French tax authorities

Reading Time: 5 minutes

The structure of the tax service

The French tax authorities is part of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Budget, headed by the Minister Delegate for Budget. The administration of taxes is carried out by the General Directorate of Taxation and the General Directorate of Duties and Other Receipts.

Structurally, the Main Tax Administration consists of five departments:

• legislative preparation department (functions: development of draft laws and other regulations in the field of taxation)
• department of general tax administration (functions: ensuring the accumulation of tax revenues in the state budget)
• dispute resolution department(functions: consideration of complaints and preparation of materials for criminal prosecution for tax offenses)
• department for land and state property affairs (functions: cadastral valuation of land, management of movable and immovable state property),
• personnel department(functions: staffing of the tax service).

The General Directorate of Duties and Other Revenues organizes the work of customs points on the borders of France and within the country. It provides supervision over compliance with the state ban on the sale of weapons, drugs, etc. It also exercises sanitary control of foreign trade.

The General Accounting Department determines the amount of government revenue on the basis of data on tax revenues received from the departments of taxes and duties and other government departments.

The number of tax service is about 80 thousand employees employed in 830 tax and 16 information centers. It is known that the staff of the tax authorities are selected through careful screening. Employees of tax centers calculate the tax base for each tax, collect tax payments, and control the correctness of tax payments. The collection of taxes is regulated by the Tax Code, which is considered exemplary for other countries. Each code is clarified when the law on the budget is approved and comments on the code are issued.

Activities of the tax authorities of France

The General Tax Code is the French legal code concerning tax law and governs the activities of all tax authorities.

Some details of the system of penalties and the organization of tax audits give an idea about tax control in France. So, for late submission of the declaration, the tax is charged in full with the simultaneous imposition of a fine of 0.75% per month (9% per year). If the income is hidden intentionally for the purpose of evasion, then the penalty is from 40 to 80% of the amount of the accrued tax. In the event of a regular decrease in income, taxes are levied in an indisputable manner from the payer’s accounts. In case of serious violations of tax legislation (falsification of documents, etc.), criminal liability is provided, up to and including imprisonment.

In France, only the head of the enterprise is charged with tax evasion of a legal entity, and in case of overpayment of taxes, the corresponding difference is returned immediately with interest. Debt cancellation (tax amnesty) is carried out during presidential elections (once every five years).

France is characterized by sanctions of a criminal and administrative nature generally accepted in the world fiscal practice for tax offenses. The original corrective and educational measure deserves special attention: the court, after considering the case of tax evasion by fraud, gives permission for the publication of the verdict in the media, repeated for three months, and also informs about the sentencing at the place of work or residence of the convict.

Tax process

The tax process is carried out according to the unified state accounting system, which is mandatory for all categories of taxpayers. At the same time, simplified accounting for small firms is allowed. At all enterprises located in the country, including foreign ones, regardless of their type of activity (industry, construction, agriculture, trade, etc.), a single accounting plan. This provides a generalization of financial indicators throughout the country, which is important for making forecasts for the development of the economy, drafting the state budget, and maintaining national statistics; facilitates the analysis of the financial and economic activities of enterprises, as well as the implementation of tax control; brings confidence in the actions of entrepreneurs; creates conditions for proper automated processing of information.

Read more : https://taxtaxation.com/us-personal-income-tax/