Young university company status: essential information

Are you a young student looking to develop a business? Why not set up a Young University Company?

Introduced in 2008 with the French Finance Act, the Young University Company status was developed to encourage the creation of companies by students or other researchers involved in research projects linked to higher education establishments.

This status offers social and tax benefits similar to those available to Young Innovative Companies. Ultimately, this status aims to help this category of innovative companies to launch and develop with confidence.

Today's focus is on Jeunes Entreprises Universitaires, with details of their conditions, benefits and how to obtain them!

Conditions for becoming a Young University Company

First of all, a company must meet a certain number of conditions before it can benefit from the Young University Company status.

As such, the company must :

• Be less than 8 years old
• Not have been created as part of a business expansion, takeover or restructuring operation
• Be a "community" SME, i.e. a company with sales of less than 50 million euros or total sales of less than 43 million euros at the end of its financial year, and fewer than 250 employees.
• Be at least 10% owned or managed by students, researchers or teachers. In the case of students, they must have had a Master's degree for less than 5 years.
• Promote research and establish agreements with higher education establishments
• Lastly, the company must be independent , i.e. its capital must not be more than 50% owned by other companies. This requirement must be met throughout the financial year, otherwise the company will not be entitled to tax or social security benefits.

The advantages of this status

As mentioned above, a Young University Company will benefit from social and tax advantages similar to those of a Young Innovative Company.

These correspond to :

• A tax exemption on total profits earned in the first year. This exemption will also be 50% for the second year.
• Exemption from property tax and Contisation Foncière des Entreprises for up to 7 years
• Exemption from the annual flat-rate tax (Impôt Forfaitaire Annuel or IFA ) for the entire duration of the Young University Company status.
• Exemption from employer's social security contributions for the remuneration of technicians, researchers, lawyers and project managers, and certain corporate officers.

Note that all these advantages can be combined with a Research Tax Credit, which is not insignificant.

Administrative procedures

Finally, we need to look at the steps you need to take to obtain the status of Young University Enterprise.

First and foremost, you need to apply for this status within 10 months of setting up your business.

Next, it is imperative to sign an agreement with a higher education establishment that meets a certain number of criteria:

• The agreement must last 3 years and be renewable.
• Conditions for valorizing research work must be laid down
• A certain amount of information about the company, including the research work carried out, the identity of the company's directors, the services provided, etc., must be supplied.
• The company must be in a position to secure its approach as a Young University Enterprise.

In conclusion, the existence of such a status is truly encouraging for students who want to create their own structure.

This status enables them to get off to a secure start, but also to optimize and accelerate the development of their project.