Ruling by the Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal on the application of the de minimis rules to freight transport companies
The Toulouse Administrative Court of Appeal has issued a ruling regarding the application of the European de minimis rules to freight transport companies, and more specifically to the case of a freight forwarder.
In this case, a freight forwarding company sought to claim a tax exemption based on its location within a rural revitalization zone.
It considered that it did not fall within the scope of the European de minimis regulation, and in particular the provision stating that "the total amount of de minimis aid granted by a Member State to a single undertaking engaged in the transport of goods by road for hire or reward may not exceed EUR 100,000 over a period of three fiscal years. Such de minimis aid may not be used for the purchase of road freight transport vehicles."
The Court nevertheless considers that the concept of an undertaking in the freight transportsector"must be understood as encompassing all undertakings active in the road freight transport sector. Even though a road freight forwarder does not own a fleet of vehicles and therefore does not carry out the transport itself, its business is nevertheless conducted in the road freight transport sector on behalf of others.” It therefore dismisses the company’s petition.