The “avis à tiers détenteur” (ATD) is one of the most dreaded forced collection procedures for taxpayers. This measure enables the tax authorities to directly seize sums held by a third party on your behalf. To protect your rights and cash flow effectively, you need to understand how it works.

What is a Notice à Tiers Détenteur?

The “avis à tiers détenteur” is a forced collection procedure provided for in article L262 of the French Tax Procedures Book. This measure enables the French Treasury to directly seize the sums you are holding from a third party. Every year, the tax authorities issue several hundred thousand ATDs, making it one of the most widely used collection tools. This procedure can be triggered as soon as your tax debt exceeds a few hundred euros, although there is no legal minimum threshold.

The third party may be your bank, your employer, your tenant or any other debtor. The tax authorities notify both you and the third party simultaneously. The third party then has 30 days in which to fulfil several obligations: declare the sums held on your behalf, immediately freeze these funds up to the amount claimed, and then pay them to the Treasury. If no declaration is made within this period, the third party is presumed to hold the funds, and becomes personally liable for any unpaid sums.

This procedure must be carried out after a collection notice has been sent and a formal notice has been served, but without effect. A minimum of 30 days must elapse between notification of the formal notice and issuance of the ATD. The ATD enables the public accountant to quickly apprehend your assets without having to resort to legal proceedings, making it a particularly effective instrument for recovering tax debts.

Conditions for implementing ATD

The tax authorities must meet a number of conditions before issuing a third-party notice. These guarantees protect your rights against this coercive measure.

Mandatory preliminary stages

The public accountant must first have served you with a collection notice. This document specifies the amount of your tax debt and its legal basis. No payment deadline is imposed at this stage, but you have two months in which to contest the validity of the debt by lodging a contentious claim. This does not mean that you have to pay immediately.

In the absence of spontaneous payment, the tax authorities will send you a formal notice. This registered letter gives you a final period of 30 days following notification to rectify your situation. The ATD can only be issued once this 30-day period has expired, plus the postal delivery time. Failure by the administration to comply with these preliminary steps constitutes a procedural irregularity which may result in the ATD being declared null and void. There are, however, exceptions: the ATD may be issued without prior formal notice if there is a risk of the funds disappearing, or if the debtor has organized his insolvency.

Debts recoverable by ATD

Third-party notices can be used to recover all tax and social security debts. This includes income tax, corporation tax, VAT, the territorial economic contribution (CET), social security contributions and all late payment penalties and surcharges. Non-tax debts recovered by the public accountant may also be subject to an ATD.

The amount seized corresponds to your total debt, plus collection costs set by decree. The tax authorities may issue several successive ATDs if the first seizure proves insufficient to cover your entire debt. Rigorous bookkeeping and forward-looking management of your tax obligations can help you anticipate these deadlines and avoid forced collection procedures.

The legal effects of a third-party notice

A third-party notice has immediate and binding effects as soon as it is served on all parties concerned: the taxpayer, the third-party holder and the tax authorities. This forced collection procedure generates precise legal obligations and significant financial consequences. You need to understand the implications if you are to protect your financial interests and anticipate any cash flow problems that may arise.

Obligations of the Third Party Holder

The third party holder must immediately block the sums covered by the ATD upon receipt of the notification. They have 8 days to declare the funds they are holding on your behalf to the French Treasury, and then 30 days from receipt of the ATD to make the payment. In the event of failure to comply with these obligations, the third party becomes personally liable for the full amount mentioned in the ATD, even if this exceeds the amount actually held, unless he proves that he holds nothing or a lesser amount.

The ATD process differs according to the nature of the third-party holder. Your bank must immediately freeze your bank account up to the amount claimed, making these funds unavailable at once. Your employer, on the other hand, makes successive deductions from your wages according to a protective scale that preserves an unseizable fraction of your remuneration.

This wage seizure scale works in progressive brackets. For example, for a net monthly salary of €2,000, the percentage that can be withheld varies according to your family expenses: around 20 to 25% for a single person without children, but this proportion decreases if you have dependents. In concrete terms, on a salary of €2,000, your employer could deduct between €400 and €500 per month for a person without dependants, leaving the balance available for your basic needs.

The third party can nevertheless contest the ATD if he believes he owes you nothing, or if the amount claimed exceeds the sums he actually holds. This dispute must be lodged within the allotted time to avoid incurring personal liability.

Consequences for the taxpayer

ATD means that your funds are immediately unavailable. This situation can seriously affect your cash flow and your ability to honor your commitments. Cheques issued before the ATD may be rejected for lack of funds. For example, a company with €15,000 in its account may find itself with only €607.75 available if the authorities seize €14,392.25 for a tax debt. This financial paralysis compromises the payment of suppliers, salaries and current expenses.

The seizure is carried out within the limits of the sums available at the time of notification. Subsequent payments into your account may be subject to a new ATD, but the initial ATD is not automatically renewed on funds arriving after notification. Your bank must maintain an unseizable bank balance (SBI) of €607.75, corresponding to the lump-sum RSA benefit for a single person. If your bank does not automatically release this amount, you must claim it by registered letter within 15 days of being notified of the ATD. Once your debt has been paid in full, your account is usually released within 5 to 10 working days.

How to contest a third-party notice

There are several ways of contesting an ATD. These procedures make it possible to suspend or cancel the seizure if it is irregular.

Contesting the merits of the claim

You can contest the claim itself, invoking article L281 of the LPF. This contentious claim must be lodged within 2 months of notification of the first act of pursuit, which is generally the third-party notice itself. This deadline is mandatory, and failure to meet it will result in the inadmissibility of your claim.

Your claim automatically suspends legal proceedings if you provide sufficient guarantees. These guarantees must generally cover 100% of the amount of the disputed claim, and can take the form of a bank guarantee, a mortgage, or a pledge of company shares or securities. This deferment of payment protects you while your claim is being examined.

In the absence of guarantees, you can apply for a discretionary deferment of payment by demonstrating that immediate collection would seriously compromise your economic situation. This request is at the discretion of the tax authorities, who examine your ability to pay, your expenses and your cash flow before making a decision. This deferment is not automatic, and requires detailed justification of your financial difficulties.

Opposition to Pursuit

Opposition to debt collection is a specific recourse to contest procedural irregularities affecting the ATD. You can invoke the absence of prior formal notice, a formal defect in the notification of the ATD, the prescription of the debt or the incompetence of the issuing public accountant.

This procedure falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the enforcement judge of the judicial court. You must refer the matter to the court within a strict time limit of two months following notification of the ATD. The judge examines the formal regularity of the collection procedure and can order the total or partial release of the seizure in the event of a proven irregularity. Opposition to debt collection is distinct from a dispute over the merits of the claim, which is dealt with in another procedure.

Legal protection from ATD

The legislator has provided guarantees to protect your essential resources. These provisions limit the scope of seizure and preserve your minimum subsistence.

The elusive sums

Certain debts benefit from absolute protection against ATD. Family benefits, the RSA, the allowance for the elderly and alimony payments remain exempt from seizure. Allowances for professional expenses are also exempt from seizure.

In the case of salaries, the fraction that can be seized depends on your salary and your family expenses, according to a legal scale of progressive brackets. For example, for a monthly salary of €2,000, the first instalment up to €345 remains completely unseizable, then increasing percentages apply to subsequent instalments (1/20th up to €385, then 1/10th, 1/5th, etc.). These thresholds increase according to the number of dependants, offering greater protection for families.

The non-attachable bank balance (SBI) guarantees the maintenance of a minimum sum of €607.75 in your bank account, corresponding to the amount of the RSA for a single person. This amount must be automatically made available to you by the bank, or released at your request within a maximum of 15 days following notification of the ATD. This protection enables you to meet your essential expenses during the seizure period.

Amicable solutions

You can negotiate a payment schedule with the public accountant. This solution enables you to avoid the ATD or obtain its release. The authorities examine several criteria before accepting your request: your actual ability to pay, the age of the debt, your payment history and the nature of your financial difficulties. You’ll need to provide detailed supporting documents: pay slips for the last three months, tax notices, bank statements and proof of your essential expenses (rent, outstanding loans, family expenses). The administration calculates your monthly repayment capacity by deducting your incompressible expenses from your net income. The length of the repayment schedule generally varies between 24 and 36 months, depending on your situation, with the possibility of extension in exceptional cases.

Another option in cases of serious financial hardship is debt forgiveness. This measure can be total (complete cancellation of the debt) or partial (reduction in the amount owed). The administration generally grants remissions in specific situations: proven over-indebtedness with a dossier filed with the over-indebtedness commission, judicial liquidation of a company, permanent disability preventing any professional activity, or documented extreme precariousness. You must put together a detailed file justifying your absolute inability to settle the debt, even by instalment. To maximize your chances of obtaining an agreement, present a complete and transparent financial situation, demonstrate your good faith and your willingness to regularize your situation, and seek the help of a professional to structure your request. The average processing time for a request for amicable settlement varies between 2 and 4 months, depending on the complexity of the case.

Support from a tax lawyer

When faced with a third-party notice, the assistance of a lawyer specialized in tax litigation is often decisive. This professional analyzes the legality of the procedure and identifies the available means of contesting it.

The tax lawyer negotiates with the tax authorities to obtain payment extensions or tax relief. He drafts contentious claims and represents you before the competent courts. His technical expertise maximizes your chances of obtaining suspension or cancellation of seizure, whether for tax debts or social security contributions.

Reactivity is a key success factor when faced with an ATD. Appeal deadlines are short, and failure to respect them will result in the definitive loss of your rights. Early legal advice enables you to preserve your cash flow and effectively defend your interests against the Treasury.