“Historic” results. The fight against tax and social fraud, carried as a standard by Gabriel Attal since his time at the Ministry of Public Accounts, is bearing fruit, if we are to believe the 2023 results of the government’s fight plan, presented this Wednesday by the first minister at Bercy. “We have never tracked fraud so much,” said the tenant of Matignon, alongside his Minister of Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave. Here are the key figures to remember about fraud in France last year.
This is a “historic record”: in terms of tax fraud, 15.2 billion euros were recovered in 2023, or 600 million euros more than in 2022, and even 3.5 billion more than ‘in 2019. “Last year, we increased tax controls by 25%”, particularly on the largest assets, declared Gabriel Attal, specifying that the executive’s commitment for 2027 was “kept and even exceeded “. “The number of tax raids has increased by 30%,” added the Prime Minister.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere today, including in the fight against fraud. The tax administration uses it in particular to ferret out undeclared private pools. “Thanks to it, 140,000 swimming pools have been detected and which will allow our communities to collect 40 million euros in property tax,” said Thomas Cazenave. The taxpayers concerned thus received an email or letter from the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) inviting them to regularize their situation, by declaring their swimming pool and paying taxes. The Minister of Public Accounts also declared that AI would also be used in the future, in particular, “to identify all undeclared buildings”.
Also read: Swimming pool: everything you need to check to be in compliance with the tax authorities
This is also a historic figure: social benefit fraud has exceeded one billion euros in recovery in 2023 (1.1 billion). In detail, they reach 450 million euros in the scope of Health Insurance. It is “in seven out of ten cases at the initiative of a health professional, through overbilling or invoicing for fictitious acts,” said Gabriel Attal. Regarding family allowances, fraud amounts to 400 million euros, knowing that in one year the Family Allowance Funds (CAF) have increased their controls by a third. “We are now detecting fraud of an average amount of 8,000 euros per file, compared to 7,200 euros per file on average in 2022,” said Gabriel Attal. On old age insurance, 200 million euros of fraud were detected last year.
In May 2023, Gabriel Attal, then Minister of Public Accounts, presented his plan to combat social fraud. In his sights in particular: “false work stoppages sold for a few dozen euros on social networks, such as Snapchat”. This Wednesday, the man who has since become Prime Minister indicated that his administration had “spotted 5 million euros in false work stoppages sold on the internet”. False prescriptions are also a real phenomenon, since they represented 11 million euros in 2023.
Also read: False work stoppages, fictitious care… The timid results of the fight against social security fraud
The news caused a stir last July: Health Insurance had decided to deregister thirteen health centers from the Alliance Vision group. It was the first time that the fund carried out such a large-scale deregulation, concerning an entire network of health centers, accused of “invoicing for fictitious acts and repeated non-compliance with the rules of rating and invoicing of acts”.
In total, last year, 21 health centers were deregulated in 2023, indicated Gabriel Attal, “and we will continue in 2024,” he added. “New actions have already been launched, particularly with regard to hearing aid centers, with 160 checks in progress. Others are planned,” detailed the Prime Minister.
Another hobbyhorse of Gabriel Attal, the fight against fraud linked to pensions paid abroad. Last May, the man who was still only a minister had targeted Algeria in particular: of “500,000 retirees outside Europe, 300,000 reside in Algeria,” he pointed out. As a result, “we have doubled the checks on retirees residing abroad, and we detected 750 fraudulent files in Algeria alone last year,” the Prime Minister said on Wednesday.
Also read Social aid fraud: how France tracks benefits sent “to the Maghreb or elsewhere”
Aid for energy renovation, Personal Training Account (CPF), ecological bonus, apprenticeship aid… Public aid paid by the government is numerous, and is a gold mine for fraudsters. “This is why we have strengthened measures to combat the misappropriation of aid,” recalled Thomas Cazenave, citing an example of fraud linked to aid to employers of work-study students: “A hairdressing salon was able to declare 70 employment contracts. apprenticeship for a loss of 100,000 euros, while the law provides for a maximum of two apprentices (per apprentice master), which allowed us to take legal action,” Gabriel Attal’s successor told the Public Accounts.
