What do you want to know?
Why open a PEA?
The PEA makes it possible to participate in the valuation potential of the European equity markets.
Resolutely oriented on the productive economy, in addition to stocks and bonds, it is indeed open to unlisted securities and the most dynamic stocks of SMEs and mid-cap companies in the European Union.
In a well-constructed asset strategy, the PEA is therefore in essence the favored tool for performance.
The Gain Equity Savings Plan is known for its particularly advantageous taxation.
In the event of a withdrawal taking place after 5 years of holding your PEA, you will then be exempt from capital gains tax, you will however have to pay social security contributions of 17.2% and you will be able to make new payments and partial withdrawals which will not result in the closing of the PEA.
In the event of withdrawal, with a PEA open for less than 5 years, the gains are taxed and taxed at 30% (flat tax) and your PEA will be automatically closed.
Alongside the tax advantage attached to this type of investment, it is also a diversification tool that will be perfectly suited to investors with a controlled appetite for risk and wishing to significantly optimize the return on investment. their financial assets.
Action Savings Plan: Capitalize without tax
How does the action savings plan (PEA) work?
The PEA is a regulated savings product that takes the form of a tax envelope for investing in European markets. After 5 years of detention, it allows you to benefit from a tax advantage, being exempt from tax (but not from social security contributions).
In order to open a PEA, it is necessary to respect certain conditions:
Be a natural person of legal age domiciled in France.
Hold only one PEA, unlike a traditional securities account.
The PEA contract must be individual, and therefore cannot be opened in the form of a joint account. In fact, only the holder can carry out the purchase and sale operations.
The PEA can be taken out with a banking establishment, a portfolio management company or an insurance company.
It can take the form:
Or a "bank" PEA comprising a cash account and a securities account.
Or an “insurance” PEA comprising a unit-linked capitalization contract.
In both cases, the supports are risky assets, but they are not aimed at the same investor profile.
PEA opening
Any natural person, whatever their family and professional situation, can open a single PEA and a single PEA PME-ETI.
Children of full age who are fiscally attached to their parent's tax household can also hold a PEA (but not a PEA PME-ETI) but the payment ceiling is then lower (€ 20,000) during the period of attachment.
The holder must be domiciled in France for tax purposes.
The minimum amount of payments required at the opening of a PEA is generally low, which makes it possible to "take a date" quickly and at a lower cost.
It is possible to keep the plan as it is (no regular payment is imposed) or to make additional payments on this envelope, including a declining tax charge over time.
Availability of PEA
Your savings are not blocked, but they are not available for all that:
If the financial markets are down, you will have to wait for more favorable conditions to sell your securities and recover your savings.
If your PEA is less than 5 years old, the earnings will be taxed, you will have to wait to benefit from an exemption. In addition, an exit before 5 years leads to the closure of the plan.
If you have invested in SMEs, liquidity is not instantaneous, as there are slightly fewer transactions in this market.
Whatever happens, you should keep in mind that a PEA is a medium / long term investment.
PEA operation
By opening a PEA, you have the choice between 2 envelopes:
PEA: French or international listed companies, but the return is sometimes lower than on companies eligible for PEA-PME
Maximum payment: € 150,000 per person)
PEA-PME: SMEs, that is to say companies on a human scale, positioned on a niche market, however the risk of default is greater than for listed companies eligible for the PEA
Maximum payment: € 75,000 per person
The payment ceilings are cumulative.
Indeed, it is possible to invest up to € 225,000 for one person (€ 150,000 on a PEA + € 75,000 on a PEA-PME)
When it is closed, the assets of the PEA will be:
Transferred to your Securities Account in the event that you hold securities and cash in the account. If you do not have a Securities Account, it will be necessary to open one before your request for closure. The securities will be transferred with a new cost price to the Securities Account.
Transfers to the bank account of your choice if it consists of cash only.
For a capital loss PEA and in order to materialize the loss,
it will be necessary to make the PEA liquid, ie to sell all the securities, before requesting closure.
For PEA closings made before 5 years, losses can be carried forward to gains of the same type (capital gains on transfers of securities) over the following ten years.
The following operations result in the closure of the PEA:
Any withdrawal before 5 years (except in the case of authorized withdrawals)
Non-compliance with one of the operating conditions (for example exceeding the payment ceiling)
Death of the holder
Withdrawal after 5 years of all amounts or securities and conversion of capital into a life annuity
PEA banking Vs PEA Insurance
The classic bank PEA consists of a securities account and a cash account. The PEA insurance includes a capitalization contract that looks like a life insurance contract.
Unlike the bank PEA, the PEA Insurance offers partial availability of its savings during the contract without causing the plan to close. Indeed, contractually, the subscriber can benefit, at any time, from a loan on his savings.
The exit from a PEA Insurance can be in the form of a life annuity. While this specificity is not specific to PEA Insurance, since this possibility is offered by the banking PEA, it does not involve formalities for transforming its plan, unlike its banking counterpart.
In conclusion, it all depends on your financial goals:
If you want to be very active on the stock market, opt for a bank PEA.
If you do not have the time to manage a securities account directly, opt for an insurance PEA.
It is possible to transform a Banking PEA into an Insurance PEA, without calling into question the anteriority of the contract and without tax consequences.
PEA taxation
If you make a withdrawal before 5 years, you will be taxed by default on your capital gains up to 12.8%.
Upon express request when filing your income tax return, you may be subject to the income tax scale.
In both cases your earnings will also be subject to Social Security (17.2%).
After 5 years, your earnings will be totally exempt from taxation, but will nevertheless remain subject to Social Security (17.2%).
Note that if your PEA has been open for less than 5 years and you wish to recover part of the funds, you will not be able to make a partial withdrawal and it will be necessary to request its closure.
The bank PEA allows you to acquire a portfolio of shares of European companies while benefiting, subject to conditions, from a tax exemption. The payment limit is € 150,000.
Only cash payments are authorized.
The payments go into a cash account.
The sums paid into the cash account are used to purchase securities which are then entered in a securities account.
The following securities may appear on a bank PEA:
Shares, investment certificates, LLC shares
Units of collective investment undertakings (UCITS, Sicav, etc.)
Partial withdrawals before 5 years lead to the termination of the plan, except in the following cases:
Takeover or business creation
Dismissal, invalidity or early retirement of the holder or his spouse or PACS partner
Withdrawal from the plan of securities of companies in liquidation
Partial withdrawals after 5 years do not result in the plan being closed.
The plan continues to operate and it is possible to make new payments.
The PEA insurance is taken out with an insurance company. It takes the form of a unit-linked capitalization contract. The sums paid are invested in securities that may appear in a bank PEA.
The PEA insurance is made up of a unit-linked capitalization contract. The insurance company records the amount of cash payments. The sums paid are used to pay premiums and contract fees.
The investment supports are identical to the bank PEA, but you cannot buy them directly:
Shares, investment certificates, LLC shares
Units of collective investment undertakings (UCITS, Sicav, etc.)
Redemptions before 5 years lead to the closure of the plan, except in the following cases:
Takeover or business creation
Dismissal, invalidity or early retirement of the holder or his spouse or PACS partner
Withdrawal from the plan of securities of companies in liquidation
Redemptions after 5 years do not result in the plan being closed.
The plan continues to operate and it is possible to make new payments.
If you make a withdrawal or redemption before the 5 years of your PEA , the net gain realized since the opening of the plan is taxed at the rate of 12.8% (except option for the progressive scale).
The net gain corresponds to the difference between the following 2 amounts:
Net asset value of the PEA on the date of withdrawal
Amount of payments made to the plan since it was opened
However, early withdrawals benefit from an exemption in certain situations, in particular:
Death of the plan holder
Allocation of sums to financing the creation or takeover of a business, subject to conditions
If you make a withdrawal or redemption after the 5 years of your PEA , the dividends and the capital gains provided by investments made under the plan are not taxable, provided they are reinvested in the PEA.
However, income from unlisted securities held in a PEA is exempt, each year, up to a limit of 10% of the amount of these investments.
You can make a total or partial withdrawal from your PEA, without it being closed.
The withdrawal can also be made in the form of a life annuity.
PEA income is still subject to the 17.20% of social security contributions (CSG, CRDS), before or after 5 years.
Finally, after 5 years, your earnings will be totally exempt from taxation (but will however remain subject to Social Security contributions.)
Advantages & Disadvantages of PEA
Action Savings Plan
Example of use of PEA
1
Initial situation
Vivian, 45, has savings in a passbook (not remunerating) in the amount of € 100,000.
2
Opening of a PEA
He decides to open a PEA and to give a management mandate adapted to its risk profile to its CGP.
The first five years, Vivian does not make any withdrawals. Arbitrage between securities therefore does not give rise to any taxation.
3
Final situation
At N + 5, Vivian decides to make a withdrawal:
the gain is € 20,000
This gain will not be taxed on income tax, but social security contributions will be due at the overall rate of 17.2%.
On an ordinary securities account, Vivian should have paid the tax on these capital gains in addition to social security contributions.