€300,000 allowances on business sales to employees or family and on gifts to employees

Article 65 of the economic modernisation act creates a €300,000 allowance on the value of a craft, commercial or agricultural business or a client base, or on the matching share of the value of company securities, when calculating the registration duties due on a sale to an employee on a permanent contract for at least two years, an apprentice, the spouse, the civil partner, a direct relative or a sibling (Article 732 ter of the General Tax Code). Buyers must continue the business for five years. The same article exempts from registration duties the purchase of shares by a company created to buy out another company (Article 732 bis). Article 66 turns the gift-duty exemption, which was limited to gifts of businesses worth less than €300,000 made to employees (Article 790 A), into a €300,000 allowance with no value ceiling. The allowance on gifts to employees was raised to €500,000 in 2024.