The 2026 budget was adopted on February 2 in a tense political context, via article 49.3, after four months of heated debates, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had for the third time committed his responsibility to pass this text, which aims to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP, result: a compromise budget, which generally spares SMEs but reserves several surprises for managers who receive dividends, sell their business or have structured their holding assets. An overview of the measures that really concern you.
Let's start with the good news, the 2026 budget maintains wage cuts and does not introduce any changes to existing tax rules for ordinary businesses: no increase in labor costs, no questioning of current standards. Info.gouv.fr
During the budgetary debates, the Minister of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin affirmed that 99% of companies would not see any fiscal change in 2026, a statement that is generally accurate for VSEs and SMEs that do not distribute significant dividends and do not have complex asset arrangements.
On the other hand, if you are a manager-shareholder, if you plan to sell your company or if you have created a holding company, several measures affect you directly.
This is the most visible change for company managers. As of January 1, 2026, social security contributions increased from 17.2% to 18.6%, bringing the overall flat tax on dividends, interests and capital gains on sales to 31.4%.
For a manager of SASU or SARL who is paid mainly in dividends, the impact is real but more complex than it seems, and for a sole shareholder of SASU, the overall tax rate of distributed profits increases from 40.5% to 41.69%, including corporate tax at the reduced rate of 15%.
Good news, however: life insurance has been explicitly excluded from the increase in social security contributions by the government and therefore maintains a 17.2% regime, making it an even more attractive wealth tool in 2026.
To note: If your marginal tax bracket is less than 30%, opting for the progressive scale with the 40% dividend allowance is potentially more advantageous than the flat tax. An arbitration to be made with your accountant before any distribution.
The total abolition of the corporate value added contribution (CVAE), expected by many entrepreneurs, was removed from the 2026 budget. This tax, due by companies whose turnover exceeds 500,000 euros, was to disappear definitively in 2027.
The maximum CVAE rate remains fixed at 0.28% for 2026 and 2027, with a gradual decrease expected in 2028-2029 for a permanent disappearance in 2030.
For employers' organizations such as the CPME, this abandonment is a bad signal sent to French competitiveness; for the managers concerned, it represents a burden maintained for at least two more years.
If you plan to sell your company and have structured a holding company to benefit from the tax deferral (so-called “contribution-transfer” system), the rules change significantly, the 2026 finance law increases the mandatory reinvestment rate from 60% to 70% of the proceeds of the sale, and the asset retention period is imposed to 5 years, so for a manager selling to 5 million euros, this represents 500,000 euros less free cash in the holding company.
These new rules only apply to transfers made after the publication of the law.
The Dutreil Pact, which allows a business to be transferred with a tax reduction of 75%, is more strictly regulated, and sumptuary properties that are not exclusively used for professional activities are now excluded from the exemption: non-professional vehicles, yachts, pleasure boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, boats, etc., no longer benefit from the exemption.
This tightening has little impact on SMEs and VSEs, it primarily concerns large family businesses. If your business does not have this type of assets, which is the case with the vast majority of SMEs, the Dutreil Pact remains a very powerful transmission tool, to be mobilized with your notary.
For managers at the head of large groups, the exceptional contribution on profits is renewed for 2026, but it applies to companies with a turnover of at least 1.5 billion euros, which corresponds to around 300 groups, and should bring about 7.5 billion euros to the State. SMEs are excluded from this measure, which is good news for medium-sized companies.
The 2026 budget does not fundamentally change the taxation of SMEs, but it is gradually tightening the screws on capital income and the wealth strategies of shareholder managers. The flat tax at 31.4%, the tightening of the take-over and the maintenance of the CVAE are all signals that call for a review of your remuneration arbitrations before the summer. This is not an emergency for everyone, but for those who are distributing large dividends or planning a sale: every month counts.
