The CumCum affair: Bercy under fire
Bercy is accused of sabotaging the anti-tax evasion law. The Minister of the Economy Éric Lombard reportedly intervened to exempt banks from a law banning dividend tax fraud, namely CumCum.
But, promises only bind those who listen to them!
Yet at the end of 2024, a law was passed to stop this sophisticated fraud system. The Sénat accuses Bercy of having created an opening under pressure from the banks. In 2018, Emmanuel Macron stated: "We will be uncompromising when it comes to tax fraud". A promise made after the discovery of tax fraud that allegedly cost France 33 billion € in tax revenues over twenty years.
A loophole exploited by banks
7 years later, the Parlement thought it had put an end to this so-called CumCum practice. But implementing decrees of the law opened a loophole that banks rushed into to commit fraud. These lending operations of financial products are legal but are carried out with the sole purpose of avoiding taxes and not changing the ownership of the products.
To be sure, in France, share lending is authorized. But doing so at the time of dividend payment to evade tax is illegal. And, in general, these dividends are subject to taxation of 15 to 30%.
However, it is possible for shareholders to temporarily lend their shares to a French bank before the dividend payment date and recover them after that date. The bank then receives the dividends and pays an equivalent remuneration to the owner of the shares. Since the bank does not pay tax on these dividends, this maneuver avoids dividend taxation for the foreign shareholder.
During a tax audit, you transfer wealth to a third party. The tax authorities therefore do not see this money and do not tax you on it. Then, the bank returns it to you, taking its commission. And just like that, the trick is done! This amounts to several billion € in dividend tax fraud per year, orchestrated by French banks for foreign investors.
The influence of banks and promises of correction
In the Sénat, the budget rapporteur carried out an audit at Bercy. He revealed the influence of the Fédération des banques françaises on the Ministry of Finance to include exemptions in the law. According to the general rapporteur of the Finance Commission: "The minister ignored the warning of his services, and published, against the advice of his administration, an implementing decree of the law reversing the arbitrations of the Parlement".
Also, at the end of July, the Minister of the Economy committed to modifying the implementing decree to make the anti-fraud CumCum mechanism effective. Despite the context of budgetary efforts requested from taxpayers, a major exercise in restoring public accounts, history does not say how the State will recover the billions in fraud generated by the banks.
Jean-François Husson (LR), Bernard BERTUCCO VAN DAMME.
Bernard Bertucco Van Damme