Fatimata Dembélé, the mother of Ousmane Dembélé, has approached the administrative court in Rennes to contest a tax assessment related to a transfer of €200,000 received in 2017.
According to her lawyer, Me Hubert Lefebvre, this amount was merely a “birthday gift” from her son for her 40th birthday, and not taxable income. The tax authorities, however, consider this payment to be income that must be declared.
During the hearing, the public rapporteur deemed the taxation to be legal. He noted that Ms. Dembélé was an employee of a company linked to her son’s image, that the transfer occurred six months after the mentioned birthday, and that it passed through an undeclared Spanish bank account. These factors heightened the tax administration’s suspicions.
A family gift
Ms. Dembélé, who was absent from the hearing, is seeking the annulment of the additional charge concerning income tax, including the exceptional contribution on high incomes, social levies, and penalties.
According to her lawyer, there is no act of fraud, and this is a matter of interpretation: a son simply honoring a family event.
The defense emphasizes the notion of a family gift, which should be proportional to the donor’s means and linked to a significant event — in this case, the 40th birthday. The administrative court must now decide and will render its decision in the coming weeks. The case raises a sensitive question: how far can a family gift be exempt from taxation?
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