France nets 1.3 billion euros from tax evaders' secret foreign bank accounts
Nearly 30,000 tax-dodgers with secret bank accounts abroad have confessed to French tax-collectors in response to an offer to go easy on them if they come forward. The government says it is on target to collect 1.8 billion back taxes thanks to the scheme.
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France’s tax authorities have collected 1,336 billion euros in unpaid taxes and fines, meaning its aim of netting 1.8 billion euros by the end of the year “almost certain”, Finance
Minister Michel Sapin told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper on Sunday.
There is a steady stream of secret account-holders owning up, he said, with the 336 billion euros coming in since mid-June.
“This fiscal income will easily allow us to finance this year’s tax cuts for low-income families and it will continue next year,’ Sapin said.
By July officials had received 29,024 applications to come clean, according to the minister, with the average sum in accounts being one million euros.
Sapin estimates that 28 billion euros salted away abroad has come to light and that will increase future tax receipts.
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