Tax and benefit fraud costs €4bn
Anti-fraud teams catch tax dodgers by matching tax, benefits and employment files
TAX and benefits frauds cost France nearly four billion euros last year - a rise of 16% on 2010.
Figures released by the anti-fraud unit at the Economy Ministry showed that detected fraud totalled €3.86bn, with tax fraud alone rising 20% to nearly €3.bn.
A report by the Délégation Nationale à la Lutte Contre la Fraude said that social security frauds more than doubled from €228m in 2008 to €480million in 2011.
The "black" labour market also saw repayments to social security funding agency Urssaf totalling €220m, another new record and 18% up on the previous total. The Caisses d'Allocations Familiales also reported increased fraud, up 12.5% to €102m, with 15,000 people involved.
Much of the fraud was detected due to the matching of tax, benefits and employment files but also to increasing enforcement methods and the setting up of the tax-fraud specialists in the Brigade d'Enquête Fiscale.
However, in an interview with Atlantico magazine, Gilles Carrez, the president of the National Assembly finance committee said that benefits fraud was estimated to cost up to €8bn with tax and local authority frauds reaching as much as €38bn. He said VAT fraud alone cost €10bn - reaching €150bn across the EU.
