Overview

• The French government identified €20 billion in fraud across fiscal, social, customs, and public aid categories in 2024, recovering €13 billion of this amount.
• Fraud detection has significantly improved, with fiscal fraud alone accounting for €16.7 billion, of which €11.4 billion was recouped by the state.
• Officials aim to detect €40 billion in fraud annually by 2029, supported by enhanced tax oversight, a proposed law to suspend public aid under suspicion of fraud, and criminal penalties for organized financial crimes.
• The government plans to introduce electronic invoicing for businesses in 2026 to combat VAT fraud and create a unified database of fraudulent bank account details to prevent identity theft.
• Efforts to combat fraud are part of broader fiscal goals to reduce France's public deficit to 5.4% of GDP in 2025, down from approximately 6% in 2024.