Announced since January 2023, it was in May that the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal presented its plan to fight against all public finance fraud, whether customs, fiscal or social.
In this article we are therefore going to show you all the key upcoming measures in detail!
What is the anti-fraud plan based on?
On 23 October 2018, the law on the fight against fraud was promulgated. which intends to strengthen the fight against fiscal, social and customs fraud. At that time, the government's objective was clear: better detect and apprehend fraud and better punish it!
Consequently, numerous actions were mentioned in order to strengthen the means of detecting, characterizing and sanctioning fraud, such as:
- The rise of “Bercy lock”, which provided for the automatic transmission of all the most serious tax evasion files to the public prosecutor.
- The creation of the joint and several liability regime for online VAT platforms.
- The ban on the French Development Agency from financing projects with a co-funder established in a non-cooperative State or territory.
- The implementation of a logic of wider advertising of sanctions in case of tax evasion
Other actions have also been put in place and it is thanks to the work done by the Senate that today the plan to combat all forms of fraud in public finances is being implemented!
The fight against fraud in public finances, encouraging progress since 2018!
According to the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, The balance sheet for the year 2022 confirms real progress compared to previous years.
Indeed, following the Press release published in February, highlighting all the progress made in the fight against fraud in public finances, we were able to note that the overall amount of evaded taxes collected was 14.6 billion euros. This is 1.2 billion euros higher (8.2%) compared to 2021.
The tax police, set up pursuant to the law of 23 October 2018, have for their part been referred to 48 folders. This increase of 7% compared to 2021 confirms the effectiveness of the law.”
The judicial authority, in the context of mandatory denunciations, was transmitted
1,373 files in 2022, representing a total of 659 million euros in recalled rights. This figure was slightly lower than in 2021 and 2020 with 1,217 and 823 cases processed.
The fight against social fraud is also progressing compared to other years, in particular with URSSAF, which has More than doubled the amount of recoveries made over the past ten years, from 320 million in 2013 to 788 million in 2022.
CAF also detected a total damage of 351 million euros, an increase of 8% since 2017.
All these data prove that the law of October 23, 2018, including the numerous contributions of the Senate, works. However, according to Gabriel Attal and the government, even if these results are encouraging, other actions must be put in place in order to reduce and deter as much as possible the attempts.
Fight against tax and customs fraud: the four actions to remember!
It is in order to change things that Gabriel Attal unveiled a first part of its plan on May 9, 2023, starting with actions against tax and customs fraud. So here are the actions to remember from this first part:
- Increase in the number of personal tax audits by 25% by 2027, especially on large assets. According to Gabriel Attal, the objective of this action is to concentrate the effort on multinationals or the “ultra-rich” and to alleviate the pressure exerted on the middle classes and the owners of SMEs in order to give them some fresh air.
The government also announces a strengthening of controls for the largest groups and emphasizes that the Implementation of electronic invoicing should increase the amount of revenue collected.
- The government is planning a 15% increase tax audit staff by the end of the five-year term. In addition, a tax intelligence unit will be created within the National Directorate of Government and Customs Investigations. The number of tax police personnel will also be doubled as of 2025.
- Assessment of tax evasion avoided by the DGFIP (Directorate-General for Public Finances), with presentation of an annual objective to Parliament. Already the subject of public evaluations in many countries, it should therefore be evaluated in France.
- Strengthening the criminal response against the most serious types of fraud. Gabriel Attal wants to set up community service, against persons convicted of tax evasion. The government is currently considering the idea of creating a Penalty of fiscal unworthiness, which would deprive convicted persons of the right to receive tax cuts and tax credits over a long period of time.
Is the fight against social fraud big changes coming soon?
After disclosing his plan against tax and customs fraud, Gabriel Attal attacked social fraud ! Evaluated between 6 and 8 billion euros per year according to the Court of Auditors, the minister has given himself a maximum of 10 years to make changes. The first deadline is in 2027 with a wish to have twice as many results as in 2022. To achieve this, a panel of actions was announced on Tuesday, May 30.
Here are the ones you need to know!
- Provision of a reform of social security contributions for microentrepreneurs working on platforms such as Uber or Deliveroo. According to the Government, a large number of them under-report their income, which results in an estimated 800 million euros in undeclared turnover for these self-employed workers. From 2026, platforms will be required to communicate the turnover of microentrepreneurs to Urssaf in order to remedy this situation. In the meantime, a mechanism for the amicable regularization of social debts will be put in place in 2024.
- Merger of the Carte Vitale and the Identity Card. To combat credit card rental fraud, allowing you to benefit from free health care, a potential merger between identity cards and vital cards will be examined.
- Association of citizens with policies to combat fraud in health services. At the end of 2023, the health insurance site will offer the possibility of filing a report in the event of identity theft or overbilling of care.
By 2025, every French person will be able to receive via the Ameli mobile application, a notification of health expenses billed in their name. These actions will thus allow the government and citizens to fight together.
- Strengthening of residence conditions to benefit from social benefits. 9 months of the year in France will be necessary to be able to benefit from family allowances, the minimum old age or even APL.
- Checks on pensioners over 85 years of age living outside European borders. 1 million pensions are paid abroad, half of which are outside Europe. The experiment conducted since September in Algeria has shown that out of 1000 cases studied, 300 were non-compliant.
To better identify those who have died, but whose loved ones are still receiving benefits, Gabriel Attal decided to check where these people live.
The final word of the team
So it's with budgetary, dissuasive and repressive objectives that the government and Gabriel Attal unveiled these various plans to fight against all forms of fraud in public finances.
At Finovox, we also have our own objective, that of fighting document fraud and we are committed to providing our customers with a turnkey solution allowing them to reduce the volume of fraud suffered in their business.
If you want more information about our solution. Contact our experts!
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