The French Coca-Cola bottler had been asked by Bercy to pay 370 million euros in recovery for the 2014 and 2015 financial years and 182.2 million euros for 2016.
The French tax authorities, which were claiming more than 550 million euros from the French bottler of Coca-Cola (CCEP), have “already abandoned the procedure” covering 2014 to 2017, and “constructive discussions” are continuing regarding 2018 and 2019, we learned Thursday from the company. “The tax authorities have already abandoned the procedure for the financial years from 2014 to 2017,” Coca-Cola Europacific Partners France (CCEP), the French bottler of the famous soda, said in a press release sent Thursday.
“Furthermore, within the usual framework of the exchanges that the company may have with the authorities, constructive discussions continue concerning the 2018 and 2019 financial years,” the company further stated.
CCEP had been asked by Bercy to pay €370 million in adjustments for the 2014 and 2015 financial years and €182.2 million for 2016, according to its financial documentation for the year 2022, filed in September 2023 with the commercial court. In its accounts for the year 2023 this time, filed in July 2024 with the Nanterre commercial court and consulted on Thursday, the company indicated that these adjustments “were extended to part of the year 2017, without major impact on the cumulative amounts notified”. It was in the meantime that the tax authorities abandoned part of the procedure, specified a source close to the company.
Coca-Cola Services France subsidiary already singled out
The tax authorities were questioning the conditions under which CCEP obtains its concentrate (which is then used to produce sodas such as Coca-Cola, Fanta or Sprite) from The Coca-Cola Company in the United States. The adjustments for the 2018 and 2019 financial years relate to “intra-group services”, for smaller amounts: €13.1 million for 2018 and €16.2 million for 2019. The bottler, which indicates that it employs 2,500 people in France, where it has five factories, achieved a turnover of €2.8 billion in 2023 (+8.9%), for a net profit of €92.8 million (+4.3%).
Another French subsidiary, Coca-Cola Services France (CCSF), paid more than €42 million in May following a tax adjustment covering 2014 and 2015, and set aside a total of nearly €104 million. The American parent company is the subject of a huge tax adjustment in the United States, to the tune of at least six billion dollars including interest, for having incorrectly recorded its turnover abroad between 2007 and 2009. It has appealed.
