FRENCH CRUSADE AGAINST TAX EVASION

The total amount of French tax evasion is estimated at € 50 billions per year according to the French Senate Enquiry Committee. Fraud is estimated at € 2 billions. The total amount of French assets in tax havens is estimated at no less than € 600 billions.

France has turned out to be one of the leading crusaders against tax evasion.  French banks are now required to disclose information regarding their links to offshore centres. Credit institutions in France are now legally obliged to publish information in their accounts regarding their activities in jurisdictions regarded as tax havens. The revised double taxation agreement  between France and Switzerland now allows French authorities to conduct investigations into bank accounts in Switzerland by its residents who they suspect are guilty of tax evasion. In other words, Swiss banking secrecy no longer exists for those French residents whom the authorities believe have not declared, or may have under-declared, income and capital held in Switzerland. The French government  has  a list of 3,000 suspected tax evaders holding around €3 billion in Swiss bank accounts.

In France, the government’s crusade against tax evaders is going to increase significantly and the investigation into Swiss bank accounts is just the start of a campaign that will eventually uncover many tax evaders who have no connection with Switzerland at all.

The net is tightening, and not only around the very wealthy. Anyone who has failed to declare all their income and wealth could find themselves in trouble, and now is the time for French citizens to ensure their affairs are fully in order to avoid the fines, penalties and possibly more serious punishments that follow discovery.

Currently Luxembourg counts 30,000 French expatriates, 109, 426 French citizens reside in Belgium, 155, 743 are domiciled in Switzerland and the U.K. counts 123, 306 French expatriates.