Will travelling outside the EU subject French to stricter tax audits?

In a much-watched TikTok video, a French-speaking presenter claims that, as soon as a person boards an aeroplane from France to a country outside the European Union, they are signing up for an automatic tax audit upon their return. It is not clarified who exactly would be affected.

"Starting on 1 September 2025, every traveller leaving the EU will be systematically reported to the French tax authorities via a new procedure," the author of the video states.

The system is referred to by the author as the DVAD (Dispositif de vérification automatique des déplacements, or Automatic Travel Verification System).

The video claims the measure was introduced by the French Interior Ministry and announced by reputable French media BFM TV and Le Parisien, which reportedly said passport data will be cross-checked with income declarations and bank transactions upon return.

If a discrepancy is detected between a person's lifestyle and their tax forms, they will "receive a summons within 30 days to justify their income". Failing to do so could lead to a €10,000 fine, an immediate tax adjustment, and loss of benefits.

Those most targeted would be those who "hide cash"—"fraudsters stashing cash in Dubai or Morocco"; however, the author said even people on holiday will be affected.

It then cites franceinfo, saying the well-known media organisation reported that more than 12 million French people could potentially be affected each year.

The video, which has been viewed 1.5 million times, was posted on the TikTok account PassionMondialeFR. In the comments section, outrage prevails.

"Welcome to the new North Korea," one person said. Another user commented: "The next step is to give each person a counter to see how many hours they have breathed." Others argued the state didn't have the right to gather data in this way.

However, the allegations made in this video are completely false.

No official announcements

No such measures have been announced by the Ministry of the Interior. Euroverify scoured its recent announcements, as well as those made on other ministry websites, and found no information related to these claims.

This false measure has also not been reported on by the French media cited in the video, nor by any other media organisation.

Additionally, were such a measure to be introduced, it is unlikely it would come from the Ministry of the Interior. While it does oversee the National Directorate of Border Police (DNPAF), it has no jurisdiction over tax matters.

Tax matters and audits are, instead, the responsibility of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. More specifically, they fall under the Directorate-General of Public Finances (DGFIP), which is the only authority competent for this type of measure in France.

The Ministry of Economics and Finance, commonly referred to as Bercy in France, confirmed to Euroverify that the claims were incorrect and that the country has not introduced these measures.

Additional proof can be found that the claims would not be legitimate when looking at other content shared by the same PassionMondialeFR account.

Several videos feature AI-generated presenters. This was confirmed by AI detection tools. This trend of spreading fake news by using anchors who appear to have the same enthusiasm, energy and diction as real newsreaders, but are actually AI-generated, is becoming more widespread.

Meanwhile, other videos published on the TikTok account claim that shopping for over €100 will have to be justified by low-income households, and that people in France can no longer withdraw more than €200 in cash per week without being automatically registered with the authorities.

Online searches again showed that these are non-existent laws. Still, such messages are shared almost daily, and while some videos are watched a few thousand times, others have several hundred thousand or even over a million views.