Shifts have already taken place in London and Geneva

Cell regulation opened at Bercy caused no mass return of tax assets held illegally abroad. Seven months after its creation, less than 1,000 French have regularized their situation to the tax authorities, or are in the process of doing so, said Eric Woerth, Minister for the Budget yesterday. Nothing is said, however, on the extent of repatriated capital rien n' est dit, en revanche, sur l' ampleur des capitaux rapatriés dit, en revanche capitaux est dit capitaux et dit Etat ampleur des rapatriés dit en revanche said, on the other hand capitaux is said capitaux and dit, en revanche capitaux est dit capitaux et dit Etat ampleur des rapatriés dit en revanche said Etat ampleur State ampleur des des rapatriés dit rapatriés rapatriés dit dit however taxes and penalties). The final balance will not be fired upon the closure of the cell, on 31 December. A light stay will be even granted to households having filed a "sufficiently characterized" folder "Asked not necessarily the lifting of anonymity to 31 December", said Eric Woerth, which noted positive developments in recent weeks: "tax lawyers call now to treat up to ten files at a time." "Most of the cases concern persons inheriting accounts abroad, often in Switzerland, which were sometimes not the existence. These "passive" fraudsters have a development of sentences: if they pay the entirety of their taxes, they pay penalties downgraded, equal to 15 of the tax due. "Active" fraudsters are less likely to regularize their situation. They are, a priori, no development of penalties, but they escape criminal prosecution.

New tools

The relative leniency of the services of Bercy will be brief: as of January, they will have new tools to enhance tax controls. A file named "evafisc" will be put in place to list all households residing in France and holding accounts abroad. He received the green light from the National Commission for the information and liberties (CNIL). The 3,000 exiles, holding accounts in Switzerland, will be integrated as soon as January. It will be powered by several sources. A decree is also subject to the State Council to reinforce the duty of information banks located in France. It is already provided for by law, but it is too vague to be calmly applied by the tax authorities. As of January, the banks will have to communicate the list of the transactions between the France and some countries, if requested by the administration. The reporting thresholds may vary depending on the targeted countries (EUR 15,000 for example). A history may be asked on all transactions since 2006. First, the tax authorities wants to concentrate its efforts on a few countries, in the first rank of which the Switzerland and Singapore.

Eric Woerth has launched, in parallel, a "roadshow" to praise the attractiveness to French expatriates. Shifts have already taken place in London and Geneva. Others will follow, especially Belgium. "What is surprising is the lack of knowledge of expatriates on the evolution of the French law five or six years", said Philippe Parini, Director General of public finance.