France to hunt for tax cheats on social media
France to hunt for tax cheats on social media
NOVEMBER 10, 2018 / 7:00 AM
PARIS (Reuters) - France’s tax administrators will start
searching through social media accounts in early 2019, a pilot project in the
fight against tax avoidance, Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin told weekly
business TV show Capital.
The idea is to identify potential frauds by analyzing
publicly-available data on individuals’ social media accounts, Darmanin said,
according to excerpts of the show to be broadcast on Sunday.
“(The fiscal administration) will be able to see that if
you have numerous pictures of yourself with a luxury car while you don’t have
the means to own one, then maybe your cousin or your girlfriend has lent it to
you... or maybe not,” Darmanin said.
The measure is part of a law France enacted last month
designed to strengthen the authorities’ capacities to fight tax fraud and
permit a wider use of online data to bolster fiscal controls.
Reporting by Myriam Rivet; Writing by Mathieu Rosemain;
Editing by Richard Lough
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