On June 21, 1995 the French Conseil d'Etat (supreme administrative court) decided that fees paid for expert advice by a company prior to the sale of its ownership interest in another company are to be considered as deductible from the taxable income at the normal corporate tax rate, and are not to be considered as charges to be offset against the amount of the capital gain realised on the sale of the ownership interest (taxable at a reduced corporate tax rate). In effect, the Conseil d'Etat would have considered that the only fees that can affect the amount of a taxable capital gain are those that are strictly necessary to the sale transaction itself or those that have increased the value of the fixed asset sold.
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