It was reported on 25 January 2012 that the, French finance ministry aims to toughen existing sanctions applied in the case of tax evasion to ensure that the provisions in place are sufficiently ‘dissuasive’.
The ministry is said to be preparing a series of tough measures designed to strengthen its tax fraud arsenal within the framework of a collective budget.
The ministry intends to toughen the sanctions currently imposed on individuals with an undeclared bank account held abroad, to ensure that in future the imposed fines, which are in addition to any standard tax adjustments are proportional to the undeclared sum. Reports suggest that the tax authorities could confiscate as much as around 5% of assets.
The ministry is also planning a tenfold increase in the penal sanctions currently applied in the case of tax fraud involving so-called ‘tax havens’, jurisdictions deemed to be uncooperative in tax matters, leading to potential fines of around EUR1m, and to a period of imprisonment of up to two years.
The third measure applies to repeat offenders, who will face fines of up to EUR500, 000.
