CGT & Social Tax on house sale

Please could someone help with my query.
I’m a non-resident. I bought my house in 2005 and hope to sell in December 2021.
I know I can offset the initial cost of my house and also the cost of work done by registered Artisans if supported by bank statements/paid bills etc. My query is regarding the offset on the gain for these bills - is the reduction for these based on the year I had them done or are they all added together and deducted from the final sale price. That is, if I had 10K of work done in 2006 and 10K done in 2011 would it give me the same offset for both?

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From my own experience, it was how much money was spent… not what would that amount be worth nowadays…

thus the (acceptable) bills were added (if you like) to the Purchase price, the total of which was deducted from the figure paid by the new Buyer (Selling price…)

The offset is global so you can add all the bills together, however only ‘new work’ can be offset not repairs or replacements.

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That example give you a 20k offset against the CGT, the expenditure is neither index linked (good) nor depreciated (bad).

Many thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply. I thought the same way as you all but I’ll try and expand why I’ve asked. I went onto a Notaires “Simulator” for the calculation and added all the work done - it gave me a figure. However, I have to use a Fiscal Representative so I went onto their site where they also have a “simulator”. On this site each bill and the date it was done was entered individually. It’s given me a figure which is virtually double the Notaires calculation. When I did the calculator myself - allowing for time offset etc - I got very similar to the Notaire’s figure.
I can’t contact a Notaire to do this but it seems the Fiscal Rep company simply want you to submit everything but with no advice.
Bought in 2005 the property and the work done are €140000 against a selling price of €260000 - therefore a €120000 gain. Am I wrong in thinking - roughly - perhaps a €25000 deduction?

John,
You’ve made my day. As you can imagine I felt a little down after the Fiscal calc. - can’t understand how they get to this.
I know that whatever it is …it is…but I’m just a kind of person who prefers to know in advance.
Seems a little ridiculous that something a Notaire used to be more than capable of doing is now done by Fiscal Rep who charges more. Also, from what I can gather they tend to be more on the “safe side” ie they’ll take more and then refund rather than less as they’re liable for any mistake.

Tim,
Just thinking - I had to pay 19.9% TVA on all the artisans’s bills as they said it wasn’t classed at a renovation but a new-build. The house hadn’t been lived in since WW2 - had no water or electricity - virtually no roof - just four walls really. Presume this would be classed as new and not replacement - I’m a bit confused now. Mind you, re the Fiscal calc I classed it all the same so this isn’t the reason for the difference - just asking as you mentioned it - do they differentiate between the two??

There’s also the reduction on CGT based on the time you have owned the property of course. A sliding scale.

Gosh…

Oh dear. It’s becoming clearer that we can all have such differing situations…

Perhaps you could ask at the Notaire’s office since the Notaire will be the one grabbing the CGT etc…

Another Brexit dividend! I presume you are non-resident, non-europeans? In which case you have no option. Have you tried to negotiate a bit on the price? Although you know it will be deductible from your capital gain so makes it a tiny bit less painful!

Rumour has it that they can be pickier than notaires, so things like bills being sent to different address and so on can get them excluded. And can be quite hard on which bills they will accept, and class things as repairs.

The 15 years abbattment will also help hugely!

Stella,
Yes - it’s always the same when terms/conditions for things are stated - there are exceptions and for gov sites - both U.K. and France - you can never contact them to ask …how do you find out! This is especially true since Brexit.
I did wonder if a Notaire could help because they would do it for someone if the property or the gain was below (I think) around €150K so can’t see how different a slightly higher value would be for a calculation. Unfortunately we are back home now but I suppose I could look for an English-speaking Notaire and perhaps have a telephone appointment with them. Thanks for the help.

This is from a French accountants website -

‘expenses related to construction, reconstruction, improvment or extension work are deductible’

From your description I would think your property falls into the ‘reconstruction’ category so I don’t see why all of the works shouldn’t be deductible.

Because of the sale value (above 150K) you usually don’t have any say in who is making the CGT calculation so you will have to employ a Fisc representative, usual fee is 1% plus TVA of the sale value.

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Ah… you’re not French Resident (I missed that bit) … that probably/possibly puts even more confusion into the mix…

best of luck

Morning Polly

I have found a web site Strictly Fiscal France really useful for queries such as this.

This is on top of the excellent advice you will receive here

Andy

Any advice on how long I would need to be resident to avoid CGT, also cant believe the french would have those letters in the right order eg TVA not VAT hahaha

It’s on ownership, not residence. 22 years ownership for plus-value immoblière (or CGT in English) and 30 years to avoid social charges on any gain. There is an exemption for non-resident europeans, but that vanished for British people with Brexit. After 5 or 6 years of owning a property you start to get a small reduction every year.

Thank you Jane, that’s helpful. What I was wondering is if I took up residence after retiring how long would it likely be necessary to escape the social charges as well, any thoughts?

30 years from when you brought the house if maison secondaire. If yiu live in it as a principal residence then you are exempt, perhaps after a year when you have your RFR/Avis.

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Friends did just this, albeit moving out of one house and into gite for 12 months before selling the gite CGT free…

(bit more complicated for them as they had to advise change of address to all and sundry… and just over a year later, change it again…)

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If you’re not thinking of selling why worry about CGT or Social Charges?