Interesting Mike, and what did you enter for ¨since when you have this account?¨ We have no idea when our account was opened, perhaps sometime in 1999?
If filing your return on line (as will be necessary for most people soon) then the impots.gouv.fr system makes the recording of information required about foreign bank accounts very simple. After ‘ticking’ the box 8UU on Cerfa 2042, as mentioned by Robert (Hodge) in earlier posts, the system automatically requires you to complete a declaration on form 3916 for each foreign account.
Unfortunately, if one has more than one account there is no option to create a list and I have not been able to find out whether supplementary documents (such as a pdf of a list of accounts) can be attached to an on-line submission. Putting the details required by Form 3916 into 'complementary information' section of the form is something that might be an option as others have said.
I submitted a list of my foreign accounts in 2013, with my first paper submission. So, I have used the information on that to create a separate form 3916 for each account in my on-line submission this year.
I am not sure that John (Bowman) is correct when he writes that details only have to be provided for accounts opened or closed during the filing period, because the word ‘used’ also appears in the text in section 8 of Cerfa 2042. So, I have created a form for each account that I have - even though I previously provided a list of such accounts. The system eases this process because it auto-populates information, such as name, address etc, from one form 3916 to the next. As this information is almost certainly used to identify sources of global ‘wealth’ as well as indicate (potentially) sources of interest paid which may be taxable as income, then I do not think that it is only accounts opened or closed in the filing period that need to be captured.
My expectation is that these 3916 forms will stay on my electronic record for ease of reference in future and that I will only have to remove/supplement them if I do close or open an account in future. Only time will tell if I’m correct!
If anyone has further information upon John’s (Bowman) comment that pension funds also need to be declared I will be interested to know. I declare life insurance (8TT of Cerfa 2042) but not pension funds which have not been a source of any income.
Haven't got around to that yet. Don't have to do it until next tax return. But you raise an interesting point. My UK current a/c was originally with the National Giro. That was transferred to Alliance and Leicester who eventually sold out to Santander, so there are three possible answers and I couldn't put an exact date to any of them. But I don't suppose it matters very much, My guess is that the tax office isn't going to waste time asking for confirmation from your English bank. So long as you give a date some time before you moved to France, a "best guess" will probably suffice.
Hello,
Could anyone advise me how I should declare the UK accounts?
The date of opening account= the original date of opening account, not the date of opening in the financial year (e.g. Jan 2019- Dec 2019)
When I first did my tax return in 2010, I asked the advice at the tax office, an officer advised me that no need to declare the foreign accounts if the interests are less 1000€, that’s why I have never declare the list of account.
I’m just concerned that I will end up a fine if I only declare it now. Do I need to rectify the declaration for the previous three years?
For any gross interests earned, which column do I enter in form 2042 or 2047?
thanks
Hi Alisha and welcome to the forum.
Form 3916 is the one (I think) where you give details of ALL bank accounts held outside of France…
You should simply give the details the form requires…
you can write a note saying that you have overlooked listing the accounts in previous years “by mistake”… you are allowed an honest mistake and will not be penalized.
(if you look at the threads about declaring interest… you will find the replies are there… or you might like to start your own thread about 2042/2047…)
Thanks Stella
Our first tax submission was this year which we did via the website. Adding overseas bank accounts was fairly straight forward but there is quite a bit of info needed about each account (bank name, address, sort code, account number, opening date etc).
1 Like
Hi Stella,
Thanks for your response, it is very of help.
Hi again Stella,
I’ve found a piece of paper which the tax officer put down her name and contact number back to 2010, do you suggest that I call her for an advice for my situation (if she still works at the same office)? or I simply just put a note for explaining my overlooking mistake in previous years.
I’ve been panicking since I discovered it could result in a massive fine whilst I did my tax return online.
Thanks in advance.
Alisha… I’ve sent you a private message…
can you find it ??
Hi everyone, I’m actually in the same boat as Alisha, I’ve been here a few years and have always overlooked the form 3916 (it wasn’t really obvious until this year when it is now automatically ticked!). I am worried about all of a sudden declaring about 8 foreign accounts (I’ve lived a few different places, had dormant student accounts etc). Do you think it’s best to just declare them without any extra notes/explanation?
These accounts have nothing in them, there are 2 ISAs with about £2 in them and I’ve started closing the dorment ones.
Just wondering how important are the opening and closing dates too?
Any advice would be appreciated
Marie
Hello Marie and welcome to the forum.
Please could you amend your Registration to show your First and Last Name (Full Name) s per our terms and conditions…
if you aren’t sure how to do this… simply put your full name here, on this thread and i will amend things for you.
cheers
1 Like
Of course! Sorry about that.
Marie Watson
And many thanks for accepting me.
All the best.
Marie
1 Like
Hi Marie…
First of all… no point in worrying about what the Tax Folk might or might not think. You are not the first and most certainly will not be the last to be in this situation…
Put together your info… as best you can.
If they want explanations, or to discuss things… they will get in touch… but they will not be banging on your door… 
1 Like
Hi Marie
Better in my view to declare them now rather than not declare them and as for the dates, I would suggest not to worry unduly about that aspect.
We have two principal UK accounts and I’m buggered if I can remember the dates they were opened - possibly some 40 plus years ago.
Declaring them now will be the correct thing to do and if the fisc really want to know dates, they can do one or both of two things, they can request the information from UK or ask you to elucidate. Somehow, I doubt they will and if you are closing some this year, then don’t forget to include the date of closing on next year’s return. You’ll find that the software doesn’t demand a date in either field.
1 Like
Thanks Stella, this has been keeping me awake for the last few nights. I have had other problems with my declaration last year (unrelated to 3916 of course) which took ages to solve, I so dread to see a letter in the postbox these days.
I’ll get this right eventually!
Marie
Thanks Graham,
I agree, now that I’m aware I’ll declare them all, I am worried about the fines though. I’ve been chasing banks in New Zealand and Australia the last couple of days to ensure they are all closed, no-one seems to be getting back on opening and closing dates either. I’ll fill in what I can and hope for the best.
I’m glad I stumbled across this thread
Marie
1 Like
You only have one option and that is to declare the accounts. Presumably you have not been hiding considerable amounts in multiple accounts so all you will be doing is normalising your position. I can’t see that any tax office would see that as unusual.
2 Likes
The fines are there to discourage would be tax evaders and people illegally hiding assets.
Some time ago there were anecdotal reports of lots of people getting substantial fines for not declaring accounts which I think served its purpose in ensuring compliance and people are now more aware of what they have to do.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry unduly about it. You will now be setting the record straight so breathe and relax… 
1 Like