The sharks of good opportunities in the nets of the tax and customs – Le Figaro

After two years of work, the State services have managed to bring down a gigantic European network, an expert in VAT fraud on prestigious German sedans imported into France.

“so beware of used luxury cars that are more than 15% below the market price!” After more than two years work, teams from the national Directorate of tax investigations (DNEF) and the national judicial Customs Service (SNDJ) managed to bring down a gigantic European network, an expert in VAT fraud on prestigious German sedans imported into France. “Through a series of front companies located in the European Union and using false well imitated documents, these cars were sold in France with falsified invoices leaving mistakenly thinking that VAT was paid to the State,” says Michel Richard director of customs services of SNDJ Paris.

The numbers are dizzy. The installation is very complex and involved 14 French traders and 50 front companies located in ten Eastern countries where VAT was supposed to be paid. In five years, this fraud was on a thousand cars for a total of 51 million, a loss of 11 million for the state. “It is satisfying for us as we contribute to the protection of the state budget and also we avoid the distortion of competition on the occasion of the market,” notes Michel Richard. “The worst situation would be little regard for customers, because if the investigation proves their bad faith, they could be questioned,” he said. And the dream car then lead into a nightmare.