Facts
On 21 May 2014, the French tax authorities sent a request for administrative assistance in tax matters to the Federal Tax Administration regarding spouses A./B. The spouses A./[B.] contested the request for administrative assistance, arguing that they were not French tax residents, but Spanish, during the period covered by the request.
On 22 October 2014, the Federal Administration communicated its draft decision to grant administrative assistance and the documents it intended to transmit, giving spouses A./[B.] a five-day deadline to decide. The spouses A./[B.] reiterated their opposition to the grant of administrative assistance and requested an extension of the deadline, which was denied.
By two final decisions, the Federal Administration granted administrative assistance to France. The respective recipients of these decisions challenged them before the Federal Administrative Court, seeking their annulment.
The Federal Administrative Court joined the cases, admitted the appeals, and annulled the decisions of the Federal Administration, considering that the Federal Administration had seriously violated the right to be heard of spouses A./[B.] by only granting them a five-day deadline to decide on its intention to grant administrative assistance to France.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the issue of the right to be heard and considered that the Federal Administration must grant a reasonable deadline to the persons entitled to appeal to decide on its draft decision to grant administrative assistance. The Federal Court estimated that the five-day deadline granted to spouses A./[B.] was insufficient to allow them to take note of the file and decide on the principle and scope of the administrative assistance envisaged by the Federal Administration.
The Federal Court also examined the issue of the admissibility of the request for administrative assistance made by France and considered…