Question 14598 — value added tax

Summary

Mr. Aurélien Dutremble draws the attention of the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty to the tax harassment to which hot air balloon operators are today victims, following a brutal reclassification of the VAT regime applicable to their activity. By a ministerial response of February 5, 2026, the tax administration now considers that hot air balloon flights fall under no longer passenger transport, but a simple leisure service. This interpretation leads to the application of the normal VAT rate of 20%, instead of the reduced rate of 10% previously in force. This technocratic decision, disconnected from realities on the ground, hits already weakened artisanal and tourist businesses hard. In Saône-et-Loire, a rural and tourist territory, several operators participate actively contributes to the attractiveness of the department, the enhancement of its landscapes and local economic dynamism. Their activity, far from being simple entertainment, constitutes a real tourist air transport offer, supervised and regulated. Even more serious, this reclassification gives rise to particularly heavy retroactive tax adjustments, jeopardizing the very survival of certain companies. This insecurity legal is all the more incomprehensible as other comparable activities continue to benefit from a reduced VAT rate, revealing a clear break in equality before tax. This situation directly undermines the principle of legal certainty and the principle of legitimate expectations of companies, which have applied in good faith a tax regime accepted for a long time by the administration itself. It poses more broadly a major political question: that of the stability of the tax rules applicable to companies and the responsibility of the State when a change in administrative doctrine leads to retroactively claiming amounts likely to absorb a substantial part of their turnover. In a context where public authorities claim to want to support rural areas and local tourism, this decision appears in total contradiction with the stated objectives. Faced with this unacceptable situation, he asks him: if he intends to put an immediate end to the tax adjustments initiated against hot air balloon operators; if it intends to reverse this abusive interpretation by reinstating the application of the reduced VAT rate; if the Government intends to explicitly and enforceably secure the VAT regime applicable to commercial flights in hot air balloon; whether clear instructions will be sent to the tax services in order to put an end to retroactive adjustments based on a change of interpretation; and what concrete guarantees it intends to provide to protect the economic sustainability of these companies and local employment in rural areas, particularly in Saône-et-Loire.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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