Bérengère Prud’homme, public prosecutor and Jean-René Nolf, departmental director of public finances held a joint press conference at the Tarbes Court following the filing of 10 complaints by the DDFIP for fraud in tax credit reductions.
Bérengère Prud’homme indicated that this meeting aims to draw attention to the fight against tax fraud, notably through the departmental anti-fraud committee (CODAF). Today mainly on tax fraud and solemnize the transmission by the DDFIP of a certain number of complaints to the public prosecutor’s office.
The departmental director of public finances explains: “ These are complaints of a particular nature, false declarations or fraud at the source. Income tax is declarable, however some fraudsters take advantage of the system by including tax deductions, reductions in fictitious tax credits or fictitious withholding taxes on their declaration with the aim of unduly benefiting from restitution, reimbursement or in advance on reductions to tax credits.
This type of fraud has developed very significantly in recent years and is a new area of control for us. As soon as the declarations are received, we ensure a systematic control.
Here it is individual fraud carried out by people who saw an angle or a fragility in the system to take undue advantage of national solidarity.
These 10 files are cases of repeated fictitious credits or childcare or for employing an employee at home when he has nothing to do with it. This constitutes an abuse of the tax system and in the current situation of public accounts it is a breach of the principle of equality before taxes and a diversion of national solidarity.
For these 10 files, it is an average amount of €8,000 of repetitive fraud.
These are people with very low incomes or who do not work and who include tax credit reductions on their declaration without being able to provide supporting documentation when making the request.”
The prosecutor explains that these are crimes and that the penalty can be up to 5 years of imprisonment. And depending on the type of offense there may be more.
The deputy prosecutor Mr. Michel in charge of the economy and finance department will investigate these files, after which it will be decided what action to take.
« The tax administration is kind and understandable with taxpayers in good faith, we have the right to make mistakes and to have them regularized at no cost, but they want to be firm with those who cheat », underlines Jean René Nolf.
The prosecutor concludes: “ Faced with bad faith and repeated behavior, we will pursue prosecutions and not alternatives to prosecutions. In addition to normal sanctions, there may be prohibitions of rights or confiscation of property ».
In 2023, at the national level, these controls made it possible to correct more than 40,000 declarations for a stake of 186 million euros and in the department 134 rectified declarations for an amount of €480,300.
Nicole Lafourcade
