Decision of the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal regarding the reasoning in the response to the taxpayer’s comments
Last Thursday, the Paris Administrative Court of Appeal issued a ruling regarding the lack of sufficient justification in a response to a taxpayer’s comments.
In this case, a company that had requested, in its comments, clarification regarding the valuation of securities used byadministration justify their adjustment was told, in the response to its comments, that it should contact a third-party company to obtain further details.
The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal ruled that "by failing [...] to respond to the comments submitted by Company X regarding the determination of the value of the securities contributed—which constitutes an essential element of the disputed assessment—and by merely referring Company X to a third-party company, of which she is not, moreover, the president,administration to meet the requirement to provide a reasoned response to the taxpayer’s observations” and exonerates the taxpayer.
This ruling highlights the importance of the wording and content of the taxpayer’s submissions, as well as the analysis of theadministration response to them.