Three things to know about the “historic” record in the fight against undeclared work in 2023

In 2023, Ursaf arranged 1.2 billion euros, or 50% more than the previous year. The government sees this as the result of a “massive offensive against social fraud”.

The construction sector is still the most concentrated in undeclared work, according to information released by Public Accounts Minister Thomas Cazeneuve and Ursaf Damien Director of Inteile on Wednesday March 13. They detailed the results of the fight against undeclared work, following the announcement last week of a new record adjustment for undeclared work in 2023, 1.2 billion euros (including sanctions, such as surcharges). The Minister thus welcomed the assessment “historical” The fight against hidden work.

The construction sector alone accounted for 716 million euros in the adjustment – or more than 61% of the adjusted total. followed by professional services such as security or temporary work with 270 million euros and commerce with 50 million.

1 Incremental recovery

Total adjustments in 2023 have increased by 50% compared to 2022. The adjustment is an average of 200,000 euros per operation, knowing that most (nine out of ten adjustments) concern employers. The rest consists of self-employed workers.

Gabriel Atal sees it as a consequence “Major Offensive Against Social Fraud”, was launched when he was Minister of Public Accounts. This anti-fraud plan provides additional resources specifically for Ursaf, with 240 additional positions by 2027. The aim is to achieve five billion euros in adjustments by 2027. Executives also put forward better targeting of controls with data mining. Analyzing large amounts of data to identify anomalies.

2 All is not well in Ursaf’s vault

But the adjustment amount should be put into perspective because Ursaf does not recover all the money away from it. Of the adjusted billion euros, 80 million were recovered in 2023. When an adjustment occurs, it means that a debt is created from the author of the fraud, but not that the money goes into the fund. Most of the adjusted amounts correspond to frauds committed by companies that have no viable model outside of these frauds and that sometimes have no legal existence, disappear overnight or plan their bankruptcy, Ursaf suggests.

3 Fraud estimates are very high

Additionally, the figures cited of concern identified undeclared work. However, according to the Higher Council for the Financing of Social Protection, fraud in social security contributions reaches a range between 6 and 8 billion euros. The government is promulgating two orders by May to strengthen the provisions allowing recovery of money. One concerns that liquidation is sometimes done to avoid collection and is intended to ensure this “Financial and social responsibilities are fulfilled” Other concerns upstream”universal transmission of inheritance which is sometimes subject to abuse”.