Object of the decision
The GOLDWIN firm obtained an order for the AIRBNB platform to pay a fine of €30,000 for the failure to collect and remit the tourist tax for the year 2021, on the basis of Article L2333-34-1 of the General Code of Local Authorities, which provides:
“ I.-Failure to produce within the prescribed time limit the declaration provided for in III of Article L. 2333-34 shall result in the application of a fine of up to €12,500 without being less than €750. Omissions or inaccuracies noted in the same declaration shall result in the application of a fine of €150 per omission or inaccuracy, without the total of the fines applicable per declaration being able to exceed €12,500.
II.-The fact, for landlords, hoteliers, owners, intermediaries and professionals mentioned in Article L. 2333-34, of not having collected the tourist tax from a taxable person results in the application of a fine of up to €2,500 without being less than €750.
III.-The failure of landlords, hoteliers, owners, intermediaries and professionals mentioned in Article L. 2333-34 to pay the amount of tourist tax due under the conditions and within the time limits prescribed in the same Article L. 2333-34 shall result in the application of a fine of up to €2,500 without being less than €750.
IV.-The fines provided for in I, II and III of this article are imposed by the president of the judicial court, ruling in the form of summary proceedings, at the request of the municipality that has introduced the tourist tax. The proceeds of the fines are paid to the municipality. The competent judicial court is the one in the jurisdiction of which the municipality is located .
Initially, the President of the La Rochelle Judicial Court ruled that there was no need to transmit the priority question of constitutionality requested by AIRBNB and aimed at challenging the constitutionality of these sanctions, judging that the question was devoid of any serious character.
Then, he noted that: “It is clear from the proceedings that the AIRBNB company did not collect or pay over, by December 31, 2021 at the latest, the tourist taxes on the 5,066 stays included in the collection period from June 26 to September 11, 2021 and did not pay the additional departmental tax for the year 2021.”
Concerning the tourist tax for the year 2020, it decided to stay the proceedings pending the outcome of parallel proceedings, brought before the Judicial Court of La Rochelle, relating to the merits of the tourist tax due for the year 2020.
This decision constitutes a historic legal victory for the Oléron community which, after having obtained communication of tourist tax statements and payment of the tourist tax by an ex officio taxation measure, was able to obtain that these repeated breaches be sanctioned by the imposition of fines.
To our knowledge, this is the first time that a platform has been sanctioned on the basis of this article of law.
Maîtres Jonathan BELLAICHE and Adèle AZZI were the lawyers in charge of this case.
