Michelin “voluntarily” returns 4.3 million euros to the State “out of concern for responsibility”

This sum corresponds to tax credits received by the tire manufacturer for the renovation of a factory in La-Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée) which closed its doors at the end of 2020.

And “to put on” carried out “for the sake of responsibility”. Michelin paid the State 4.3 million euros according to a decree published Friday, December 26 in the Official Journal, which corresponds to a sum received by the tire manufacturer as a tax credit for a factory which it then closed.“The donation of a sum of money in the amount of 4,300,000 euros, made by bank transfer dated December 11, 2025, granted to the Ministry of the Economy” is accepted.indicates the OJ.

This sum “corresponds to tax credits received by Michelin under the Tax Credit for Competitiveness and Employment (CICE), a system in force in France from 2013 to 2021”the manufacturer said. He explains having “directed the equivalent of this amount to the La Roche-sur-Yon site in order to finance its modernization, in particular the renovation of workshops and the acquisition of eight industrial machines”. But the La-Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée) factory closed its doors in December 2020 and Michelin decided, “for reasons of responsibility, to return to the State the gain corresponding to these tax credits, taking into account the subsequent closure of the site”.

The manufacturer specifies that this reimbursement “is strictly voluntary”. “The CICE legal framework does not provide for any reimbursement mechanism, including in the event of site closure or reassignment of equipment.he adds. In Bercy, it is indicated that this procedure “has been the subject of an in-depth expertise and has been validated as legally and budgetarily compliant”. “This restitution is part of a voluntary and responsible approach by Michelin following the (senatorial) commission of inquiry into public aid” whose conclusions were released last July.

In a question to the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure, in November, the communist senator Fabien Gay, co-author of a critical report on public aid to businesses, recalled that Michelin had committed, during the hearings, to reimburse these 4.3 million euros “from an ethical perspective”. “It’s not every day that a company wants to write a check to the State. So I assure you, this check (…) it will be deposited”the minister then replied.