including the French Research Tax Credit (crédit d’impôt recherche, CIR) and French Innovation Tax Credit (crédit d’impôt innovation, CII).
LBO taxation
Are you acquiring a company via a leveraged buyout? Are you focused on refinancing a group of companies or perhaps restructuring your company irrespective of tax consolidation? At Houdart A&C, we can determine the impact of the main tax constraints on your corporate structure as regards your corporate income tax. Constraints include: the Charasse amendment, deductions from carrying charges, undercapitalisation and other scenarios that affect individual companies and potential tax groups.
Capital gains taxation
Are you planning on selling or transferring shares of your company or business? Houdart A&C will recommend an optimal procedure to leverage potential capital gains from a taxation standpoint, while addressing your financial and time constraints.
Property taxation
Are you planning to sell or transfer real estate or shares of a private or professional property investment company? Houdart A&C will help you to optimise the sale’s capital gains from a taxation standpoint. As the head of a company, you may be considering investing in real estate for your company; we will develop an investment strategy that meets your taxation, financial and real estate needs.
Business overseas
Do you own or seek to open a permanent business overseas? At Houdart A&C, we review applicable tax treaties and help you distinguish taxable income in France and abroad. We will also support you in determining the consequences of these provisions regarding corporate income tax and VAT in France and the target country.
Transfer pricing
Is your SME or intermediate holding company part of a multinational corporation? If so, transfer pricing in business conducted between your locations in France and abroad is a key issue for the French tax administration. Houdart A&C will conduct an audit to detect situations which require the incorporation of a permanent business in France and provide said businesses with support in determining their taxable income. We will also support you in calculating income for France in respect of effective tax principles as well as approving transfer pricing in respect of the arms-length principle and related documentation.
Intra-community VAT and exports
Houdart A&C has a proven track record as regards the challenges of complex VAT applications for goods and services exchanged in the European Union or exported outside of the EU. The firm also has expertise in helping establish tax bases and reporting requirements across all industries and sectors.
Deductible VAT refunds in EU countries
Drawing on our vast VAT refund experience in the EU, Houdart A&C expertly recovers your receivables. Your business might require you to pay VAT in another EU country. In cases where reverse charges do not apply, despite being taxable customer, you may request the refund of your VAT receivables by following a digital process that can be accessed from your professional space on impôt.gouv.fr. Although the original request may be quite simple, you are often required to argue your case from a technical standpoint later on, sometimes even in the language of the foreign country in question. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that failure to meet the deadline or to provide certain information can result in a refusal to refund you.
Complex VAT applications
Struggling to calculate VAT on your profit margins or flat-rate VAT? Or perhaps dealing with intra-community triangular transactions or with company representatives that are undisclosed or tax-transparent regarding VAT? Thanks to their experience working with different business sectors, Houdart A&C’s associates tackle complex VAT issues and have developed considerable technical VAT expertise. Our team’s work has gained recognition from the professional bodies of certain professions, such as auctioneers, who are specifically affected by taxation intricacies.
Business in France
Do you run a foreign company and want to set up your business in France or open a subsidiary or permanent business? If so, you might have some questions on current tax laws. Houdart A&C will assist you in understanding the rules and calculating the various taxes you are subject to, including VAT, French Corporate Real Estate Tax (cotisation foncière des entreprises, CFE), French Company Value-Added Contributions (cotisation sur la valeur ajoutée des entreprises, CVAE) and other taxation related to activities and premises located in France. We will also help you with other French-specific taxation issues such as: salary-based taxation; passenger vehicle taxation; business-specific taxation; corporate income tax and many more.