Hi Stella,
Thanks for your response, it is very of help.
Hi again Stella,
Iāve 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.
Iāve been panicking since I discovered it could result in a massive fine whilst I did my tax return online.
Thanks in advance.
Alishaā¦ Iāve sent you a private messageā¦
can you find it ??
Hi everyone, Iām actually in the same boat as Alisha, Iāve been here a few years and have always overlooked the form 3916 (it wasnāt really obvious until this year when it is now automatically ticked!). I am worried about all of a sudden declaring about 8 foreign accounts (Iāve lived a few different places, had dormant student accounts etc). Do you think itās best to just declare them without any extra notes/explanation?
These accounts have nothing in them, there are 2 ISAs with about Ā£2 in them and Iāve 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 conditionsā¦
if you arenāt sure how to do thisā¦ simply put your full name here, on this thread and i will amend things for you.
cheers
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Of course! Sorry about that.
Marie Watson
And many thanks for accepting me.
All the best.
Marie
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Hi Marieā¦
First of allā¦ 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 situationā¦
Put together your infoā¦ as best you can.
If they want explanations, or to discuss thingsā¦ they will get in touchā¦ but they will not be banging on your doorā¦ 
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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 Iām 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 donāt forget to include the date of closing on next yearās return. Youāll find that the software doesnāt demand a date in either field.
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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.
Iāll get this right eventually!
Marie
Thanks Graham,
I agree, now that Iām aware Iāll declare them all, I am worried about the fines though. Iāve 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. Iāll fill in what I can and hope for the best.
Iām glad I stumbled across this thread
Marie
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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 canāt see that any tax office would see that as unusual.
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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 wouldnāt worry unduly about it. You will now be setting the record straight so breathe and relaxā¦ 
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Thanks David,
No! Absolutely no huge sums of money. Some are student accounts from 20 years ago. I have a UK savings A/C (I lived there for 9 years, itās not an ISA though) and a UK current A/C that I use for a regular direct debit, so I transfer from my French A/C to this one a few times a year but just the minimum to keep open. I declared my non-residence to HMRC when I left
The empty ISAs bother me, I feel I need to declare these somewhere other than 3916 but if thereās nothing to declare.
Iām just worried (like Alisha above) they will find it unusual that Iām declaring these now and not in the past few years. Iāve read other blogs and it seems that they are justified in fining for multiple undeclared accounts for multiple years. I know there is a buffer for small fiscal errors but Iām not quite sure what is considered a small error or not
Marie
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Thanks Grahamā¦Iāll have a long time to wait and see if anything happens 
We had 12 accounts to declare with different banks/purposes - mostly with very little in them unfortunately. I also closed a couple of redundant accounts.
Next year should be simpler as they will not need declaring again hopefully.
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IIRC it is only necessary to mention accounts opened, used or closed in the year you are declaring. So if you are declaring closures in 2020, the accounts you ave previously declared will still be listed in your 2021 (for revenues 2020) declaration (if on-line, they will be re-listed automatically) and if you add a closing date, they should disappear from your next following return.
The term āusedā is an interesting one thoughā¦ I believe this to mean āin useā i.e. existing as opposed to actually making transaction to/from it (and that is probably the safest option).
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Just wondering, is there a special place to disclose tax-free UK savings on the form 3916? I know I have to register my ISAs here but surely I have to disclose more detailed information on these somewhere?
The income from UK tax free savings should declared as they in all probability are not tax free in France in the same way that winnings from UK Premium Bonds are regarded as taxable here.
I would guess that if they are bank associated, the bank should be declared on 3916.
Maybe time to consider moving the investment in those tax free UK vehicles to French based ones - Livret-A , LDD, LEP, LEP etc.
Rates table here:
That way you wonāt have to declare them on your French tax return and the interests are probably not much different anyway (are they?) and remember that you can have one of each account per personā¦
If you qualify to set up Livret Jeune the rate is more lucrative. IIRC the LEP tax free interest is dependent on your tax status - if you donāt pay tax, you qualify tax free but you have to prove to your provider each year with a copy of your tax advice (which they copy and stamp to prevent multi-use with another provider).
Thanks Graham. I have kept them in UK for now as I will probably move back in a few years although donāt know when.
The problem is form 3916 doesnāt ask for any amounts associated with tax free savings so I think I should be entering this information somewhere else. I think form 2047 - do you have any experience in this?
Sorry no. All our assets are here in France now but I recall after selling our UK home (which was done before we moved), we invested a substantial sum of the proceeds in Premium Bonds knowing that weād call it in when we bought something here. The rest in a UK bank (France declared) for liquidity as we were inactifs. Any interest gained was declared as required on French tax returns.
The bond holding wasnāt declared (I was advised we didnāt need to as the holding was placed before we moved to France) but the winnings were on which we paid tax and cotisations (before we got S1ās on retirement) as I recall.
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