France demands $300M francs from Watchtower
for back taxes  7/7/00

original news item:

http://infos.tf1.fr/info/france/depeche.cfm?ID_CONTENU=103865

Alta Vista English translation:

NANTERRE, 4 juil (AFP) - the first civil room of the County Court of Nanterre (the Top-of-Seine) confirmed, Tuesday, the payment of back taxes of 300 million francs inflicted to the Witnesses of Jéhovah in the accordance with the tax on the manual gifts received by association over 3 years. Association the Witnesses of Jéhovah, whose seat is in Boulogne-Billancourt (the Top-of-Seine), announced at the time of a press conference which it intended to make call of this judgement. For 2 years, the tax authorities have claimed with association approximately 150 MF in the accordance with the recovery of taxation on manual gifts received during 3 years, and a little more than 147 MF in the accordance of the penalties and the post maturity interest. For the tax department, the manual gifts received by the Witnesses of Jéhovah between 1993 and 1996 must be taxed to 60% with the glance with the general code with the taxes. Conversely, the Witnesses of Jéhovah, who tackled this rectification in front of the TGI of Nanterre, consider that " the manual gifts can be made freely with any declared association ". Moreover, they estimate that their association must be given tax exemption since it " answers the definition of work or organization of general interest and that of cultuelle association ". On this point, the civil judge estimates that the Witnesses of Jéhovah did not bring the proof that their association " obtained a ministerial or prefectoral authorization to receive exonerated manual gifts of transfer taxes on a purely free basis or to be recognized by decree like religious congregation ". " In this business, the tax authorities make a confusion between a legacy and a manual gift. The gift is the means by which the majority of associations law 1901 are financed. If all were to be taxed to 60%, would be the end of the associative world ", estimated Jean-Claude Pons, spokesman of the Witnesses of Jéhovah. Moreover, it added that if the Witnesses of Jéhovah were to pay the sum which is claimed to them, it would be " the end of our congregation ".

In another conflict opposing association to the tax department, the Witnesses of Jéhovah profited at the end of June from a stop of the Council of State recognizing the character cultuel of two local associations representing the movement in Nievre and Puy of dome. The high jurisdiction indeed estimated that these two entities could be given an exemption of the land tax for their places of worship.