If there is one area where “playing smart” proves to be most dangerous, it is this one. The 2023 income declaration, which will soon have to be submitted to the tax administration, is the subject of very careful examination by public finance officials. Of course, you have the “right to make mistakes” – which means that it is possible to modify your declaration before its final submission, and even that you can report possible uncertainties.
However, any unjustified erroneous information may result in sanctions, points out the Ministry of the Economy and Finance on its website. In addition, you are exposed to late payment penalties, although interest may be reduced if you file a corrective declaration. If you’re worried about a blunder or an oversight, pay particular attention to these 10 common mistakes.
Tax fraud is of a completely different nature. It consists of “deliberately using certain procedures to escape or attempt to escape tax”, as the service-public.fr site reminds us. This could be:
In the first case, if the tax administration discovers that you obtain income from a “hidden activity” – not declared on time -, such as the rental of real estate for example, you first expose yourself to penalties. delay. In this case, expect a tax increase of 80%.
If agents of the General Directorate of Public Finances discover that this concealment was voluntary, that you attempted to abuse a tax rule or to deceive the administration, you risk increases of 40% to 80% to which add additional interest (around 0.20% per month of delay).
In the event of fraud, the administration may also initiate criminal proceedings against you for 6 years following the offense. You then risk 5 years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 euros.
These sanctions may be increased if:
In these cases, you risk increased criminal penalties: a fine of 3 million euros and 7 years in prison. To this could be added a penalty of “deprivation of rights to reduction and tax credits”.
It would be all the less wise to want to engage in such practices as the tax administration has equipped itself with new tools to track down offenders. Of course, as taxpayers, you also have rights to protect your freedoms.