Business tax credit of €1,000 per employee in employment areas hit by offshoring

Article 28 of the 2005 Finance Act creates Article 1647 C sexies of the General Tax Code. Industrial establishments and some service establishments located in an employment area recognised each year by regulation as being in serious difficulty due to offshoring receive a business tax credit, borne by the State, of €1,000 per employee employed for at least one year. Eligible areas are twenty areas with unemployment two points above the national rate and at least 10% industrial employment, plus areas hit by ongoing industrial restructuring; the Constitutional Council struck down the limit of ten areas set for this second criterion. The credit is limited by EU de minimis rules, excludes cars, shipbuilding, synthetic fibres and steel, and must be repaid if jobs are moved outside the EEA. It applies to taxes for 2005 to 2011.