(PEA)
Verified 22 May 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Do you want to grow your savings over time, benefiting from a tax exemption? You can open an equity savings plan (PEA). It is a regulated savings product that allows you to invest in a European company equity portfolio. There are 2 types of plans: the bank PEA or the insurance PEA and the PEA-PME-ETI. We present you the applicable rules.
What applies to you ?
Classic banking PEA
The banking PEA allows the acquisition of a portfolio of shares of European companies while benefiting, under conditions, from a tax exemption. The payment limit shall be €150,000.
Tax domicile condition
You have to be tax domiciled in France to be able to open and hold a PEA.
There is no nationality requirement to open a PEA.
Age condition
You have to be major to open a PEA.
FYI
A person of full age attached to tax home of his parents can open a PEA with a specific ceiling limited to €20,000. The cash payments on this PEA may not exceed €20,000 as long as the attachment lasts. When the major is no longer attached for tax purposes, his plan is transformed into a classic PEA and his payments can be completed up to the ceiling of €150,000.
This special PEA scheme applies in particular to young adults as long as they continue their studies (at the latest up to 25 years) or adults with disabilities without age limit.
Signing of a contract
When you open the PEA, you sign a contract with the bank.
This contract must mention the prohibition of holding several PEAs of the same category, recall the payment thresholds and describe the rules of operation of the plan.
The banking institution is obliged to declare any opening of a Ficoba file. This declaration shall include the name, surname and address of the holder, the references of the plan and its date of opening.
The opening date of the plan is the date of 1er payment.
It is forbidden to hold several classic PEAs at the same time (in the form of a bank PEA or an insurance PEA).
But it is possible to combine a classic PEA and a PEA SME-ETI. In this case, the cumulative payments on the 2 types of plans must not exceed the maximum ceiling authorized for the PEA PME-ETI.
A PEA is personal. It cannot be opened as a joint account.
But two spouses or two partners of Civil partnerships subject to common taxation may enter into each a classic PEA and a PEA-PME-ETI.
Their children attached majors may subscribe to a PEA with a payment limit of €20,000as long as their attachment lasts.
The bank that receives your PEA application must inform you of the ban on holding more than one classic PEA (banking or insurance). She asks you if you already own this type of product in another establishment or not.
The opening of a bank PEA leads to the opening of a cash account and an associated securities account.
Cash payments feed into a cash account, and the cash account is used to finance the purchase of securities that are recorded in a securities account.
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Bank PEA cash account
Only the cash payments are allowed. There is no legal minimum payment. There is no obligation to make periodic payments and the amounts of each payment are free (within the limit of the statutory deposit ceiling).
The PEA cash account receives your payments and receives the gains that come from investments made in the PEA securities account (dividends and other products, capital gains carried out).
If you sell securities, the amount of the sales of securities is credited to the cash account pending the replenishment of the sums in the securities account. The cash account is debited to buy new securities.
In principle, the PEA management fees are charged to the cash account.
Bank PEA Securities Account
You can choose which securities to buy with your payments.
You can also give a mandate to a portfolio manager or to the institution where you open your PEA.
Not all securities can be registered in the PEA securities account. The list of titles that may be included in the PEA is established by law.
FYI
To find out if a title can be included in your PEA, you can consult its description on a stock exchange website or in a specialized newspaper. The title description indicates whether it is eligible for the PEA.
Titles that can be directly purchased by the cash account and registered on the PEA bank are as follows:
- Shares (except preference shares), business investment certificates, cooperative investment certificates, mutual certificates and joint certificates of mutual or provident societies
- Shares of SARL: titleContent or businesses with equivalent status, and equity securities of cooperative businesses
- Preferential subscription rights issued as part of a capital increase, allocated to the plan holder and relating to listed securities already held on the PEA.
Amounts paid on the bank or insurance PEA may be invested in indirectly in the following headings:
- Shares in open-ended investment businesses, open-ended partnership businesses or specialized financing businesses, which invest more than 75% their assets in shares, certificates or units of commercial businesses or mutual or provident societies
- Shares of mutual funds or specialized financing funds that invest more than 75% their assets in shares, certificates or units of commercial businesses or mutual or provident societies
- Units or shares in collective investment undertakings (UCITS: titleContent, Sicav: titleContentetc.) established in other Member States of theEuropean Union or in a State ofEuropean Economic Area bound to France by a tax convention, which benefit from the mutual recognition of authorizations and which invest more than 75% their assets in shares, certificates or units of commercial businesses or mutual or provident societies
- Units of risky mutual funds that commit to constitute, by the close of the 4th exercise of the fund, at least 75% of their assets in financial assets eligible for the European quota
- Units or shares in collective investment funds which undertake to constitute, at the latest at the close of the 4th exercise of the fund, at least 75% of their assets in financial instruments eligible for the European quota and issued by businesses having their registered office in an EU countryEuropean Union or in an EU countryEuropean Economic Area
- Financial securities of AIF approved and authorized to use the name ‘ELTIF, provided that they undertake to invest the European quota directly or indirectly in businesses having their seat in an EU countryEuropean Union or in an EU countryEuropean Economic Area, and they do not directly or indirectly hold physical assets.
A withdrawal is an operation carried out without reinvestment in the plan. A withdrawal of money or securities changes the overall value of the PEA. The withdrawal may be total or partial.
FYI
A withdrawal triggers the tax applicable to the PEA.
In principle, if you withdraw within the first 5 years of the plan, your PEA will be closed.
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Withdrawal before 5 years
In principle, any withdrawal (total or partial) before the end of the 5thYear of PEA results in plan closure.
As an exception, the PEA will not be closed if the early partial withdrawal is related to one of the following events:
- Dismissal, invalidity or early retirement of the PEA holder or his or her spouse or Civil partnership partner
- Withdrawal of securities of a business in liquidation
- Withdrawal (reinvested within 3 months) for the creation or takeover of a company. In this case, the PEA continues to operate with the remaining sums and securities but it is no longer possible to make new payments even if the ceiling is not reached.
Withdrawal after 5 years
Partial withdrawal after 5 years does not result in closure of the plan. The AAP continues to operate and new payments are possible.
You can decide to close your PEA by making a full withdrawal.
The PEA cash account functions as a deposit account. He's not paid.
The value of the PEA securities account may increase or decrease depending on the value of the securities in the PEA.
The PEA's remuneration is random, as it depends on the stock market return of the chosen investment vehicles. The PEA remuneration may come from income generated by investments (dividends or other products), capital gains realized or losses incurred in connection with sales.
FYI
The PEA does not offer a capital retention guarantee. It is therefore possible that you will lose some of the money invested in case of poor performance of investment vehicles.
The ceiling for payments on the bank PEA is €150,000. Its calculation does not take into account the gains made since the opening of the plan.
The PEA held by an adult person attached to the tax household has an independent payment ceiling limited to €20,000 as long as the attachment lasts.
Throughout the operation of the PEA, the cash account receives the gains that come from investments made in the securities account (dividends and other products, capital gains carried out). The earnings carried out and reinvested within the PEA are exempt income tax and social security contributions.
In the absence of withdrawal, dividends perceptions and capital gains carried out in the PEA are not taxable.
Please note
Of special rules apply for annual dividends of unlisted securities held in a PEA. Some of these gains may be subject to income tax.
One removal partial or total triggers taxation on PEA income. The applicable taxation depends in particular on the date of withdrawals.
Regardless of the date of withdrawals, realized gains are subject to social levies.
If withdrawals are made after the 5e In the year of the PEA, realized gains are exempt from income tax.
When the bank is informed of the death of the PEA holder, it must close the plan. For the operations of the estate, the value of the cash account and the securities account is fixed on the day of death.
The bank forwards automatically PEA titles on a securities account of succession pending instructions from the heirs. The heirs, by mutual agreement, may choose:
- sell the securities, or
- or to maintain them in undivided,
- or to transfer them to an ordinary securities account in the name of one of them.
When the PEA is closed, the bank calculates and pays the social security contributions.
If the PEA is terminated due to death, gains made in the PEA are not subject to income tax, even if the PEA is less than 5 years old.
Only the social levies are taken by the bank, regardless of the duration of the plan from its opening until death.
The total value of the PEA (cash account balance and total value of securities at death) is shown in the declaration of succession established by the heirs for the calculation of inheritance tax. The PEA is an element that makes up thegross assets of the estate.
Social security contributions paid by the bank following the closure of the PEA are deductible from the gross assets of the estate. They are treated as a debt of the deceased person. It is an element that makes up the passive of the estate.
The following operations shall result in the closure of the PEA:
- Any withdrawal before 5 years (excluding authorized withdrawal cases)
- Withdrawal after 5 years of all amounts or values
- Failure to comply with one of the operating conditions (e.g. exceeding the payment ceiling)
- Death of the holder.
PEA Classic Insurance
The PEA insurance is taken out with an insurance company. It takes the form of a capitalization contract in units of account. The sums paid are invested in securities that can be included on a bank PEA. The payment limit shall be €150,000.
Tax domicile condition
You have to be a person tax domiciled in France to be able to open and hold a PEA.
There is no nationality requirement to open a PEA.
Age condition
You have to be major to open a PEA.
FYI
A person of full age attached to tax home of his parents can open a PEA with a specific ceiling limited to €20,000. The cash payments on this PEA may not exceed €20,000 as long as the attachment lasts. When the major is no longer attached for tax purposes, his plan is transformed into a classic PEA and his payments can be completed up to the ceiling of €150,000.
This special PEA scheme applies in particular to young adults as long as they continue their studies (at the latest up to 25 years) or adults with disabilities without age limit.
Signing of a contract
The PEA insurance is opened with an insurer in the form of a capitalization contract.
Any opening of a credit card shall be declared by the managing institution to the Ficoba file. This declaration shall include the name, surname and address of the holder, the references of the plan and its date of opening.
The opening date corresponds to the date of 1er payment.
It is forbidden to hold several classic PEAs at the same time (in the form of a bank PEA or an insurance PEA).
But it is possible to combine a classic PEA and a PEA SME-ETI. In this case, the cumulative payments on the 2 types of plans must not exceed the maximum ceiling authorized for the PEA PME-ETI.
A PEA is personal. It cannot be opened as a joint account.
But two spouses or two partners of Civil partnerships subject to common taxation may enter into each a classic PEA and a PEA PME-ETI.
Their children attached majors may subscribe to a PEA with a payment limit of €20,000 as long as their attachment lasts.
The institution that receives your PEA application must inform you of the prohibition to hold more than one classic PEA (banking or insurance). The advisor asks you if you already have this type of product in another establishment or not.
The PEA insurance consists of a capitalization contract in units of account invested in one or more categories of PEA-eligible securities.
The insurance company records the amount of cash payments and it invests in funds and collective investment schemes.
Amounts paid on the bank or insurance PEA may be invested in indirectly in the following headings:
- Shares in open-ended investment businesses, open-ended partnership businesses or specialized financing businesses, which invest more than 75% their assets in shares, certificates or units of commercial businesses or mutual or provident societies
- Shares of mutual funds or specialized financing funds that invest more than 75% their assets in shares, certificates or units of commercial businesses or mutual or provident societies
- Units or shares in collective investment undertakings (UCITS: titleContent, Sicav: titleContentetc.) established in other Member States of theEuropean Union or in a State ofEuropean Economic Area bound to France by a tax convention, which benefit from the mutual recognition of authorizations and which invest more than 75% their assets in shares, certificates or units of commercial businesses or mutual or provident societies
- Units of risky mutual funds that commit to constitute, by the close of the 4th exercise of the fund, at least 75% of their assets in financial assets eligible for the European quota
- Units or shares in collective investment funds which undertake to constitute, at the latest at the close of the 4th exercise of the fund, at least 75% of their assets in financial instruments eligible for the European quota and issued by businesses having their registered office in an EU countryEuropean Union or in an EU countryEuropean Economic Area
- Financial securities of AIF approved and authorized to use the name ‘ELTIF, provided that they undertake to invest the European quota directly or indirectly in businesses having their seat in an EU countryEuropean Union or in an EU countryEuropean Economic Areaand they do not directly or indirectly hold physical assets.
As of December 6, 2016, the amounts paid out of the PEA cannot be used to acquire securities held outside the PEA by the following persons:
- Holder of plan
- Person with whom he/she lives as a couple
- Ascendant or descendant.
We are talking about redemption when you make a withdrawal on a capitalization contract. The partial or total redemption will in principle lead to the closure of the PEA if it is carried out before the end of the 5th year.
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Before 5 years
Buybacks before 5 years lead to the closure of the plan, except in the following cases
- Take over or create company
- Dismissal, invalidity or early retirement of the holder or his or her spouse or Civil partnership partner
- Withdrawal from the plan of securities of businesses in liquidation.
After 5 years
Partial buybacks after 5 years do not result in plan closure.
A total buyback results in the plan being closed.
Please note
The PEA insurance open in the form of a capitalization contract may be closed by the payment of the capital or life annuity.
The PEA's remuneration is random, as it depends on the stock market return of the chosen investment vehicles. The PEA remuneration may come from income generated by investments (dividends or other products), capital gains realized or losses incurred in connection with sales.
FYI
The PEA does not offer a capital retention guarantee. It is therefore possible that you will lose some of the money invested in case of poor performance of investment vehicles.
The ceiling for payments on the conventional PEA insurance is €150,000. Its calculation does not take into account the gains made since the opening of the plan.
The PEA held by an adult person attached to the tax household of his parents has an independent payment ceiling and limited to €20,000 as long as the attachment lasts.
Please note
The classic PEA and the PEA-PME can be combined. But the total amount paid on these two plans by the same holder may not exceed €225,000.
Throughout the operation of the PEA insurance, income accumulates in the capitalization contract and are not distributed. In the absence of a buyback, the gains realized in the PEA are therefore not taxable.
One redemption partial or total triggers taxation on PEA income. The applicable taxation depends in particular on the date of the redemptions.
Regardless of the date of redemptions, realized gains are subject to social levies calculated by the financial institution.
If redemptions are made after the 5e In the year of the PEA, realized gains are exempt from income tax.
Please note
If a life annuity is paid after the 5 years of the PEA, is exempt from income tax, but is subject to social levies for a portion of its amount.
The taxable portion of the pension depends on your age at the date of its 1er this fraction is equal to
- 70% if you were under 50,
- 50% if you were between 50 and 59,
- 40% if you were between the ages of 60 and 69,
- 30% if you were over 69.
The following operations result in the closure of the PEA insurance:
- Any redemption made before 5 years (excluding authorized redemption cases)
- Failure to comply with one of the operating conditions (e.g. exceeding the payment ceiling)
- Total buyback of the capitalization contract after 5 years
- Conversion of capital into life annuity
- Death of the holder.
PEA SME-MID-CAP
The SME-MID-CAP is intended to finance small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) and medium-sized companies (MID-caps). It operates as a bank PEA, with the exception of the payment ceiling (€225,000) and securities that may be invested in it.
Tax domicile
You can open a PEA provided you are tax domiciled in France.
Signing of a contract
When you open the PEA, you sign a contract with the bank.
The opening date corresponds to the date of 1er payment.
It is forbidden to hold several PEA-PME-ETIs at the same time. The number of SME-MID-cap PEAs is limited to one per person.
But it is possible to combine a PEA SME-ETI with a PEA bank or with a PEA insurance. In this case, the cumulative payments on the 2 types of plans must not exceed the maximum ceiling authorized for the PEA PME-ETI.
A PEA is personal. It cannot be opened as a joint account.
But two spouses or two partners of Civil partnerships subject to common taxation may enter into each an SME-MID-cap PEA and a conventional PEA (in the form of a bank PEA or in the form of a PEA insurance).
Warning
The PEA PME-ETI is not authorized for connected adults to a tax household.
A disabled adult or a young adult attached to the tax home of his parents will only be able to hold a classic PEA (banking or insurance) with a payment ceiling limited to €20,000.
The bank that receives your PEA PME-ETI application must inform you of the ban on holding 2 PEA PME-ETI, and ask you whether you already hold a PEA PME-ETI in another institution or not.
Payments and authorized uses
Only the cash payments are allowed. There is no legal minimum payment. There is no obligation to make periodic payments and the amounts of each payment are free (within the limit of the statutory deposit ceiling).
Cash payments feed into a cash account, and the cash account is used to finance the purchase of securities that are recorded in a securities account.
Only certain securities may be acquired by payments made to the PEA PME-ETI and entered in the securities account.
These securities must be held by the following:
- Holder of plan
- Person with whom he/she lives as a couple
- Ascendant or descendant
Warning
You may not include in the plan the titles of businesses of which you and your family group (spouse, ascendants and descendants) directly or indirectly hold more than 25% social rights.
Securities that may be directly invested
The funds paid out of the PEA PME-ETI are intended to finance small and medium-sized companies and mid-sized companies.
They may be invested in the following securities:
- Shares (except preference shares), or business investment certificates, and cooperative investment certificates
- Shares of SARL: titleContent or businesses of equivalent status, and securities representing the capital of cooperative businesses
- Bonds convertible or redeemable in shares (except bonds redeemable in unlisted shares)
- Participating securities and fixed-rate bonds, acquired through a professional of an investment services provider or a participatory investment advisor, via a website approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers.
- Preferential subscription rights issued as part of a capital increase, allocated to the plan holder and relating to listed securities already held on the PEA.
If the business issuing the securities is a unlisted company, it must have a staff of less than 5,000 people and an annual turnover which does not exceed €1.5 billion, or a balance sheet total which does not exceed €2 billions.
If the issuing business is a listed company, it must have a market capitalization less than €2 billions or it must have had market capitalization less than €2 billions at least one of the last 4 previous calendar years.
FYI
These thresholds are examined on the basis of the consolidated financial statements of the business issuing the securities, taking into account, if necessary, the performance of its subsidiaries.
The possibility of a business' securities being purchased by the funds invested in the PEA PME-ETI is examined on the basis of its accounts. In particular, the examination shall cover the penultimate accounting year ending before the date of acquisition of the securities in the plan.
Once a security is acquired in the PEA PME-ETI, it can be kept there even if the accounting situation of the business subsequently changes on the criteria of the number of employees, turnover or balance sheet total. The same applies in the event of changes in the market capitalization criterion.
However, if the business issues new securities, its accounting situation will again be examined before these securities can also benefit from the investments of the PEA PME-ETI.
Securities that may be indirectly invested
Indirect investment is the purchase of securities of a business whose activity is to invest on behalf of others.
Amounts paid into the PEA PME-ETI may be invested indirectly in the following securities:
- Shares in open-ended investment businesses, the capital of which is more than 75%securities ofETI: titleContent, of which at least two thirds are shares, shares, investment certificates, or bonds convertible or redeemable into shares
- Mutual fund units (UCITS: titleContent, Sicav: titleContent, etc.) whose capital is more than 75 % composed of securities of mid-caps, of which at least two thirds are shares, shares, investment certificates, or bonds convertible or redeemable into shares
- Units in collective investment undertakings (UCITS, Sicav, etc.) established in the European Economic Area, whose capital is composed of more than 75% securities of mid-caps, of which at least two thirds are shares, shares, investment certificates, or bonds convertible or redeemable into shares
- Units in venture capital mutual funds, or commercial business securities that meet the conditions for exemption from venture capital businesses
- Units or shares of AIF authorized, provided that more than half of their assets are permanently invested in shares, shares, investment certificates, or bonds convertible or redeemable into shares, and that they do not hold dematerialized real estate assets.
A withdrawal is an operation carried out without reinvestment in the plan. A withdrawal of money or securities changes the overall value of the PEA.
In principle, if you withdraw within the first 5 years of the plan, your PEA will be closed.
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Before 5 years
In principle, any withdrawal (total or partial) before the end of the 5thYear of PEA results in plan closure.
As an exception, the PEA will not be closed if the early partial withdrawal is related to one of the following events:
- Dismissal, invalidity or early retirement of the PEA holder or his or her spouse or Civil partnership partner
- Withdrawal of securities of a business in liquidation
- Withdrawal (reinvested within 3 months) for the creation or takeover of a company. In this case, the PEA continues to operate with the remaining sums and securities but it is no longer possible to make new payments even if the ceiling is not reached.
After 5 years
Partial withdrawals after 5 years do not result in closure of the plan. The plan continues to work and there are opportunities for new payments.
You can decide to close your PEA by making a full withdrawal.
The PEA's remuneration is random, as it depends on the stock market return of the chosen investment vehicles. The PEA remuneration may come from income generated by investments (dividends or other products), capital gains realized or losses incurred in connection with sales.
FYI
The PEA does not offer a capital retention guarantee. It is therefore possible that you will lose some of the money invested in case of poor performance of investment vehicles.
The ceiling of the PEA SME-MID-cap is €225,000. Its calculation does not take into account the gains made since the opening of the plan.
Please note
The PEA SME-ETI and the PEA classic (banking or insurance) are cumulative. But the total amount paid on these two plans by the same holder may not exceed €225,000. Even in case of cumulation, the ceiling of the classic PEA shall not exceed €150,000.
Throughout the operation of the PEA, the cash account receives the gains that come from investments made in the securities account (dividends and other products, capital gains carried out). The earnings carried out and reinvested within the PEA are exempt income tax and social security contributions.
In the absence of withdrawal, dividends perceptions and capital gains carried out in the PEA are not taxable.
Please note
Of special rules apply for the annual revenues of unlisted securities held in a PEA. Some of this income may be taxable.
One removal partial or total triggers taxation on PEA income. The applicable taxation depends in particular on the date of withdrawals.
Regardless of the date of withdrawals, PEA revenues are subject to social levies .
If withdrawals are made after the 5e In the year of the PEA, realized gains are exempt from income tax.
When the bank is informed of the death of the PEA holder, it must close the plan. For the operations of the estate, the value of the cash account and the securities account is fixed on the day of death.
The bank forwards automatically PEA titles on a securities account of succession pending instructions from the heirs. The heirs, by mutual agreement, may choose either to sell the securities or to maintain them in undividedor to transfer them to an ordinary securities account in the name of one of them.
When the PEA is closed, the bank calculates and pays the social security contributions.
If the PEA is terminated due to death, gains made in the PEA are not subject to income tax, even if the PEA is less than 5 years old.
Only the social levies are taken by the bank, regardless of the duration of the plan from its opening until death.
The total value of the PEA (cash account balance and total value of securities at death) is shown in the declaration of succession established by the heirs for the calculation of inheritance tax. The PEA is an element that makes up thegross assets of the estate.
Social security contributions paid by the bank following the closure of the PEA are deductible from the gross assets of the estate. They are treated as a debt of the deceased person. It is an element that makes up the passive of the estate.
The following operations shall result in the closure of the PEA:
- Any withdrawal before 5 years (except in cases of authorized withdrawal)
- Failure to comply with one of the operating conditions (e.g. exceeding the payment ceiling)
- Death of the holder
- Withdrawal after 5 years of all amounts or values.
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Definition and operation of the EAP
Definition and operation of the PEA PME-ETI
Opening of a PEA and applicable fees
Opening of the SME-Mid-cap PEA and thresholds for companies eligible for the SME-Mid-cap PEA
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