Tax lawyer for business sale and succession planning
Preparing the sale of your business, organizing its transmission within the family, or structuring your wealth several years ahead of the next step.
Upfront advice 12 to 24 months before the decisionWhen should a business owner consult a tax lawyer?
You are preparing the sale of your business
A deal is under way, or you are seriously considering one within 12 to 24 months. You have an M&A lawyer negotiating the deal, perhaps an investment banker structuring the transaction. You are looking for the tax and wealth angle that neither of them covers.
- Contribution-and-sale and deferral of the capital gains tax
- Gift to your children before the sale to clear the capital gain
- Exit tax if a transfer of residence is on the table
- Coordination with the M&A lawyer and the private banker
You are organizing the transmission of your business to your children
You want to pass your company on to your children, or some of them, whether or not you keep an operational role. The taxation of this operation can be prepared years in advance, or left to the estate at a steep cost.
- Dutreil pact and collective holding commitment
- Split of ownership of the shares and gift of bare ownership
- Family holding company and governance structuring
- Planning after the 2026 Finance Act (individual commitment extended to six years)
You are structuring your wealth ahead of time
Your business is growing, your wealth is accumulating, and you want to make the right decisions while every option is still open. Many business owners consult us too late, once the calendar constrains them. The earlier you structure, the wider your room to maneuver.
- Setting up and structuring a wealth holding company
- Trade-offs between salary, dividends and retained earnings
- Considering a transfer of residence in the medium term
- A transmission plan scheduled over 10 or 20 years
A different situation? A first conversation lets us map out what is at stake.
Anticipating, years before the decision
A business owner’s wealth is not handled in a rush.
The taxation of your operation depends on decisions made twelve months, five years, sometimes twenty years earlier. When you consult us three weeks before signing, we can protect the essentials. When you consult us eighteen months ahead, we build the operation around your personal, family and tax objectives, not the other way around.
We take up your wealth situation as a whole: the make-up of your capital, your family situation, the planned sale or transmission, your life plan over five, ten or twenty years, the mandates already entrusted to your other advisors. Then we read your operation through the tools available:
- Contribution-and-sale (Article 150-0 B ter)
- Dutreil pact and gift before sale
- Split of ownership and wealth holding company
- Exit tax deferral in the event of a move abroad
Where each tool has its own framework and timeline, we look for the alignment that serves your project, not abstract optimization.
Your M&A lawyer negotiates the sale price, your private banker prepares the reinvestment, your accountant produces the filings. We handle the tax and wealth angle that none of them covers in depth: upfront structuring, international treaties if you move abroad, transmission to the next generations, defense in the event of an audit. We work in close coordination with your other advisors, without duplicating, and we remain present well beyond the sale, because your wealth continues afterward.
Lalé Kilic, tax lawyer in Lyon, for business owners and their families
Nearly twenty years of practice in private wealth taxation, with business owners’ wealth, whether in a sale, a transmission or structuring, as a central focus. A first career in major American law firms in Paris, in international mobility, before founding L.L.V. FIDEUROPE AVOCATS in Lyon. A client base of SME and mid-cap business owners, family wealth holders and founders selling early, in France and internationally.
- Member of the Lyon Bar, listed in the international lawyers directory
- Regular practice in the taxation of business sales and transmissions
- IFORA training for chartered accountants on wealth matters
- Regular coordination with M&A lawyers and private bankers
In person in Lyon, Paris, Annecy or Geneva. Video conferencing in French and in English.
Full background
Your questions on a business owner’s wealth
The questions that come up most often before a sale, a transmission or a wealth structuring.
01 How far in advance should you plan before selling a business? +
Ideally between 12 and 24 months before signing the deal. That is the window to build a real wealth strategy rather than be driven by the buyer’s calendar. A contribution-and-sale takes several months to structure calmly. A gift to your children before the sale cannot be done the night before closing. A transfer of residence abroad takes several years to secure. The earlier you consult us, the wider your room for decision. If the sale is imminent, room for action still exists, provided the diagnosis is started immediately.
02 How does the Dutreil pact work for passing on a business? +
The Dutreil pact allows, under certain conditions, a 75% exemption from gift and inheritance transfer duties on the value of the shares passed on by gift or inheritance. It rests on two commitments: a collective holding commitment (at least two years), then an individual commitment taken on by each beneficiary. The 2026 Finance Act has tightened the scheme: the individual commitment moves from four to six years, bringing the total holding period to eight years, and certain non-business “luxury” assets are now excluded from the exempt base. These rules apply to transmissions from 21 February 2026. The Dutreil pact remains the main tool for the family transmission of a business, but it calls for even more rigorous planning and monitoring.
03 What is contribution-and-sale, and how was it tightened in 2026? +
Contribution-and-sale under Article 150-0 B ter involves contributing your shares to a holding company you control before the sale, which places the capital gain under a tax deferral subject to certain reinvestment conditions. The 2026 Finance Act has tightened the scheme: the share to be reinvested in an eligible economic activity moves from 60% to 70% of the sale proceeds, the reinvestment period from two to three years, and the assets acquired in reinvestment must now be held for at least five years. The mechanism remains powerful for owners who want to reinvest all or part of the sale proceeds without immediately bearing capital gains tax. Putting it in place calls for precise structuring and monitoring throughout the deferral period.
04 Should you set up a wealth holding company, and what does the 2026 Finance Act change? +
A wealth holding company can serve several purposes: ringfencing business and private assets, structuring family transmission, optimizing the taxation of dividends through the parent-subsidiary regime, preparing a contribution-and-sale. The 2026 Finance Act created a new tax targeting these structures, but its final scope is narrower than announced: it applies a 20% rate not to cash or shareholdings, but only to so-called luxury assets (pleasure residences, yachts, luxury vehicles, works of art) held within a holding controlled by an individual, holding more than five million euros in assets and deriving most of its income from passive sources, for financial years ending from late 2026. The great majority of holding companies for shareholdings or cash are therefore not affected, but those holding this type of asset should review their choices.
05 How do you work alongside an M&A lawyer during a sale? +
In coordination, without duplicating. The M&A lawyer negotiates the sale agreement, the representations and warranties, the earn-out clauses, the legal timeline of the transaction. We handle the tax and wealth dimension they do not usually cover: upfront structuring of the operation, the choice between contribution-and-sale or gift before sale, anticipating a possible transfer of residence abroad, coordination with your private banker for the reinvestment, the plan for transmission to your children. Our two roles are complementary. Many sales unfold with an M&A lawyer and a private wealth tax lawyer working together.
06 Can you make a gift to your children before selling a business? +
Yes, and it is one of the most effective levers for passing on part of the proceeds of a sale without paying capital gains tax on the gifted share. The mechanism: you give your children full ownership or bare ownership of part of the shares before signing the sale. At the time of the sale, it is the child who sells their share, and the capital gain is calculated against the value used at the time of the gift, often very close to the sale price, which clears the tax. The gift must be genuine, dated before the sale, and structured to avoid a re-characterization by the authorities. The timing is critical: too late, and the mechanism no longer works.
Let’s take up your situation, before the next step
Choose the format that suits you.
Any information you share is covered by professional secrecy. A first confidential conversation, with no obligation, in person in Lyon, Paris, Annecy or Geneva, or by video in French or in English.