Totally agree with you, Karen. The % allowances on costs of purchase, and on renovations strike me as being both generous and very pragmatic, given many people’s difficulties in retaining/locating documents substantiating relevant costs going back years …
I woukd think so. That’s what we did for sale of French place.
Wunderbar! Thanks Karen, George and Jane.
Depending on whether the house sells before 6 April, we’ll either have quite a small UK CGT bill or a larger one (the UK CGT allowance drops from £6000 to £3000 next tax year).
If it’s large, ie we sell after 6 April 2024, we could well end up with a negative figure for the French CGT liability (ie once we’ve claimed the credit for UK tax paid). In which case I suppose we would enter that negative figure in the final box and there would be nothing to pay in France.
Hi @Helenochka, I’m looking at filling the 2048 form myself for the sell of our UK flat so I’m very interested in any feedback you might have. Did the French tax office was ok with you filling the form in the end? Or did they require a notary to fill it?
Hi there
When I realised how much I was going to have to pay the French in prélèvements sociaux on top of the CGT due in the UK, I changed my mind and kept the house. We’ll sell it one day but maybe we’ll be back in the UK at that point.
From what I remember, I was looking at an old version of the form and the current one doesn’t mention having to use a notary to complete it.
By the way, we’re in the middle of selling part of our share of the “parties communes” in our apartment building (to a neighbour who’s going to create a small flat on the top floor).
In trying to calculate the “plus value” since we bought in 1999, I’ve discovered that in addition to the 7.5% majoration you can add to the purchase value for “frais d’acquisition”, if you’ve owned the property for more than 5 years you can also claim another flat-rate majoration of 15% for “travaux” even if you didn’t actually do any travaux. Or can’t prove that you did.
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Thank you @Helenochka !
Hi. I had no problem either time I submitted the form without a notaire involved. The first time when they insisted I should pay social charges, despite form S1 attached, they eventually sent my cheque back without explanation in a plain envelope. (Too embarrassed?) I then raised it again with our next tax return via messages. I was then eventually just told to resubmit the calculations and form without social charges. Much smaller cheque. No further problems.
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Thanks for info - I presume it would also apply to France taxes payable if selling a UK property?
I’m pretty sure it would. Don’t think the French make any distinction between French and non-French properties when assessing liability to CGT. So any reliefs available for French properties (eg abattement pour durée de détention) would be available for non-French properties too.
If you look at the guidance note (“notice”) for Form 2048 IMM, you’ll see it talks about the majoration pour travaux in relation to Line 23. (Sorry, I can’t seem to copy and paste it for some reason).
Also, the Notaires de France has this to say on the subject:
“Alternativement, le vendeur peut majorer de 15 % la valeur d’acquisition s’il est propriétaire depuis plus de 5 ans, de manière forfaitaire, sans avoir à établir la réalité des travaux, le montant des travaux effectivement réalisés ou son impossibilité à fournir des justificatifs (CGI, art. 150 VB II, 4°). Il n’y a pas lieu de rechercher si les dépenses de travaux ont déjà été prises en compte pour l’assiette de l’impôt sur le revenu.
Le forfait de 15% est une simple faculté pour les contribuables propriétaires de leur bien depuis plus de cinq ans. Il ne se cumule pas avec les frais réellement supportés par le propriétaire.”