Declaring Stocks & Shares ISA on French tax return

Hello - does anyone have any experience of this? I’m not sure which boxes to use or exactly what information I have to give. I gather I have to list my foreign accounts on CERFA 3916, but I’m guessing for a stocks and shares ISA they’ll want to know how much it’s worth. And for a UK based savings account? Any help or advice from those more experienced than me would be much appreciated - thanks!

There’s a whole thread here giving information on filing your tax return.
And there are others under the same heading Tax and Social charges.

Have you taken anything out of the ISA? if not its simply listed as an account on the 3916 UNLESS there’s wealth tax issues. Answer the questions they ask - not ones they don’t

You have to declare your income once you sell/withdraw from the ISA. In simple terms every gain after you became French resident is then taxable - but an ISA is just “shares” to the French it has no tax benefits. That’s my knowledge - I flogged mine and opened the closest thing the French have before moving. The ISA provider I assume knows you’re in France - like banks they’ll need your French address -tax number and stuff for their compliance

Uk savings - again on the 3916. Any interest earnt is declared it should be gross on both the Overseas earning form and the main tax form - but follow the links from Graham as to which box. If its still registered to a UK address you’ll be paying UK tax on it at source - which you’ll have to reclaim - the French still want Gross Interest

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Thanks so much Chris that’s really helpful. I have not taken anything out of the ISA (or put anything in) since I left the UK.

However, I had understood that the French tax worldwide income and an increase in share value alone is considered income (or maybe just wealth?). Although the ISA is a tax free asset in the UK, the French don’t recognise that and so still tax it… Could this be correct?

Thanks Graham!

This thread has made me pause. I have declared on the 3916 my UK current and savings accounts. I have Investment Trust shares held with two companies and have declared the dividends, although I haven’t listed those companies on the 3916. All the information I have found so far seems to specifically mention ‘bank accounts’.
Should I declare the IT holding accounts, please?

My understanding is yes you list them - one of those it doesn’t hurt and 2 minutes filling a form is quicker than 2 hours searching contradictory advice - but my reading a few years ago was pretty much any financial product - bank - insurance - unit trusts - share trading accounts should all be listed. The Unit Trust/ISA company all needed my French tax numbers when I changed address to France so its a safe assumption I should be listing them

Thanks, Chris. I’ve gone back in and added them. The 2 minutes of typing saves several months of asking “What if…” :slightly_smiling_face:

It’s worth remembering that the French Tax folk are not ogres.

You can ask them any questions and they will not bludgeon you over the head… even if you have put something in the wrong place… or not even put it in, when you should have done.

There is no need to worry… you are entitled to make one mistake :rofl: :rofl: … that is written into Law !!.. so long as there is “no intention to defraud” .

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Slightly different question: where to put ISA income? I assumed it was ‘revenus… ouvrant droit à un crédit d’impot’ but of course I don’t pay any UK tax on the ISA.

(Why not just close it? I don’t fancy paying huge amounts of capital gains tax if I do, that’s why)

I have the same question. Last year I put the “income” as ‘revenus… ouvrant droit à un crédit d’impot’ (under DIVIDENDES). But now I am having doubts…
Advice I have read is to put under ‘interêts"… ouvrant droit à un crédit d’impot’. But it is not interest. As far as i understand it is dividends etc that are reinvested. Perhaps the advice refers to Cash ISAs?

Referring to a previous answer, this is “income” I never touch - but I was convinced I had to pay French tax on it. Particularly galling in years when the value of the investment goes down more than the income reinvested!

So, am I right to declare it, does it count as dividends, and is it eligible to 40% abattement?

Merci d’avance

OK. So ISA shares go directly into 3916 with overseas bank accounts. What about Investment bonds in the form of a non-qualifying Life Insurance policy, single premium policy taken out as an investment rather than for life cover. Where should this be declared? Thanks.

Did you look through the 2021 tax guide and help sheet in this topic?

hi
peter can you run me through how to declare the dividends on the french tax form
thanks mark

I’ve already linked in this topic to the #stayontopic thread which outlines where to declare dividends - did you not find it?
Resurrecting old threads from previous tax years may not be especially helpful as the rules change as do the forms and where to declare things.