The French Ministry of Public Accounts and Budget is going to set up an exclusive database to control people with offshore accounts, a new way to restrain tax evaders, the official journal
announced on Saturday.
France aims to monitor and regulate citizen's and companies' offshore bank accounts based on the database, named Evafisc, which records detailed information about account holders, either natural or legal persons.
The information, including the account holder's ID, operation location, bank address, balance and transaction concerning the account, will be conserved by the authority for at least 10 years, or even longer if disputes appear.
The journal said that the data will be reference for fiscal authorities to audit the accounts or issue penalties, emphasizing that the information will be considered only as presumption before a practical evasion is
verified.
The government urges people concerned to declare themselves as soon as possible in the journal.
Evafisc will converge information collected by local fiscal administrations, banks and juridical authorities, as well as figures
provided by foreign tax authorities, the journal said.
While the existing warnings and encouraging mechanisms did work well, the French government is still eager to strike harder on tax havens and
evaders.
The French Finance Ministry said that a decree allowing information sharing between banks at home and abroad is to be adopted in early January.
There are over 20 countries and regions defined as "uncooperative states and territories" on the French "gray list" of tax havens,including
Uruguay, Chile and the Philippines, local media reported.