French General Tax Code
In force1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1692, a person liable for value added tax may choose to pay the value added tax and the taxes, contributions and fees declared on the schedule to the declaration provided for in 2 of article 287 dued by members of the group that it forms with taxable persons in which it holds, directly or indirectly, more than half of the capital or voting rights, and to obtain reimbursement of the excess deductible tax from which they benefit.
This option may only be exercised with the agreement of the group members concerned.
The option may also be exercised by a central body or a departmental or interdepartmental caisse that has opted for the regime mentioned in the fifth paragraph of I of Article 223 A, for all the banks, caisses and companies mentioned in that same paragraph.
It only concerns groups whose members meet the following cumulative conditions:
a) They fall into the categories mentioned in I of Article 1649 quater B quater and are subject to the declaratory procedures set out in that article;
b) They open and close their accounting periods on the same dates;
c) They file their declarations under the conditions set out in the first paragraph of 2 of Article 287.
The holding referred to in the first paragraph of this article must be continuous over the period covered by the option.
2. The taxpayer referred to in 1 shall formulate the option with the tax department to which he is attached. This takes effect for the payment of value added tax, as well as the taxes, contributions and fees mentioned in 1 due, from the first day of the first accounting period following that during which it was expressed.
As from the third financial year following that in which the option takes effect, it may be cancelled by the taxpayer mentioned in 1 within a period of one month following the end of the previous financial year. This cancellation takes effect from the first day of the financial year to which it relates.
The taxpayer mentioned in 1 may, with their agreement, exclude certain members of the group or introduce new ones. These changes may only take effect from the second financial year included in the option period. They are made on the same terms as those described in the first paragraph. The introduction of new members into the group has no impact on the initial term of the option.
A member's membership of the group ceases on the first day of the month following the month in which the conditions mentioned in 1 cease to be met.
3. Each month, on the dates set by joint order of the ministers responsible for the economy and the budget, the taxable persons who are members of the group file their declarations referred to in 2 of Article 287 and the taxpayer referred to in 1 of this Article :
a) Files a recapitulative declaration in accordance with the model defined by the administration;
b) Pays an amount of value added tax equal to the difference between the sum of the net taxes due and the sum of the tax credits entered on the declarations provided for in 2 of article 287, filed in respect of the same month by each of the members of the group. Where this balance is negative, the taxpayer mentioned in 1 of this article may either obtain reimbursement from the administration in accordance with the conditions laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, or carry it forward to the declaration filed for the following month. If the option is terminated or lapses, the tax credit existing at the end of the period covered by the option is refunded to the taxpayer mentioned in 1;
c) Pays the taxes, contributions and fees mentioned in 1 that appear on the declarations mentioned in b.
4. The declarations mentioned in c of 1 and the schedule mentioned in the first paragraph of 1 remain subject to control by the administration under the conditions set out in the Book of Tax Procedures. The taxpayer mentioned in 1 shall pay the duties and late payment interest and penalties mentioned in Chapter II of Book II as a result of the infringements committed by the taxable persons who are members of the group.
5. Each taxable person who is a member of the group is jointly and severally liable with the taxable person referred to in 1 for payment of the value added tax, taxes, contributions and fees referred to in 1 and, where applicable, the corresponding penalties that the taxable person referred to in 1 is responsible for paying, up to the amount of the duties and penalties for which he would be liable if the option referred to in 1 had not been exercised.
