Difference Between the Interest Rates Applicable to Debit and Credit Positions Within a Cash Pooling Arrangement: Which Criterion Should Be Used to Assess an Unjustified Spread?

In connection with the judgment of the Strasbourg Administrative Court, 3rd Chamber, 22 May 2026, No. 2401722, Fichet Technologies

In establishing the existence of a gratuitous transfer granted by a cash pool participant placing its excess cash with the cash pool leader at a zero interest rate, constituting an indirect transfer of profits abroad, the French tax authorities may validly rely solely on the unjustified difference between the interest rates applied to debit and credit positions. They are not required, for this purpose, to compare such rates with the interest rate that would have been agreed under arm’s length conditions.

The low level of risk borne in respect of the deposits, the provision of foreign exchange and interest rate hedging services, and favourable access to liquidity cannot, in the circumstances of the case, be regarded as equivalent consideration for the benefit granted.

Read Théophile Trancart’s commentary on this decision, published in the Revue de droit fiscal on 8 October 2026.