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Olympic partner Coca-Cola chided over French taxes / Photo: © POOL/AFP
Olympic partner Coca-Cola chided over French taxes
The French tax authorities have claimed Olympics sponsor Coca-Cola owes it millions of euros, documents showed Wednesday, in the latest such allegation just days before the Summer Games kick off.
They told the soda giant's French subsidiaries, Coca-Cola Services France (CCSF), it was seeking further tax for the years 2014 to 2023, according to the company's reply filed with a French court earlier this month.
In the reply, CCSF says it had set aside more than 103 million euros ($112 million) to "cover expenses... linked to settling any tax adjustments", though it did not add for what period.
It added that it had in May paid more than 42 million euros over tax adjustments for 2014 and 2015.
CCSF did not reply to AFP's request for comment.
Neither did the French tax authorities.
CCST, which employs just under 100 people, made more than 104 million euros in 2023.
The company says it makes money from marketing services for another Coca-Cola subsidiary called CCS NV Be, and selling juice "intended for the McDonald's business" to logistics coordinator Martin-Brower France.
The French tax authorities had previously reminded another subsidiary of the US giant to pay up.
It had requested Coca-Cola Europacific Partners France (CCEP), the French firm in charge of bottling the famous soda, hand over 370 million euros it owed for 2014 and 2015, according to its financial documents for 2022 that AFP saw in January.
It had also demanded more than 182 million euros for 2016, they showed.
The company had set aside a tentative 13 million euros for 2018 and 16 million for 2019, according to the documents.
It wrote that the tax adjustments were "mostly" tied to the way CCEP procured the concentrate used to make soft drinks Coca-Cola, Fanta and Sprite from US-based The Coca-Cola Company, but that it had had "solid means to... contest the position of the tax authorities".
The Olympic torch relay made a stop at the French offices of the soda giant on Tuesday evening, with its the head of Coca-Cola France, Mickael Vinet, hailing the flash visit an "immense privilege".
The Paris Olympics run from Friday to August 11.
J.Peterson--SFF
