A Record Year in the Fight Against Tax Fraud
According to statements from the French Ministry of Finance and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, 2023 was marked by exceptional results in the fight against tax and social security fraud.
Tax collection from tax fraud cases reached 15.2 billion euros, 600 million euros more than in 2022, thanks to a 25% increase in tax audits and a 30% increase in tax raids.
The total amount recovered in cases of fraud involving benefits and contributions exceeded 1 billion euros, including 450 million euros in the health insurance sector and 400 million euros in the area of family allowances.
Artificial intelligence has helped identify more than 140,000 unreported swimming pools, which is expected to generate 40 million euros in property tax revenue.
Building on these successes, the government has announced its goal of further increasing future collections by strengthening its human and technological resources. 350 new agents will be recruited this year, in addition to the 281 agents recruited last year and the 450 cyber investigators who have been trained. To combat social security fraud, the government plans to hire 1,000 new employees by 2027.
One billion euros has been invested to modernize tools for detecting and combating fraud, and the artificial intelligence arsenal has been expanded to include “web scraping,” a technique for extracting data from the web that makes it possible to identify signs of fraud on social media. New regulatory tools are also planned, such as the ability for government agencies to impose penalties for fraud involving public aid without first taking the matter to court.
By 2027, the French Ministry of Finance also plans to implement a system for withholding contributions at source from micro-entrepreneurs operating through platforms, in order to reduce the amount of underreported income each year, estimated at 800 million euros.
The fight against tax and social security fraud is therefore more than ever a priority for the government, which intends to continue its efforts and strengthen its capacity to curb this phenomenon.
