French Budget Minister Extends Deadline For Tax Evaders

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

05 January 2010

French Budget Minister Eric Woerth has announced plans to extend the work carried out up until now by the special tax unit to regularize illegal accounts of French residents.

Woerth is determined to allow the work of the unit to continue, by providing French tax authorities with the means to work in the same manner and spirit as the unit, and to allow residents the opportunity to regularize their accounts on an ongoing basis.

Although the precise details of the Budget Minister’s plans have yet to be determined, from January, any taxpayer seeking to legalize an account may contact the tax authorities safe in the knowledge that they will benefit from favourable conditions. For those failing to comply, investigations will be initiated, the Minister warned.

The administrative unit was set up in April last year in the wake of the G20 summit meeting in London, and enabled French residents with assets illegally held offshore to repatriate their assets, and, at the same time, to settle their accounts.

The unit closed on December 31, and although the government has yet to present precise figures, Woerth has heralded it as a significant success.

Indeed, according to the Budget Minister, the special unit has recovered more than EUR500m in taxation from around EUR3bn repatriated recently to France.

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