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Liliane Bettencourt 'faces €30m tax bill'

Matthew Warren
Matthew Warren - [email protected]
Liliane Bettencourt 'faces €30m tax bill'

 

Weekly magazine Marianne claims that L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt owes at least €30 million in taxes.

 

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The report says the bill from the French tax authorities is made up of wealth taxes of around €18m and income tax of €12m. These figures apply up to 2007 so could rise further when 2008 and 2009 are taken into account.

The magazine claims that the additional wealth taxes relate to the revaluation of some of Bettencourt’s properties, including a 25-room house in Brittany that the tax authorities reportedly valued at €3.2million rather than the previously declared €827,005. Income taxes relate to some non-declared accounts in Switzerland.

The new tax bill comes after Bettencourt resolved in June 2010 to review her tax status.

This promise followed a string of revelations by Marianne as well as the investigative news site Mediapart and the weekly news magazine Le Point. Between them, allegations were made about undervalued properties and even an island in the Seychelles that had not been properly accounted for.

Bettencourt has rarely been out of the news over the last year. Alleged donations to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party led to the resignation of party treasurer and minister Eric Woerth last year.

Then followed a series of arguments between Bettencourt and her daughter, Françoise, over the team of advisers around her. These were in the news again last week when transcripts of an interview between Bettencourt and a judge were published in Le Point.

 

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