Hello. I have noticed that the french impots are charging me prelevements sociaux for 2016. I am a UK resident but I own a property in France which is rented out. Can anyone tell me if I am obligated to pay the prelevements sociaux in France?
Thank you
soneone will soon chip in⊠but you will probably find you are being charged PS on any income earned in France⊠ie rental incomeâŠ
Thank you - seems rather unfair since I pay social charges in the U.K.
Hughie
the French Social Charges are not at all the same thing as those in UK⊠and as the rule stands⊠earn it in France, pay it in France⊠fair enough really.
I understand paying impots on revenues earned in France but donât understand why there is a social levy as well
Hughie
This is nothing to do with Income TaxâŠ
I think it goes back some years to when there was a deficit in the Social Security coffers⊠and this was a method put in place to try and balance the booksâŠand safeguard the future of the Social Security systemâŠ
For your information⊠. CSG (contribution sociale généralisée) is NOT charged on my UK Pension (due to cross border agreement 
)⊠but IS charged on any other income which is classed as âunearnedâ âŠeg: rental, dividends etc etc⊠That seems to be The LawâŠand we live with it⊠
@Hughie_Jessel hi, this is normal as for renting your property youâve probably registered your house as a gite business? And in France (like everywhere in the world) every business is taxed on its profit. Being a micro-entreprise the taxes are A/ lower and B/ a bit different but compare that to being self employed in the UK. I was self employed in the UK and was paying my taxes to the UK although being a French resident more than 6 months a year which makes sense as I made some revenues there.
If you want to dig deeper everything you need to know is there: service-publique. As a British resident you therefore pay the âprĂ©lĂšvement sociauxâ but not the national taxes (which residents are supposed to pay on top of these).
For information these âprĂ©lĂšvements sociauxâ includes (amongst other things) a cover in case of a sick leave (mostly in case of a liability to be honest) + a basic state pension.
Hope this was helpful, donât hesitate to ask if you need more informations.
Hi Hughie,
I think you will find that the subject of Social Charges on rental income and non residents of France has been the subject of a challenge in the European Court of Justice which has resulted in a change in French Law as from the start of 2016.
Basically the ECJ ruled that folks like you should not be subject to the social charges because you receive no benefit from the French Social Security system. Therefore you can reclaim any such charges that were levied on you for 2015 and earlier.
The response of the French Govât was to pass a specific law, effective from 1/1/2016, that re-imposes the charge upon folks like yourself who have income from rental property situated in France, by means of re-allocating the product of this tax away from the social security budget and into the general income of the French Exchequer. In this way they have managed to circumvent the ruling of the ECJ.
Therefore, the answer to your question is unfortunately for you, âYes you do have to pay the Prelevements Sociaux on rental income from your French property received from 1st January 2016 onwardsâ.
In reality, these Social Charges have just become another form of Income Tax over the years, and itâs a way of raising taxes from people such as yourself and a huge proportion of the French population who donât have to pay actual Income Tax.
Perhaps you can find some consolation by thinking of it as a charge that contibutes to the cost of the fire brigade in the event of a fire, or of the Gendarmerie if your place were to be burgled.
Here is a link to an explanation of the matter (in french) that you may find helpful.