Bercy demanded more than 550 million euros from a French subsidiary of Coca-Cola

The tax authorities have claimed more than 550 million euros from a French subsidiary of Coca-Cola, which disputes it, following tax audits over the years 2014-2019, AFP learned by consulting its 2022 annual accounts, confirming information from the Informed. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners France (CCEP), the French bottler of the famous soda, was asked for 370 million euros for the 2014 and 2015 financial years and 182.2 million euros for 2016, according to its financial documentation for the year 2022 filed in September at the commercial court and consulted on Monday by AFP.

Adjustments of 13.1 million euros for 2018 and 16.2 million euros for 2019 are also “considered”, according to the same source. In this same financial documentation, the company claims to have “strong means of defense allowing it to challenge the position of the tax authorities” and has not set aside any money in this regard. Questioned Monday by AFP, CCEP did not specify whether this tax dispute had evolved since September.

Contacted by AFP, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) did not wish to comment. These adjustments “mainly” relate to the conditions under which CCEP sources its concentrate – then used to produce sodas such as Coca-Cola, Fanta or Sprite – from The Coca-Cola Company in the United States, the company indicates in its documentation. financial, without giving further details. Asked by AFP, the company indicated that, “as is customary for large companies in France”, it “may be subject to controls by the tax authorities and does not wish to comment additional information on this subject.

CCEP declared for the year 2022 more than 2 billion euros in turnover in France, and a net profit of 60.7 million euros, according to its annual accounts. The company has 5 factories and employs more than 2,500 people in France. In November, his boss François Gay-Bellile indicated in a rare interview with Le Parisien that the volumes sold in 2023 were “growing over the year to the end of October”, and indicated that he had requested an average 7% price increase at its retail customers at the start of commercial negotiations ending at the end of January.

According to l'Informed, which revealed the sums requested in September, another subsidiary of the soda giant, Coca-Cola Services France (CCSF), is targeted by a recovery of at least 140 million euros. In its own financial documentation for the year 2021, CCSF, which employs less than 100 people in France, indicates that it is subject to tax audits for the financial years 2014 to 2019, but without specifying an adjustment amount.