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How taxmen chase directors of offshore companies in France

anotherone

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Feb 14, 2020
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I have discovered the techniques that French state workers use to start legal proceedings against directors of offshore companies.

They use the following databases:
DUN & BRADSTREET
FAME

From these databases, they browse the lists of virtual office addresses with the highest number of companies. Then, they check the nationality of the director. That's how they find their targets. So for instance, they found that an address had 100 registered companies in it. They don't try to know whether people work remotely and don't have an office. They look up for offshore directors right away.

They even don't visit official company house registries. They get the information from these 2 databases.

So, for instance, for the UK, the director should a local director is the most important. All cases are linked to a french director, not a UK director and a french shareholder.
A local shareholder & director would be for sure in this context the best solution to be on the safe side. Article 5 and Article 7 of any Double tax treaty agreement.

UPDATE 2024/03/13:
=> For French residents, it appears that the tax investigators look for prints, USB sticks, hard drives and SSD primarly because they aren't encrypted. Bitlocker on PC is your best friend. Everything should be digitalized. A web server domiciled in another country is also your best friend. VPN? Still not useful.

Virtual office address => when the virtual office company that hosts share the same address than the hosted company, they see it and they use it as an evidence. I have read numerous reports saying: "Dear judge we would like to draw the attention to the following: the UK company "jojo ltd" is domiciled in an office where "my virtual agency ltd" is also domiciled. "My virtual agency ltd" offers nominee and virtual address services. This leads us to believe that jojo ltd benefits from the services of my virtual agency ltd"

I didn't find any case where the beneficial owner was the problem when a nominee director was in place. However, the tax investigators have access to the document records of company registries from all over the world except some countries like Belize. If a company was incorporated with the real ultimate beneficial owner before the nominee director or vice versa, they will see it. So, if you are a french resident (but would be the same for Germans, Italians, Dutch...) you must appoint a director that is not you RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING. If you didn't move to the country where you incorporated the company, never appoint yourself as a director. I have seen several cases in which someone created a HK company with a local HK director and then, decided to appoint himself as the director of the company. However, he didn't move to the country where he was the director (Hong Kong). The French tax authorities saw it and sued him for not paying French corporate tax. So, if this happens to you, there is not other options than winding up the company and starting a new company. So, you could tell me that the tax authorities could still see that an individual was the director of an "offshore" company in the past. They need a financial proof between the director and the offshore company. If the offshore company does not exist anymore and if there is no money transfer to the personal account of the company owner, you mitigate the risk.

UPDATE 2:
90% of the cases are related to permanent establishment. A french resident incorporates in the UK, In HK or Cyprus. This individual appoints himself as the director of the company. The french tax authority detects him. According to all double tax treaties, The place of the board of management is the place where the company should pay its corporate income tax. German and Italian tax authorities do the same. The problem can rise everywhere, especially when the Double tax treaty is in place between the country where the company is incorporated and the country where the director lives.
I have read the cases, there aren't any stories related to the UBO (shareholder). The major problem is when the director is a french fiscal resident. in 100% of the cases, when I have read all these cases and looked in the company house registries of UK, HK, Cyprus to check. I found that the directors of all these companies were french resident. So, example: I looked up a company in the hong Kong company registry. I looked at the director and found that the director was a French resident living in France.

In the remaining 10% of cases, The tax authorities got hold of contracts at a business partner's place of the accused person and found out that in the said contracts they used a French address rather than the address of the offshore company.

I know that the German and Italian tax authorities have the exact same techniques because I have had a meeting with a virtual agent in Ireland. he told me he used to receive a lot of mails from the German and Italian authorities asking to deny or confirm the fact that a company was managed from Ireland rather than Germany or Italy.
 
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Where did you get this information from, please share your knowledge?
 
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I have discovered the techniques that French state workers use to start legal proceedings against directors of offshore companies.

They use the following databases:
DUN & BRADSTREET
FAME

From these databases, they browse the lists of virtual office addresses with the highest number of companies. Then, they check the nationality of the director. That's how they find their targets. So for instance, they found that an address had 100 registered companies in it. They don't try to know whether people work remotely and don't have an office. They look up for offshore directors right away.

They even don't visit official company house registries. They get the information from these 2 databases.

So, for instance, for the UK, the director should a local director is the most important. All cases are linked to a french director, not a UK director and a french shareholder.
A local shareholder & director would be for sure in this context the best solution to be on the safe side.
I'm NOT sure about this because take this example:
What if the UBO was born in, e.g., Saint Martin, has a French passport, and has NEVER been to France? :rolleyes:
 
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I have discovered the techniques that French state workers use to start legal proceedings against directors of offshore companies.

They use the following databases:
DUN & BRADSTREET
FAME

From these databases, they browse the lists of virtual office addresses with the highest number of companies. Then, they check the nationality of the director. That's how they find their targets. So for instance, they found that an address had 100 registered companies in it. They don't try to know whether people work remotely and don't have an office. They look up for offshore directors right away.

They even don't visit official company house registries. They get the information from these 2 databases.

So, for instance, for the UK, the director should a local director is the most important. All cases are linked to a french director, not a UK director and a french shareholder.
A local shareholder & director would be for sure in this context the best solution to be on the safe side.
Isn't the best way to be safe if you are a French director of an offshore company, to not be a tax resident in France?
And also I guess, have multiple citizenships and not use the French one in any corporate registries.
 
In the old days perhaps

Now OECD lol

People like to laugh at CBI passports but they are the best legal tool available to avoid all this bs.
Also a exit escape route from overseas tax when introduced

Think about it and break the numbers down and then consider the issues with visas etc - CBI wins hands down.

——
Was once asked for a DUNS number, now I know what it is
 
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Also a exit escape route from overseas tax when introduced

Which imo will happen eventually, perhaps not for all Western countries but for the major ones.
I can see it being branded as something like 'citizenship is an honor and an obligation, not a choose-to-use right' blah blah, pay us x% for the 'privilege' of being x.

Think about it and break the numbers down and then consider the issues with visas etc - CBI wins hands down.

Ive been considering two programs for the last few months. They are really not that expensive and I get visa free access to Russia which I didnt have before.
 
I don’t take dividends except every 5-10 yrs but running the numbers in cycles up (unrealized revenues/profits)

So even as a commercial investment it’s worth it and writable down as it aids the corporation.

Therefore it stands to reason anyone in finance / tech / crypto? Should be doing it.
 
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They even don't visit official company house registries. They get the information from these 2 databases.
One thing I can certainly confirm is that the tax authorities in many of the Scandinavian countries just make up stories until they fit and are so aggressive that they can target a given victim, this victim should ideally be a small business, which still makes an amount that can be prosecuted.

It then costs a fortune to fight for one's rights, and you lose the case anyway because the tax authorities have the last word, and you have to pay at checkout one. As long as you live in a country with a socialist bent, you will be a slave to the nation, unless- or you grow so big that you become significant and have several millions for lawyers and accountants to counterattack.

So yes, it's not only in France but in many countries.
 
One thing I can certainly confirm is that the tax authorities in many of the Scandinavian countries just make up stories until they fit and are so aggressive that they can target a given victim, this victim should ideally be a small business, which still makes an amount that can be prosecuted.
You are saying the quiet part out loud. cry&¤
 
Theres a few youtube videos that explain how it works way batter than I could ever do.
You may want to share them here if they are worth it!
 
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You are saying the quiet part out loud. cry&¤
It's absolutely our duty to call out when the powers that be abuse civilians just because they've got the power and think they can get away with it. It's downright shameful how they act, lying, cheating, and setting traps for regular folks so they can fall in and maybe blurt out something they shouldn't have, all just to strip them of some cash that really doesn't make a bit of difference.

The big fish who are actually swindling and cheating out of billions, or at least massive millions, they never touch them because they're shielded by a whole army of lawyers and accountants. The tax folks wouldn't even have the bandwidth to chase after them if they tried.

Take the Danish Tax Agency as a perfect example; based on nothing but fairy tales, they shut down our business. They make up such wild stories, claiming we've committed some monstrous crime because we used cryptocurrency and couldn't explain it properly. They don't have any legal grounds or anything. They just spin a tale to pin everything on the management personally, guess for what amount they're willing to wreck a civilian's future just to make their numbers match!? 100K Euros - yeah, 100K euros for a life that's completely destroyed and ruined over charges that are totally baseless, that's Denmark for you and their socialist tax system.

Last year, I ended up talking to this guy who wanted to start his business in Denmark and bring his family over from France. He was wondering if Denmark's a good spot for doing business. I couldn't help but laugh and said, "Man, if you're looking to do absolutely nothing and just chill with whatever you like doing in your free time, Denmark's perfect for you. They basically roll out the red carpet for folks who don't want to work by giving them free healthcare (which everyone gets anyway), like 3 euros a month, money off for schools and daycare, and even hospital visits don't cost a dime.

But if you're thinking about starting a business, especially something a bit out of the ordinary, forget about it. They'll shut you down in no time, swipe all your cash, and leave you drowning in debt so bad your future's pretty much toast. And then, irony of ironies, you end up back at square one, asking the same system you tried to break free from for help. And guess what? You'll get all the perks I just mentioned, all thanks to the hard-working folks footing the bill.

See what I'm getting at?
 
It's absolutely our duty to call out when the powers that be abuse civilians just because they've got the power and think they can get away with it. It's downright shameful how they act, lying, cheating, and setting traps for regular folks so they can fall in and maybe blurt out something they shouldn't have, all just to strip them of some cash that really doesn't make a bit of difference.

The big fish who are actually swindling and cheating out of billions, or at least massive millions, they never touch them because they're shielded by a whole army of lawyers and accountants. The tax folks wouldn't even have the bandwidth to chase after them if they tried.

Take the Danish Tax Agency as a perfect example; based on nothing but fairy tales, they shut down our business. They make up such wild stories, claiming we've committed some monstrous crime because we used cryptocurrency and couldn't explain it properly. They don't have any legal grounds or anything. They just spin a tale to pin everything on the management personally, guess for what amount they're willing to wreck a civilian's future just to make their numbers match!? 100K Euros - yeah, 100K euros for a life that's completely destroyed and ruined over charges that are totally baseless, that's Denmark for you and their socialist tax system.

Last year, I ended up talking to this guy who wanted to start his business in Denmark and bring his family over from France. He was wondering if Denmark's a good spot for doing business. I couldn't help but laugh and said, "Man, if you're looking to do absolutely nothing and just chill with whatever you like doing in your free time, Denmark's perfect for you. They basically roll out the red carpet for folks who don't want to work by giving them free healthcare (which everyone gets anyway), like 3 euros a month, money off for schools and daycare, and even hospital visits don't cost a dime.

But if you're thinking about starting a business, especially something a bit out of the ordinary, forget about it. They'll shut you down in no time, swipe all your cash, and leave you drowning in debt so bad your future's pretty much toast. And then, irony of ironies, you end up back at square one, asking the same system you tried to break free from for help. And guess what? You'll get all the perks I just mentioned, all thanks to the hard-working folks footing the bill.

See what I'm getting at?
This is normal across Europe
 
This is normal across Europe
Yeah, it seems like it's more the norm than the exception, at least! Above all, it seems like the authorities think they can take the same liberties as high-profile criminals do. What the authorities are doing is essentially the same as the criminals they're chasing—lying, cheating, and being ruthless towards society, and then they wonder why hatred towards the authorities is growing every day.
 
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To the readers, I have updated the original post and I have added some crucial information
 
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