For entrepreneurs, the French tax environment has been characterized for several years by a steady rise in levies, regulatory instability and a proliferation of so-called «exceptional» measures.
The recent vote of 53 billion euros in new taxes for businesses, after already 30 billion by 2025, is part of this trajectory.
These decisions do not come as an isolated shock, but as a major gradual accumulation of tax and administrative constraints, which is profoundly changing the perception of entrepreneurial risk in France.
Why entrepreneurs don't leave France... but stop structuring their future here
At the same time, the European economic area remains open, integrated and legally accessible, offering managers a variety of tax and regulatory frameworks. Against this backdrop, a discreet but structuring phenomenon is at work:
entrepreneurs aren't leaving France, they're just stopping planning their economic future here.
A common confusion: starting vs. structuring
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of leaders are not seeking exile or a break with the past.
They often keep :
- their residence in France,
- their teams,
- and part of their operational business.
What changes, however, is the place where capital, future earnings and strategic decisions are structured.
In an environment where taxation is becoming unpredictable, structuring is no longer a means of marginal optimization, but rather a means of optimizing the company's profitability. risk management tool.
Arbitration is no longer ideological, it's rational
In a single European market, taxation is no longer a political frontier, but rather a political factor. competitiveness parameter, The same goes for labor costs and access to financing.
When :
- tax pressure is increasing without any clear direction,
- the rules change from one Finance Act to the next,
- and existing systems are undermined,
arbitrage becomes mechanical. Productive capital is not disappearing. It is moving towards jurisdictions offering greater stability, legibility and predictability.
A gradual phenomenon, rarely visible
The flight of productive potential does not take the form of massive relocations. It takes the form of successive micro-decisions:
- setting up a holding company outside France,
- launch of new activities abroad,
- profit retention in more stable structures,
- freeze on non-essential domestic investments.
These choices are rarely publicized, but their cumulative effect is considerable.
The real trigger: long-term projection
Entrepreneurs don't just invest for next year.
He invests for :
- transmit,
- capitalize,
- secure what it builds.
But when future taxation becomes unpredictable, projection disappears. Reorganization is not triggered by current pressure, but by uncertainty about what will happen tomorrow.
Concrete impact for managers, SMEs and the self-employed
SME managers
SMEs are the first to be affected by tax instability:
- lower margins,
- limited optimization capability,
- heavy dependence on self-financing.
Structuring part of the capital outside France thus becomes a strategic assurance, not a rejection of the country of origin.
Growing entrepreneurs
For companies in the development phase, each additional tax point weighs on :
- investment,
- recruitment,
- and risk-taking.
The choice of place for structuring becomes a competitive lever, just like choosing a market or a partner.
Structured independents
Self-employed people working via companies or holding companies quickly realize that capitalization in France is becoming fragile.
They are not leaving the country, but diversifying their structures to secure the future.
Structuring is not running away
The question is no longer whether to stay or go. The real question has become: How can you intelligently structure your business and assets in an increasingly differentiated European environment?
In this context, international structuring is neither avoidance nor opportunism. It constitutes responsible management of tax and regulatory risk, comparable to any other strategic business decision.
