Whenadministration that an employee with a broken tibia would be working and getting paid in cash

Following a search conducted by the judicial authorities at a company,administration provided with several documents indicating that cash payments had been made to the company's employees.

It issued a tax assessment to one of them, who worked as a "handyman," on the grounds that he had received undeclared cash wages.

The employee plans to challenge the assessment all the way to the Administrative Court of Appeals.

She will then point out that:

• The transcript of the interview with one of the company’s employees, which stated that cash payments had been made to the employee in question, contains only a general and vague statement. This is not sufficient to justify the receipt of wages in cash over a period of seven years.

• The submitted table, which lists 28 payments to the employee in question, claims that the employee received cash; however, this statement contradicts "the medical condition of [this employee], who was on sick leave from May 8 to October 17, 2013, due to a tibia-fibula fracture in his left leg sustained on May 8, 2013, and recognized as a work-related injury. The surgical report dated May 10, 2013, states that Mr. B... was unable to put weight on his left leg for forty-five days, and his pay stubs from May through October 2013 confirm his absence from work and lack of wages from May 8 to October 17, 2013.”

• The employee’s acknowledgment that he received €3,500 in additional pay for a single month does not mean that he received such pay for seven years.

The Court therefore finds that no evidence has been presented to show that wages were paid in cash, and the tax assessment is therefore set aside.

CAA Marseille, October 6, 2025, No. 24MA00074

This monitoring service is provided by Mispelon Avocat, a law firm specializing in tax audits and tax litigation. You can stay updated by subscribing to the newsletter via this link.