Pension Fraud: An Initial Positive Assessment for the Government

One year after implementing its major plan to combat tax evasion, the government has issued an initial positive assessment. Of the 15.2 billion euros recovered, nearly 200 million euros in evaded taxes are believed to be related to pensions.
 

The plan to combat tax evasion calls, among other things, for a budgetary and staffing boost for tax enforcement agencies by 2027, as well as the modernization of the digital tools at their disposal. The first interim report shows encouraging figures, with 15.2 billion euros recovered in 2023—600 million more than in 2022 and 3.5 billion more than in 2019.
 

Regarding pension fraud, the Pension Insurance Agency states that it has uncovered nearly 200 million euros in losses since May 2023. However, the existing mechanisms for tracking down pension fraud are not new. For several years now, the Pension Insurance Agency has had various tools at its disposal to monitor retirees, such as the certificate of existence, which must be completed annually by retirees living abroad and submitted to the appropriate local authority.
 

To ensure that a retirement pension is paid to the correct person, the Pension Insurance Agency will also have access, by the end of June 2024, to the national registry of bank and similar accounts, which includes, among other things, a list of all bank accounts that are open and active in France. This access should enable the Pension Insurance Agency to verify an insured person’s administrative data and bank account information.
 

Finally, the government plans to expand, by 2027, the verification of retirees aged 85 and older in countries with which France does not share civil registry data. Identity verifications will be conducted by the consular network, a banking network, or a local government agency. An initial pilot program involving in-person verification of beneficiaries over the age of 98, conducted in Algeria, enabled the government to suspend the pensions of nearly 300 retirees who failed to respond to the summons.