₪(PEA)

Verified 06 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 (EAP). 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.

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      Classic banking PEA

      The banking PEA allows the acquisition of a European company equity portfolio while benefiting, under conditions, from a tax exemption. The payment limit is €150,000.

      Tax domicile condition

      You have to be tax resident 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 be able 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 who are disabled without age limit.

      Signing a contract

      When opening 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 shall be obliged to report 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 should not exceed the maximum ceiling allowed for the SME-MID-cap PEA.

      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 each a classic PEA and a PEA-PME-ETI.

      Their children attached majors may subscribe to a PEA whose payment limit is limited to €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 are used to fund 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 permitted. There is no obligation to make periodic payments and the amounts of each payment are free (within the limit of the legal 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 fee is 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 entered into the PEA securities account. The list of qualifications that may be included in the PEA is established by law.

      FYI  

      To find out if a stock 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 PEA bank or insurance can be invested in indirectly in the following headings:

      • Shares in open-ended investment businesses, private equity 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 funding 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% their assets in financial assets eligible for the European quota
      • Units or shares in collective investment funds that 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 with their registered office in an EU countryEuropean Union or in an EU countryEuropean Economic Area
      • Financial securities of FIA 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. Withdrawal can 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 AEP results in plan close.

      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 Civil partnership partner
      • Withdrawal of securities from a business in liquidation
      • Withdrawal (reinvested within 3 months) for the creation or takeover of the 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 EAP continues to operate and new payments can be made.

      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 that make it up.

      The remuneration of the PEA is random, as it depends on the stock market return of the investment vehicles chosen. The remuneration of the PEA can come from the income generated by the 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 the event 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 and limited to €20,000 as long as the attachment lasts.

      Throughout the operation of the PEA, the cash account receives the gains from investments made in the securities account (dividends and other products, capital gains carried out). The earnings carried out and reinvested within the EAP are exempt income tax and social security contributions.

      In the absence of withdrawal, the dividends perceived and capital gains carried out in the PEA are not taxable.

      Please note

      Some special rules apply for annual dividends of unlisted securities detained in a PEA. Some of this income may be taxable.

      One removal triggers taxation on EAP income. The applicable taxation depends in particular on the date of withdrawals.

      Whatever the date of withdrawals, realized gains are subject to social levies.

      If withdrawals are made after the 5e In the EAP year, realized gains are exempt from income tax.

      The following operations result in the closure of the EAP:

      • Any withdrawal before 5 years (excluding authorized withdrawal cases)
      • 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 sums or values and conversion of capital into a life annuity.

      Classic PEA 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 is €150,000.

      Tax domicile condition

      You have to be a person tax resident 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 be able 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 who are disabled without age limit.

      Signing a contract

      When opening the PEA, you sign a contract with the insurance company.

      Any opening of a credit institution must be declared by the financial 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 should not exceed the maximum ceiling allowed for the SME-MID-cap PEA.

      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 each a classic PEA and an SME-MID-CAP.

      Their children attached majors may subscribe to a PEA whose payment limit is limited to €20,000 as long as their attachment lasts.

      The institution that receives your PEA application must inform you of the ban on holding 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 securities eligible for the PEA.

      The insurance company records the amount of cash payments and it invests in funds and collective investment schemes.

      Amounts paid on the PEA bank or insurance can be invested in indirectly in the following headings:

      • Shares in open-ended investment businesses, private equity 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 funding 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% their assets in financial assets eligible for the European quota
      • Units or shares in collective investment funds that 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 with their registered office in an EU countryEuropean Union or in an EU countryEuropean Economic Area
      • Financial securities of FIA 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.

      Since December 6, 2016, the amounts paid into the PEA cannot be used to acquire securities held outside the PEA by the following persons:

      • Plan holder
      • Person with whom he/she lives as a couple
      • Ascendant or descendant.

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      Before 5 years

      Redemptions before 5 years will result in the plan being closed, except in the following cases:

      • Resumption or creation of 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

      Buybacks after 5 years do not result in plan closure.

      The plan continues to work and there are opportunities for new payments.

      The remuneration of the PEA is random, as it depends on the stock market return of the investment vehicles chosen. The remuneration of the PEA can come from the income generated by the 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 the event 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.

      The taxation of EAP income depends in particular on the date of withdrawals.

      AEP revenues are subject to social levies regardless of the date of withdrawals.

      The following operations result in the closure of the PEA insurance:

      • Any redemption made on the capitalization contract before 5 years (excluding authorized redemption cases)
      • Failure to comply with one of the operating conditions (e.g. exceeding the payment ceiling)
      • Death of the holder
      • Total redemption after 5 years of the capitalization contract.

      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 disbursement 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 a contract

      When opening 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-SME-ETIs at the same time. The number of SME-MID-CAPs 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 should not exceed the maximum ceiling allowed for the SME-MID-cap PEA.

      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 each an SME-MID-cap PEA and a conventional PEA (in the form of a bank PEA or in the form of an insurance PEA).

      Warning  

      The SME-MID-cap PEA 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 permitted. There is no obligation to make periodic payments and the amounts of each payment are free (within the limit of the legal deposit ceiling).

      Cash payments are used to fund 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:

      • Plan holder
      • Person with whom he/she lives as a couple
      • Ascendant or descendant

      Warning  

      You may not include in the plan the titles of businesses that you and your family group (spouse, ascendants and descendants) hold directly or indirectly more than 25% social rights.

      Securities that can be directly invested

      The money paid out of the SME-MID-CAP is 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 service 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 an employed workforce of less than 5,000 people and an annual turnover which does not exceed €1.5 billion, or a balance sheet total that 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 a market capitalization of 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 money invested in the PEA PME-ETI is examined on the basis of its accounts. In particular, the review 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 retained there even if the accounting situation of the business subsequently changes on the basis 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 position will be reviewed again 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 business is to invest on behalf of others.

      Amounts paid into the SME-MID-CAP 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 composed of more than 75% of ETI securities, 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% of ETI securities, at least two thirds of which are shares, shares, investment certificates, or bonds convertible or redeemable in shares
      • Units in venture capital mutual funds, or commercial business securities that qualify for exemption from venture capital businesses
      • Units or shares of FIA 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 AEP results in plan close.

      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 Civil partnership partner
      • Withdrawal of securities from a business in liquidation
      • Withdrawal (reinvested within 3 months) for the creation or takeover of the 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 remuneration of the PEA is random, as it depends on the stock market return of the investment vehicles chosen. The remuneration of the PEA can come from the income generated by the 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 the event 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 PME-ETI and the classic PEA (banking or insurance) can be combined. 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 traditional PEA shall not exceed €150,000.

      Throughout the operation of the PEA, the cash account receives the gains from investments made in the securities account (dividends and other products, capital gains carried out). The earnings carried out and reinvested within the EAP are exempt income tax and social security contributions.

      In the absence of withdrawal, the dividends perceived and capital gains carried out in the PEA are not taxable.

      Please note

      Some special rules apply for annual revenues of unlisted securities detained in a PEA. Some of this income may be taxable.

      One removal triggers taxation on EAP income. The applicable taxation depends in particular on the date of withdrawals.

      Regardless of the date of withdrawals, PEA revenues are always subject to social levies .

      The following operations result in the closure of the EAP:

      • 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 sums or values and conversion of capital into life annuity.

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