2019 French Tax Return

Hi Martin… it is states Pensions de Non-residents… and Pensions de source étranger…

2 different situations… but both instances where folk are claiming the Tax Treaty.

Stella,

Thank You so much. It’s ridiculous really that I’m “whipping myself up into an omelette” about this every year. I only have 2 pensions and some minor savings account interest to add!

Thank You again.

Interest is a different thingy… probably just needs to go where it went last year… but do check what the wording is alongside the box…

things have changed on the Forms and folk need to be careful… but it’s not rocket science (not quite)… I tend to panic and my mind goes a blank… If I take the time to check every word… I find generally the answer is there… all along…:slight_smile:

To avoid tax issues for us, we place all our “spare” cash in French savings accounts such as Livret A (one each permitted) and LDD (one each). The maximum investment per person, plus accrued interest, is €22,950 for the Livret A and €12,000 for the LDD .
Saves all the faff unless you have major shareholdings etc of course :wink: For the two of us this amounts to just under 70k€ of savings. I think there may be other devices specific to building projects etc.
I know there is not much interest earned (0.75%) but at least the cash is safely holed away for a rainy day (and they are Govt backed to boot)!
If you find yourself in the position of not paying tax at all due to income levels, there is also the LEP (one each again) which currently pays 1% with a maximum of 7.700€ each but you need your tax return stamped off each year by the issuer - maybe your French Bank (to prevent you from “doubling up” as it were as you have to produce it to open an account).
Caution: I’m not an independent financial adviser so you must make your own decisions in this respect after taking appropriate advice.
I’m not at all sure you will achieve very much better from UK savings products these days. If you do, there may be tax to pay here (if not in the UK).

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Credit Agricole used to send us a document… clearly showing what figures went where on the Declaration (in the days when we did have an investment which needed declaring…)

I presume that other banks/financial istitutions do likewise…

However, anyone with a really worrying query…can always email the Tax Office… they are closed to the public, but are still working… as much as they can.

this should help you Martin

Stella,

Many many thanks for your reply.

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Those people who complete their tax return online will receive this information.

The interesting part is the final sentence.

2042K doesn’t consolidate them all. There are bits left out.

Online they get consolidated onto the unique formulaire de restitution as my photo explains. If you are doing a paper return you will need at least a 2042K and a 2043C.

Another good reason to do it online then! I did ours today and it took precisely 16 minutes.

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Oooh 16 mins - do you fancy doing mine?!

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I have searched the site but cannot find the exchange rate for 2019, any help please?
I normally get it from the office door, but circumstances…

@Lily - the official exchange rate for 2019 I received from my tax office in Lorient (56) is £1 = 1.1459€. Hope this is of help.

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Hi Lily
The consensus is to use 1.14 (unless advised by your tax office to be lower) or on the other hand, if your income is paid direct to your bank in euro, total that up and use that figure or the best of all 3 :wink:
From the Latest Topics Of Interest thread (May 2020 Newsletter.pdf):

The exchange rate for 2019 is 1.14 (that is the average of last year). You can get another rate from
your local tax office, use theirs if it is lower than 1.14! Note that when you ask the official Paris tax
office they tell you to use the rate from the “banque de France” on the day you got paid! Or use
the average of the year.

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Mine was about that - what took the most time was calculating the mileage I can set against tax, getting to work and back.

Aw shit. I forgot to do that again. Can you please remind me where it is? If you can’t remember, no worries!

Under traitements salaires pensions, just above pensions retraites rentes - and online the computer calculates how much it adds up to, and you have a pop-up box to explain where the sums come from.

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I’m confusing myself…

Where do I put UK wages… Dividends/bank accounts I’m fine with. I’m confusing myself with the box for a UK salary - UK salary - paid in the UK - earnt in the UK and declared in the UK. I may have been using the wrong box for a number of years …

Yes I’m resident here - which box is all I need before I make it up again

are you doing this on-line or a paper return?