French VAT fraud hits €15 billion
- Dec 2, 2019 | Richard Asquith
The French public auditors, Cour des Comptes, has estimated that French VAT fraud has hit €15 billion per annum.
The auditors have called for the government to step-up fraud detection measures which it believes have slowed in recent years and lacked central coordination. This included the lapsing of the national anti-VAT fraud committee. This has resulted in a halving in the number of successful VAT fraud convictions, and a drop in revenues from investigations from €10.1billion in 2013 to €8.7billion in 2018.
France is to introduce anti-VAT fraud obligations on marketplaces from 2020. This obliges marketplaces to report on sellers’ transactions and VAT liabilities. It has also signed-up to the EU 2021 marketplace deemed supplier rules.
The European Union Commission estimated the French VAT Gap, the difference between forecast and actual VAT receipts, at €12 billion for 2017.
Need a fiscal representative in France?
Non-EU businesses selling in France will need to appoint a fiscal representative alongside completing VAT registration and returns.
Fiscal representatives are responsible for the accurate VAT submissions of their non-EU clients.
Avalara offers a Fiscal Representative Service as part of its international VAT and GST Registration and Returns Service.
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