English couple in Creuse fined 136, 000 and given suspended sentence!

http://www.lamontagne.fr/limousin/actualite/2013/11/01/declaree-en-angleterre-la-societe-ne-l-etait-pas-en-creuse_1750445.html?fb_action_ids=577375795651175&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Creuse shopping delivered service fined for not setting up their business appropriately !

Wow, oh wow, what a huge fine and 6 months suspended (I think) all for a Shopping Delivery
Service, now had you burnt the Shopping Centre to the ground the judgment might have been
the correct one.

Is this large fine the norm in France, or are there other facts somewhere between the lines ?

Higgy wrote:Wow, oh wow, what a huge fine and 6 months suspended (I think) all for a Shopping Delivery
Service...

I think it's not so much a fine but a compensation payment for unpaid taxes and cotisations. In other words had the business operated legally then these are (theoretically) payments which would have been due in any case. The "punishment" was the six month suspended prison sentence. It appears to have been a big operation. It had several lorries, employed a number of drivers and had some 2000 customers in France - and not just in the Creuse but in cities like Chamonix and Grenoble.