How much is the paper used to print counterfeit bills worth?

Following a search of the home of a taxpayer’s mother, police officers discovered in the basement “six boxes of reams of security paper, enough to make four counterfeit 50-euro bills per sheet.”

This information had been forwarded toadministration , which—after noting, among other things, that only the taxpayer had the keys to the cellar—issued a tax assessment based on the presumption of income under Article 1649 quater-0 B bis, which applies when a taxpayer has had free disposal of property that is the subject of certain offenses.

The tax assessment was challenged all the way to the Administrative Court of Appeals, which then had to determine the value of these reams of security paper.

The taxpayer, who had been convicted of unauthorized possession of materials specifically intended for the manufacture or counterfeiting of banknotes, claimed that the value of the reams ranged from 74 to 94 euros; however, it was unclear what evidence supported this valuation.

The court, for its part, noted that the ruling convicting the taxpayer stated that“one of the intermediaries was offering the cartons for sale, along with holographic patches in sufficient quantity to print one carton, at a price of 12,000 euros per unit.” It therefore accepted this value.

The tax assessment based on the latter is therefore upheld.

CAA Marseille, June 18, 2026, No. 24MA03025

This legal watch produced by Mispelon Avocat, a law firm specializing in French tax audit and French tax litigation. You can follow this legal watch subscribing to the newsletter via this link.