IFI, inheritance tax, contribution on high incomes… These 20,000 wealthy French people under the microscope of the tax authorities

In the 17th arrondissement of Paris, near the rails leading from Saint-Lazare station, there is a gray building. Inside, rows of equally gray corridors, bathed in pale neon light. Luxury, glitz and glitz nevertheless exist at the headquarters of the National Directorate for the Verification of Tax Situations (DNVSF), but they are hidden in the files.

In this unit of the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFIP), agents only deal with one type of tax audit, which they call “DTFE” – “very high stakes files”. These are the controls which concern individuals whose

, jokes an agent to the Minister for Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave, who visited the premises of this department this Friday. Tit-for-tat response from the minister: “

The 259 agents of the DNVSF have approximately 20,000…