France plans to clamp down harder on tax evasion and social security fraud, after recovering a record €14.6 billion ($15.5 billion) from fiscal irregularities last year, Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said Thursday.
(Bloomberg) — France plans to clamp down harder on tax evasion and social security fraud, after recovering a record €14.6 billion ($15.5 billion) from fiscal irregularities last year, Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said Thursday.
The government collected €9 billion from companies in 2022, with the most egregious cases stemming from firms that underreported tax benefits or revenues, Attal said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper.
“This is an urgent and major issue, and we want to go further,” Attal said, speaking on Franceinfo radio Thursday. “Tax evasion not only creates a shortage of public funds, it’s also discouraging to millions of French people who work every day and follow the rules.”
France recouped €790 million from social contributions fraud, which included illegal employment, and identified €316 million of fraud related to health care reimbursements.
Attal also told Franceinfo radio that the government had investigated hundreds of pharmacies for potentially filing false reimbursement requests for antigen tests during the height of the pandemic.
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