CII Simulator: Visualize the Impact of the Innovation Tax Credit on Your Digital Project

When people talk about the Innovation Tax Credit (CII), the French tax credit for innovation, many leadership teams mostly see a complex tax scheme, reserved for large organizations or "experts". The result: innovative digital projects get postponed or under-scoped, for lack of a clear view of the real budget after the tax benefit.

That is exactly why we created our CII simulator: a simple tool to visualize in a few minutes the impact of the Innovation Tax Credit on the cost of your project, and to understand why working with a CII-approved studio like Fragments Studio makes a concrete difference.

Why a CII simulator dedicated to digital projects?

The CII is a tremendous lever to finance a SaaS, a business tool, a custom ERP or a web application... provided you understand it well and use it from the very first planning phase.

What we often see on the ground:

• companies that vaguely know about the CII, but do not know whether their project is eligible,
• finance departments that lack an order of magnitude for the tax credit they could claim,
• innovative projects that stay at the idea stage, for lack of visibility on the net budget after the tax benefit,
• teams that do not know when to involve an approved provider.

Our online CII simulator is there to answer these questions before you even start a full application or write a single line of code.

How does the Fragments Studio CII simulator work?

The simulator does not replace a detailed tax calculation or a chartered accountant's opinion, but it gives you a realistic projection based on:

• the type of digital project (SaaS, internal tool, redesign, new product...),
• the level of innovation (simple upgrade vs. a new solution with a real functional or technical leap),
• an order of magnitude of the planned expenses (scoping, design, development, support),
• the share of the project potentially eligible for the CII.

Based on this data, the simulator shows you:

• a gross investment range (before CII),
• an estimate of the CII benefit you could claim,
• an indicative net cost after taking the tax credit into account.

For a complete view of the scheme, you can then dig deeper with our dedicated article:
Innovation Tax Credit: is your digital development eligible?

What the CII simulator changes in your decisions

The goal is not to turn you into an innovation tax specialist, but to help you make decisions with more peace of mind:

• you quickly see the impact of the CII on your project budget,
• you can compare several scenarios (reduced vs. ambitious scope, project phasing...),
• you have concrete arguments to convince leadership, an executive committee, or an investor,
• you avoid under-scoping your project out of fear of a "gross" budget that, in reality, can be significantly reduced.

Why work with a CII-approved studio like Fragments Studio?

The simulator is a starting point, but the full value of the CII materializes when you work with a provider approved by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

In practice, working with an approved studio like Fragments Studio means that:

• a significant share of your eligible development expenses can be included in the CII base,
• you benefit from clear traceability of the work carried out (scoping, design, development, testing...),
• we know how to document the innovative aspects of your project, in line with the expectations of the tax authorities.

As we explain in our in-depth article on the CII, working with an approved studio also means:

• securing your supporting documentation (project, deliverables, evidence of innovation),
• making exchanges easier with your finance teams and your chartered accountant,
• reducing the risk of the tax credit being challenged in the event of an audit.

CII simulator + support: a partnership approach

Our approach is not to leave you alone with a tool. The CII simulator is designed as a gateway to more comprehensive support:

• upstream, to assess the eligibility of your project and its level of innovation,
• during the project, to track eligible work and organize the documentation,
• downstream, to provide the right information to your tax contacts.

The goal: to make the CII a structuring lever, not a stressful issue to deal with at the end of the road.

When should you use the CII simulator in your thinking?

We recommend using the CII simulator:

• from the pre-scoping phase of your digital project,
• when preparing a forecast budget or an investment case,
• alongside your budget estimator to refine the "gross vs. net" view,
• when you are wondering whether going through a CII-approved studio can really make a difference for your project.

Want to estimate the impact of the CII on your future tool or SaaS?
Start with our CII simulator, then let's talk to see how an approved studio can help you build a solid project, smartly financed and well documented.