3: Criminal penalties

Any person, association or body that has failed to pay the deductions made in respect of income tax (art. 1671 A) within the prescribed deadlines, or has only made insufficient payments, is liable, if the delay exceeds one month, to a criminal fine of €9,000 and five years’ imprisonment.

The debtor mentioned in article 1671 who has neither declared nor paid to the public accountant the deductions he has made in application of the same article 1671, if the delay exceeds one month. In the event of a repeat offence within a period of three years, the debtor is punished by two years’ imprisonment and a fine of €3,750 or one of these two penalties only.

1. Are liable, independently of the tax penalties enacted by this code, to a fine of €4,500 and five years’ imprisonment: 1° Any business agent, expert or any other person whose profession, either on their own behalf or as a manager or salaried agent of any company, association, group or enterprise, is to keep the accounting records of several clients and who is found to have drawn up or helped…

The fine provided for in 1 of Article 1772 the taxpayer who has knowingly made an omission or deficiency in the declaration of income from securities and movable capital for the assessment of income tax in excess of one tenth of his taxable income or the sum of €153.

Persons guilty of any of the offences referred to in 1° to 4° of 1 of Article 1772 and in Article 1773 may be deprived of civic, civil and family rights, in accordance with the procedures set out in articles 131-26 and 131-26-1 of the Criminal Code.

In the event of a repeat offence or multiple offences established by one or more judgments, the person convicted under 1° of 1 of the article 1772 shall be disqualified from practising the professions of business agent, tax consultant, expert or accountant, even as a manager or employee and, where applicable, the closure of the establishment. Any person who contravenes this prohibition, either by practising the profession that he or…

As regards the offences referred to in articles 1771 to 1775, the court will order, at the request of the administration, that the judgment be published in full or in extracts in the Journal officiel de la République française, as well as in newspapers designated by the court, and posted for three months on the notice boards reserved for official publications in the municipality where the convicted person is domiciled,…

Where the offender is a company or association, the penalties provided for in article 1771 and in the second paragraph of the article 1775, are personally applicable to chairmen, managing directors, directors, managers and, in general, to any person entitled to represent the company or association.

The Articles 121-6 and 121-7 of the Criminal Code are applicable to accomplices to the offences referred to in articles 1771 to 1775 and 1777, without prejudice to disciplinary sanctions if they are public or ministerial officers or chartered accountants.

Independent of the applicable tax penalties, breaches of the provisions of 2 of Article 119 bis, of 1 and 2 of Article 187 and of 2 of article 1672 and those of the decree which sets the terms and conditions for their application give rise to criminal proceedings brought on the complaint of the tax authorities and are punishable by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of €3,750. Articles 121-6…