Investigators from the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) are conducting a search on Tuesday at the Paris headquarters of the operator SFR, linked to a tax dispute over VAT during the years 2013-2019, Arthur Dreyfuss, CEO of Altice, told AFP France, confirming information from Le Figaro.
We confirm that a search is underway. This search is linked to a dispute with the tax administration over the VAT rates applied to our TV offers between 2013 and 2019. It is taking place calmly in a spirit of cooperation, indicated the director of Altice France, parent company of SFR.
Searches are underway at the headquarters of the SFR company, a judicial source also confirmed.
They are part of an investigation opened on January 19, 2022 for aggravated tax fraud and laundering of these facts and entrusted to the judicial financial investigation service, following a complaint from an SFR service provider and of several denunciations from the tax administration targeting the companies SFR Fiber and SFR.
This investigation concerns suspected reductions in VAT on two products marketed by these companies: triple play offers (telephone, internet, television) and press services. The suspected fraud, relating to the 2015 and 2016 financial years, is estimated by the tax administration at nearly 200 million euros in duties evaded, the judicial source said.
In spring 2022, Capital magazine revealed that the tax authorities had notified SFR of a tax adjustment of 420 million euros, for having reduced VAT on its TV offers from 2016 to 2018 and thus reduced its payments to the tax authorities.
The group had already undergone a recovery of 245 million euros in 2019, notably on the same practice, again according to Capital.