Tax Treaties and Beneficial Ownership: The Sté Planet Decision (Conseil d’Etat, 20 May 2022, Case No. 444451)

Abstract

In this note, the authors analyse the Conseil d’Etat’s decision in Sté Planet (Case no. 444451), wherein the Court held that when income from a French source is paid to a person who is not the beneficial owner, the applicable tax treaty is the one between France and the beneficial owner’s state of residence for tax purposes, even if this state is not the one in which the direct recipient of the sums paid is resident.