2023-11-07 13:52:36
Arthur Dreyfuss, CEO of the telecommunications and media group Altice France. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
INFO LE FIGARO – The parent company of SFR received a visit from investigators this Tuesday morning for a tax dispute dating from the period 2013-2019.
The affair was obviously awaited by the telecoms operator. According to information from Figaro, Altice, the parent company of SFR, received this morning a visit from investigators from the national financial prosecutor’s office to its premises in the 15th arrondissement of Paris for a tax dispute which has been dragging on for several years. “ We confirm that a search is underway. It 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», Confirms Arthur Dreyffuss, CEO of Altice France.
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Near Le Figaro, a source at the PNF also confirms the searches underway at SFR headquarters. “The PNF received a complaint from an SFR service provider and several denunciations from the tax administration targeting the companies SFR Fiber and SFR”explains the PNF. An investigation was opened on January 19, 2022 into charges of aggravated tax fraud and laundering of these facts and entrusted to the judicial financial investigation service (SEJF). »
This survey “concerns suspicions of a reduction in VAT on two products marketed by these companies: triple-play offers 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 evaded duties”, concludes this judicial source. This investigation is undoubtedly a continuation of the tax adjustment procedures already imposed on the operator. In spring 2022, we learned that the group had undergone a tax adjustment of 420 million euros for the previous year, bringing the total sum claimed from Altice to 830 million euros by Bercy.
Fraudulent VAT rates
Already in question, the application by the operator of the reduced VAT rates planned for the press (2.1%) in so-called “triple-play” offers to its customers, while the VAT planned for telecoms services is of 20%, compared to 10% for pay television services. SFR, if it charged the same price to its customers, therefore paid less taxes on these services, thereby increasing its profitability.
Other operators had tried to follow in SFR’s footsteps, such as Orange and Bouygues, but also the Canal Plus group. Bercy finally stopped the practice in 2018 thanks to a legislative measure, before launching tax adjustments on the sums unduly earned by SFR and others.
This affair has no connection with the Pereira affair in Portugal and the accusations of corruption affecting the former right-hand man of Patrick Drahi.
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