Tax rebel Gérard Depardieu uses new Russian passport to go to Switzerland

 
New passport: Gérard Depardieu
Peter Allen7 January 2013

Tax exile Gérard Depardieu was in Switzerland today after spending less than 24 hours collecting a new passport in Russia.

On Sunday the actor, 64, looked as though he might be starting a new life in his adopted country.

Angry at the 75 per cent tax rate being imposed on high earners by France’s Socialist government, Depardieu flew to Russia, where he met President Vladimir Putin and received his new documentation.

There was talk of him buying a new home, and even of becoming culture minister in the Russian republic of Mordovia. But today, in a move viewed as deeply cynical by many in France, Depardieu was in Switzerland — a country frequently used by the super-rich to shield financial portfolios from excessive tax.

A spokesman for the Mordovian republic said the actor had flown out to attend the world footballer of the year awards ceremony in Zurich. “Mr Depardieu left for Switzerland on Sunday night. He is attending Fifa’s Golden Ball award ceremony.”

The spokesman said. Russia will host the World Cup in 2018, but there was no indication that Depardieu would return to Mordovia once the ceremony is over.

Depardieu, who made his name in films including Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac, was in Mordovia’s capital of Saransk on Sunday, after being granted citizenship by close friend President Putin. Russia has a flat rate of tax of 13 per cent — compared to the 75 per cent which those earning more than £800,000 a year are set to have to pay in France.

Technically, Depardieu will have to live in Russia for more than six months a year if he wants to pay his taxes there — although simply having a Russian passport will also help him keep his charges down.

The actor’s decision to quit France has prompted accusations of national betrayal. Depardieu has also bought a new home in Belgium, which has lower taxes than France.

The actor put his Paris townhouse on the market and threatened to renounce his French citizenship after prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault branded him “pathetic” for becoming a tax exile.

France’s new tax on euro millionaires was deemed unconstitutional by France’s highest court on December 29, but President François Hollande’s government intends to resubmit the law in a slightly different form.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in