This increase in the number of tax evasion cases shows above all that this type of fraud is more widely denounced.
By agreeing to pay 1.25 billion euros to France under the public interest legal agreement (Cjip) concluded with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), the McDonald’s group avoided criminal proceedings for tax evasion between 2009 and 2020. Unveiled last week, this fine deemed record was even publicly welcomed by the Directorate General of Public Finance (DGFiP) which issued a press release for the occasion – something rare.
After a little slack in 2020 in the midst of a health crisis, the tax authorities have indeed regained the hair of the beast to track down tax evasion. ” We have risen to power “, confirmed the Director General of Public Finance, Jérôme Fournel, on Tuesday, during the presentation of the 2021 annual report of the DGFiP. While specifying that its services have “ tried to show tact in the tax audit to avoid attacking companies still weakened by the pandemic.
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The figures speak for themselves: last year, 10.7 billion euros were collected for tax audits, i.e. a level close to the record reached in 2019, after declining results in 2020 with 7, 8 billion euros collected by the administration. To do this, the tax authorities have in particular tackled VAT fraud for companies and asset fraud for individuals with, in particular, increased adjustments concerning inheritance tax. Added to these results is the legal settlement concluded last September between the American bank JPMorgan and the PNF for an amount of 25 million euros.
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To achieve these results and track down large files, the tax administration has not hesitated to strengthen its cooperation with the courts – in particular the PNF -. A trend that confirms a broader movement to penalize financial fraud observed in recent years.“This cooperation is illustrated by the increase in the transmission of fraud files to the judicial authority, as well as by the very rapid rise in power of the judicial finance investigation service (SEJF) (the tax police, Editor’s note)for the detection of the most complex cases of tax fraud “, insists the DGFiP in its report.
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In detail, last year, no less than 4,168 files were transmitted to the judicial authority, compared to 1,489 in 2020 and 1,826 in 2019. This explosion is largely explained by the numerous complaints – 2,542 exactly -for fraud in the solidarity fund, set up in the midst of a health crisis to support companies affected by the pandemic. But not only. In accordance with the law strengthening the fight against fraud of 2018 which relaxes the “Bercy lock” 2019, the tax authorities were obliged to transmit 1,217 tax adjustment files, which is much more than the 823 sent in 2020.
Since 2019, tax files whose adjustments and penalties reach a certain amount are indeed automatically sent to justice, with the risk of criminal prosecution. “By ending the Bercy lock, the objective was to remove any suspicion of privileged treatment of tax matters“, recently defended the former Minister of the Budget, Olivier Dussopt, now in charge of Labour, Full Employment and Integration.
Controversial, this procedure does not fail to arouse serious concerns on the part of tax lawyers who fear the processing of files by the judicial authority which is not experienced in tax matters. What happened to these files anyway? “We have regular points with the national financial prosecutor’s office. It is not abnormal that all the subjects transmitted do not necessarily have a judicial follow-up», is limited to answering Jérôme Fournel.
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