French social benefits paid to non-European bank accounts will cease in 2023 as part of the fight against fraud. They are valued at 150 million euros over five years, said Sunday the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal, who announced in the columns of the Parisian that he will present “at the beginning of 2023 a specific plan on tax and social fraud”.
“As of next year, we will be able to automatically withdraw the VAT number of a fraudulent company. And we are making progress on the site of electronic invoicing, which will be implemented as of July 2024 for large companies and in the following years for the others”, indicates the Minister. “INSEE estimates VAT fraud at around 20 billion euros per year,” explains Gabriel Attal.
“Doubts about the real existence of the beneficiary”
He judges that if “there has been progress” on social fraud, “this still represents several billion euros”. The Minister recalls that from July 1, 2023, allowances (excluding pensions) can no longer be paid into non-European bank accounts. It gives for the first time an estimate of these “payments, for which there are sometimes doubts about the real existence of the beneficiary”, which “represent 150 million euros over five years”.
“The question of fraud in social benefits which are paid to people who do not reside in our territory regularly feeds a certain number of studies, articles, and rightly scandalizes our fellow citizens”, had launched the minister in October last, considering that “to defraud is to steal, quite simply”.
“To defraud is to steal”
Non-European accounts will be affected, i.e. outside the SEPA zone which includes the member countries of the European Union, the member countries of the European Economic Area, as well as Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican. .
“The question of fraud in social benefits which are paid to people who do not reside in our territory regularly feeds a certain number of studies, articles, and rightly scandalizes our fellow citizens”, had launched the minister in October last, considering that “to defraud is to steal, quite simply”.