When a helicopter pilot tries to take advantage of the expatriate tax scheme and crashes

A helicopter pilot who was carrying out missions in Angola was subject to a tax audit, following whichadministration he was not eligible for the expatriate employee tax regime and issued a tax assessment.

administration that the conditions under which a pilot must be sent by an employer based in France outside the country to perform work as an employee had not been met.

On the contrary, the pilot argued before the Administrative Court of Appeals that, although he was employed by a company in Jersey, he was in fact employed by a French company.

He argued that the French company was his actual employer because it had been convicted in France of“complicity in the illegal lending of labor, concealed employment, and labor trafficking” due to an arrangement designed to outsource the management of labor relations with pilots and mechanics through the company located in Jersey.

Thus, according to the pilot, the company in Jersey had no business operations of its own, and he was therefore necessarily an employee of the French company.

The court hearing the case will, however, note that the judgment against the French company does not concern the pilot and involves countries other than those where the pilot was working. It held that “it cannot be inferred from a reading of [the judgment] that all pilots and mechanics employed by the [Jersey-based] company since its inception must necessarily be regarded as being in a relationship of subordination to the [French] company.”

She also believes that the other evidence presented by the pilot does not demonstrate a relationship of subordination to the French company.

The pilot's tax assessment is therefore confirmed.

CAA Marseille, May 28, 2026, No. 25MA00053

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.