The amounts received on behalf of research activities invoiced within a collaborative research program must be deduced from their RTC basis.
In the case at hand, the company GENFIT, a certified private research company, challenged the deduction from its RTC basis of the amounts received regarding research activities carried out with two other companies. Indeed, according to GENFIT, their contractual relationships had to be analyzed as a co-research partnership and not as outsourcing activities.
After having analyzed the corresponding contracts, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Versailles ruled that the two companies effectively “outsourced the realization of precisely defined research activities, from which they intended to benefit from the results and entrusted the execution to the company, in return for the payment of contractually determined amounts”.
Whether this takes within a close collaboration with the certified private research company, who also contributes to the efforts and risks and can benefit from part of the results and rights resulting from these operations, and whether this collaboration cannot be qualified as subcontracting relationship, is irrelevant for the Court.
Finally, the Court considers that the company GENFIT did not bear personally the final cost of these research activities and validates the tax adjustment made by the tax authorities.