a taxpayer can challenge the accumulation of penalties in the event of tax evasion

A taxpayer prosecuted in criminal court for tax evasion may complain of being prosecuted twice for the same facts if he has already suffered a tax penalty.

If the Constitutional Council accepted this accumulation of sanctions, it did so only exceptionally, for the most serious cases. Before pronouncing in turn a sanction, the correctional judge must verify that it is indeed one of the most serious cases, recalled the Court of Cassation in an order issued on February 23.

In the case judged, a taxpayer had illegally deferred the declaration of sums of an amount of 70,000 euros, thus reducing his declaration of professional income for the year. He had suffered a tax penalty made up of penalties of 40% then, the tax authorities having lodged a complaint, had been sentenced to a fine of 15,000 euros.

In principle, the law prohibits prosecuting – and a fortiori convicting – a defendant twice for the same facts. But French law allows it. It provides for tax penalties which are tax increases of 40% to 80% and criminal penalties of 5 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 euros.

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Conviction canceled

In 2016, the Constitutional Council admitted this situation but demanded on the one hand that the accumulation of the two sanctions does not exceed the maximum provided for by one of them and on the other hand that it is one of the the most serious cases, the definition of which has not been given and must therefore be assessed by the court. The seriousness results in particular from the amount of fraud and the nature of the acts committed, had said the Constitutional Council.

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The Court of Cassation therefore canceled the conviction of this defendant of a fine of 15,000 euros because the judge, on appeal, had not checked whether he was facing one of the most serious cases.

Automatic taxation: the army of taxes if you do not declare your income

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