Late accounting claims do not constitute force majeure

ATA/422/1997Cour de justice / Chambre administrative1 juil. 1997Dismissed

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Résumé Omnilex

The case concerned a company’s attempt to challenge a final tax assessment by invoking force majeure and adding capital gains and depreciation items after the accounts had been closed. The court held that such late accounting corrections do not amount to a fundamental error constituting force majeure, even if the entries were later approved by the general meeting. The renewed examination of the company’s receivables occurred too late because the claims arose only after the closing of the accounts.

Regeste Omnilex

LCP 349; late invocation of accounting items in tax proceedings; force majeure. A taxpayer may not rely on force majeure to introduce, out of time, capital gains or depreciation that were recorded only after the accounts were closed, even if subsequently approved by the general meeting. The decisive point is the temporal sequence of the booking relative to the closing of the accounts; a later reassessment of receivables cannot retroactively cure the lateness. Such a situation does not constitute a fundamental error within the meaning of force majeure, so that the tax objection or request for modification remains unsuccessful.

Texte intégral

Descripteurs

IMPOT; SOCIETE(GROUPEMENT DE PERSONNES ET DE CAPITAUX); CALCUL; BENEFICE; FORCE MAJEURE; BORDEREAU DEFINITIF; BENEFICE NET; IMPOT SUR LE CAPITAL; COMPTABILITE; CREANCE; EXIGIBILITE; DECISION DE TAXATION; MODIFICATION(EN GENERAL); OPPOSITION(PROCEDURE); FIN

Normes

LCP.349

Résumé

Ne constitue pas une erreur fondamentale constitutive d'un cas de force majeure le fait pour une société de faire valoir hors délai de réclamation des plus-values ou des amortissements comptabilisés tardivement dans le compte de pertes et profits, respectivement dans le bilan, bien qu'approuvés par l'assemblée générale. Le regard nouveau porté par l'organe de révision sur les créances de la société est tardif, celles-ci étant postérieures au bouclement des comptes.

Mots-clés

taxationaccountingprofitforce majeurefinal assessmentobjectioncapital taxnet profitreceivablestimeliness

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Questions juridiques clés extraites par Omnilex

Question juridique clé

Whether late-recognized accounting items can justify force majeure for a late tax objection or correction of the final assessment.

Solution extraite

No. A company cannot rely on force majeure merely because it invokes capital gains or depreciation entered too late in the profit-and-loss statement or balance sheet, even if those entries were approved by the general meeting.

Motifs extraits

The company's newly raised accounting claims came only after the accounts had already been closed; the revision body's renewed review of those receivables was therefore too late. This was not a fundamental error amounting to force majeure.

Late accounting claims do not constitute force majeureGénéré par IA