30 days from the date of the proposed reassessment notice, which can be extended to 60 days upon taxpayer’s request.
-
Administrative appeal: different exchanges of replies between the French tax authorities (FTA) and the taxpayer, hierarchical recourses and possibility to have the case heard by committees (in certain cases).
-
Administrative procedures: have to be exhausted prior to recourse to judicial proceedings.
-
Judicial procedures: before Courts (there are three levels of jurisdictions in France for both the administrative system and the judicial system):
- Administrative lower court or Judicial lower court.
- Administrative court of appeal or Judicial court of appeal.
- French Supreme administrative court or French Supreme judicial court).
- Before administrative courts: Approximately three-six years as from the date of the petition before the administrative lower court.
- Before judicial courts: Approximately seven-nine years as from the date of the petition before the judicial lower court.
-
Start: A taxpayer can at the same time exercise the administrative appeals and procedures before French Courts and request the initiation of a MAP. MAP is subject to the prior intervention of an administrative measure.
The MAP must be requested from the competent authority of the taxpayer's state of residence within a period of three months to three years, depending on the tax treaty. Some treaties do not provide for any time limit for the referral.
-
Conduct of the proceedings: The FTA can issue a tax collection notice without waiting for the outcome of the MAP. There is no suspension of the national proceedings until the end of the MAP.
-
Completion of proceedings: If the MAP leads to an agreement eliminating double taxation, the taxpayer can accept or refuse the agreement, but in the event of acceptance, the taxpayer will have to waive any subsequent claim and renounce to domestic litigation.
-
Other actions: The competent authorities have, in theory, a two-year deadline to reach an agreement in a MAP. If no agreement is reached by the end of this period, depending on tax treaty applicable, the competent authorities may open an arbitration phase, upon the taxpayer's request.