The SFR headquarters was raided by investigators from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday, who suspect the operator of VAT fraud.
The sky darkens above the SFR house. The operator in the red square received a visit, Tuesday, November 7, from agents of the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF), who are trying to shed light on a tax dispute which is starting to drag on. Dating back to the period 2013-2019, the case concerns the VAT rates applied by the operator on its TV offers. When it comes to tax adjustments, the Altice group seems to be accustomed to doing so.
Fraudulent VAT rates, for 200 million euros in duties evaded over two years
President and CEO of Altice France, Arthur Dreyfuss himself confirmed the search on Tuesday. “ It is linked to a dispute with the tax administration over the VAT rates applied to our TV offers between 2013 and 2019 “, he explains, evoking a real “ spirit of cooperation » during the visit of the PNF investigators.
If this search took place, it is firstly because the companies SFR and SFR Fiber were denounced by a service provider of the operator, but also by the tax authorities, through various reports which had led to the opening of an investigation on January 19, 2022.
The investigation was opened on suspicion of aggravated tax fraud and money laundering. In question ? An alleged VAT reduction issued on triple-play offers (TV, internet and landline telephone) and press services. The judicial financial investigation service, which was entrusted with the case, reported nearly 200 million euros in duties evaded by the operator, in the 2015 and 2016 financial years alone.
SFR continues tax adjustments
Last year, SFR faced a tax adjustment of 420 million euros, with a tax slate which then totaled almost a billion euros. Bercy already criticized the operator for having applied a VAT rate reduced to 2.1% on the press contained in triple play offers, while a rate of 20% should in reality apply to telecoms services, and 10% on pay television.
SFR is not the only one to abuse this practice of reduced VAT rates, which makes it possible to sell slightly less expensive telecoms subscriptions. Orange, Free and Bouygues Telecom have already been singled out and rectified for this.
For SFR, the end of the year is tumultuous. In addition to this search, the Altice subsidiary suffered a leak of subscribers as well as a corruption scandal, which indirectly affected its big boss, Patrick Drahi.
Source : The gallery
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