Tax whistleblowers paid for denouncing fraud
Those who tip off the tax office about wealthy people who are not declaring their income as they should in France may now receive a payment for the information, in a two-year experiment.
This policy is a first in France, but is already in widespread use in Germany and the USA.
The amount of the payment will depend on how useful and detailed the information is and how significant a level of fraud is involved, however information will only be considered if it relates to ‘serious’ matters described with precision.
The rule about compensation for les lanceurs d’alerte (whistleblowers) was put into the 2017 finance law but was only put into action via a decree at the end of April. Only information provided since January 1 may lead to payments.
The move will apply to people putting money into foreign accounts or tax havens to avoid paying wealth tax in France – but also to people who are living in France but not declared as tax-resident and thus avoiding wealth tax and income tax. It also covers non-declared foreign accounts, declarations on accounts and policies – such as assurance vie and trusts – whether held in France or elsewhere.
It will relate to those deemed to be committing ‘international-scale offences’ in a bid to avoid being swamped with allegations about small-scale offenders, however other information received may possibly still lead to checks into people’s tax affairs without pay-outs being made.
