Foreign accounts deadline extended
Some 3,000 people have come clean about undeclared foreign accounts, but Budget Ministry says the move is not an amnesty
FRENCH taxpayers with undeclared overseas bank accounts have been given an extension to come clean and get their affairs in order.
The Budget Ministry launched a crackdown on tax dodgers last April and encouraged anyone receiving money in a foreign account to declare themselves or face a full investigation.
The task force specially set up to deal with those coming forward was disbanded on December 31, but Budget Minister Eric Woerth said people could still declare themselves to the tax authorities, which would be given extra means to help taxpayers make their situation legal.
In a joint interview with Le Parisien and Europe 1, Mr Woerth said 3,000 people had already got their affairs in order.
He did not say for how much longer the appeal for people to volunteer would remain open, and he insisted that what the ministry was doing was not an amnesty - as those who had come forward had been fined.
The number of people declaring themselves had been low until it was revealed in August that the government had been leaked a list of the names and addresses of 3,000 residents with undeclared Swiss bank accounts.
The Budget Ministry estimates that between 100,000 and 150,000 people have undeclared income paid into foreign accounts and the government is missing out on between €50bn and €100bn in tax revenue.
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