It is estimated at 15 billion euros per year of shortfall for the State, nearly 75 billion on a European scale, underlined Jean Moineville, the prosecutor in the preamble to his first requisition of the day.
Despite this large amount, tax evasion only represents around 1,800 of the half-million convictions handed down each year by French courts. A judicial blind spot on which the Marseilles court wished to shed light on Monday by summoning to its sixth chamber the defendants cited in eight separate cases of tax fraud. From the rich heiress, to the entrepreneur, from the Covid aid fraudster to the real estate developer, the court was able to hear at its helm a large sample as heterogeneous as it is representative of the actors in these frauds, ruling on the criminal aspect and not on reimbursement of sums not declared or withheld from tax.
The classic undercover in Switzerland
Odette did not expect to take her first steps in court at her age. At 77, this lady, single and childless, is accused of having concealed two banking profiles in Switzerland from the French tax authorities. One in her own name, sparsely furnished with regard to the second: that of Julius asset holding limited, a company she owns and whose account showed 11 million euros on the counter in 2007, when the investigators started their investigations. “An account that managed stock market shares,” defended Odette. But, with two million euros growth between 2006 and 2007, and a tax return of 39,000 euros, the French tax authorities are questioning their fair contribution to the tax. The money would come from the sale of the paternal company which worked in the textile industry, and “the important salaries which were paid by her to me and my brothers”, explained the petite septuagenarian, neat brushing, cheap-looking clothes . In the wake of the tax audit carried out in 2009, Odette emptied her accounts. Only $159,000 remained. Where did his 11 million euros go? “In another bank,” she finally let go in court, after trying to invoke heavy losses linked to the stock market crash of 2007-2008 and stammering other unconvincing explanations. An emblematic file “opaque arrangements” that some of the wealthy French taxpayers can carry out.
The (classic but short-lived) Covid aid fraud
On the other hand, one of the following files decided with this one. Yacine is 32 years old. Today a plumber and heating engineer, Yacine saw fit to rip off Covid aid. “It was so easy. You enter a figure, and the money arrives, ”regrets the one who also has four convictions for traffic offences. “At the time I was at the RSA, we were going to get married to my wife, I took the money to buy a car, a Renault Talisman, and put 3,000 to get married,” summed up Yacine in his matching black hoodie. to his sneakers. Through nine successive requests, Yacine defrauded just under 22,000 euros in Covid aid. The car, which was confiscated from him, was used by him as a VTC driver. The young man expressed deep regret, explaining that since the birth of his daughter, who is five months old, he considers things differently and remains consumed by shame.
A second defendant appeared for the same facts during this special “tax evasion” day.
The timeless and polymorphic VAT scam
Another classic of tax evasion with Alain, an entrepreneur from Marseille. At over 60, Alain imagined a peaceful retirement after taking advantage of his HR consulting company. “A company without real activity”, retorted Pierre Jeanjean, the president of the court. Tax administration investigators established that Momentum RH was requesting VAT refunds on the basis of false invoices for damages of 149,000 euros committed between 2016 and 2018. “On the company’s bank account, the only credits are refunds of VAT and debits are withdrawals, payments and transfers to the account of the defendant”, detailed the court. Mask on the nose, leather jacket and bald head, Alain agrees with the statements of the court. “I lost touch with reality at that time. I had a complicated family situation during these two years”, apologized Alain, who however ensures during these two years that he worked to launch his company, having made many appointments.
A second entrepreneur, in the construction industry, with a different set-up and a real activity, appeared for the same facts. The fraud was, this time, established at 300,000 euros.
Non-publication of company account
Cyril dreamed better as a midlife crisis. A real estate developer, he failed to publish the accounts of his company between 2014 and 2016. “I was going through a bad period, a depression,” he said. Damage estimated by the tax authorities at 150,000 euros. The thesis of his slump can be supported by the bankruptcy at that time of two other of his companies. Since his recovery which leads him today to the bar, things have not improved for Cyril who is trying to resurface “and resume the thread of his life”, he explained in a white shirt under a thin sweater. . “I sold my main residence, a house in the 9th arrondissement, and my secondary, an apartment in Corsica”. He still owns a building in Marseille, currently in danger. “The public land establishment was supposed to buy it back from me, but it is not moving forward”. Today without resources, he is waiting for it to unblock to try to recover.