By the end of the five-year term, “tax controls on the largest estates will increase by 25%”, notably announced the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, in an interview with “Le Monde”, Monday.
“Make the ultra-rich and the multinational corporations who cheat pay what they owe.” Gabriel Attal, the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, presented a plan to fight against tax evasion aimed at responding to the feeling of injustice, posted online Monday, May 8 by Le Monde (article reserved for subscribers), revealing measures of a plan during which he is traveling on Tuesday to Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne). He said he wanted “focus efforts on [les plus riches] and ease the pressure on the middle classes”. “Every fraud is serious, but that of the most powerful is unforgivable”, he estimated. Here are his main daily announcements.
A 25% increase in tax audits on the largest estates
Gabriel Attal justified his intention to concentrate controls on the largest assets, because “the amounts are important” : “80% of rights adjusted are due to 10% to 15% of files”. “From a certain level, you have to be more controlled”he justified.
“By the end of the five-year period, tax audits on the largest assets will increase by 25%. And the hundred largest market capitalizations will now be subject to a tax audit every two years”, he announced.
A “sanction of fiscal and civic indignity” under study
“I want to strengthen the penalties for the most serious fraudsfor example when there is concealment of assets abroad”, also pleaded the minister. With his Justice counterpart, he said think about “a penalty of fiscal and civic indignity”, and asked the opinion of the Council of State on this subject. This would consist of the deprivation “of any tax reduction or credit and [du] right to vote for a certain period” when a “person has committed aggravated tax evasion”.
In addition, Gabriel Attal wants convictions for tax evasion, when they do not lead to prison, to be accompanied by community service. “In addition to paying his fine, the big tax evader will paint the tax office.”
Moreover, “an offense of incitement to tax evasion, punishable by three years’ imprisonment and a pecuniary penalty” will be created “to prosecute intermediaries who provide turnkey legal kits to defraud”.
The creation of a tax intelligence service and the hiring of 1,500 agents
Gabriel Attal announced the creation of a “tax information service in Bercy”, which should see the light of day by 2027, according to information from franceinfo. The latter, which should count “a hundred officers” by the end of the five-year term, will be able to investigate in Panama or Guernsey. “He will have supervised access to intelligence techniques, such as wiretapping, data capture, beaconing” for’“identifying major international fraud”.
In addition, a total of 1,500 additional staff will be dedicated to the fight against tax evasion by 2027.
More leniency for mistakes
Gabriel Attal also wants “relieve the pressure on the small taxpayer, the small boss, by massifying the regularization rather than launching a control”. In line with “right to make mistakes” wanted by the president from the previous five-year term, there will now be an automatic penalty waiver for the first mistake”explained the Minister of Public Accounts.