When theadministration s challenge the recognition of loans as liabilities following an assignment of receivables

A company was granted two loans totaling 400,000 euros by an Estonian company in accordance with agreements signed in 2013 and 2014. The funds were received, and the company recorded the loans as liabilities.

Following a tax audit, the French Tax Authority (administration ) determined that this debt should no longer be included in the company’s liabilities as of December 31, 2015, because the Estonian lender had assets totaling only 58,504 euros—far less than they should have been given the loans granted to the French company.

It therefore issued a tax assessment to the company, which challenged the assessment all the way to the Administrative Court of Appeals.

The French company will then point out that it has provided evidence demonstrating that the receivable held by the Estonian company had been transferred to another company, thereby justifying the amount of the asset reported by the Service.

The Court finds that this evidence of the assignment of the receivable is provided by the receivable assignment agreement between the Estonian company and the company that acquired the receivable, as well as by the financial statements of these two companies as of December 31, 2014, and 2015. These financial statements showed changes in the companies’ assets consistent with the assignment of the receivable.

The Court also rejects the arguments of theadministration , which contended that the documents were in English and did not allow for the precise identification of the financial flows.

It also considers that the failure to publicize the assignment of the claim, as required by Article 1690 of the Civil Code, merely renders the assignment unenforceable against the French company, but does not call into question the validity of the transfer of the claim.

Finally, she states that no evidence was presented to demonstrate that the Estonian company had waived its claim against the French company. In particular, she notes that the Estonian company’s income statement does not include any expense related to such a waiver of claim.

The tax assessment is therefore rescinded.

CAA Marseille, Sept. 18, 2026, No. 25MA00690

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