last week when I was checking out the CGT situation further, I e-mailed a query to Kentingtons who I’ve previously had the benefit of a very long call with. Their response was:
Your CGT question is a grey area, but our feeling is that it would not be advisable to rent out the property to prospective buyers prior to sale.
You may recall that our service is to offer tax and investment advice in combination, to individuals who are resident in France (or are about to become officially resident in France), and provide total analysis of their situation with solutions to achieve their objectives. Our service is exclusive to those who have at least €250,000 in liquid financial assets.
We do not give standalone tax advice because we are not accountants. However, we are happy to recommend professionals who do. Below are the details of a tax lawyer with whom we work. He is French and speaks English fluently. We would suggest that you contact his office for a specialised view.
They also gave the assistants number. Happy to share that, I’m hopeful there would be no probs from Kentingtons side however are there rules with posting professionals details on the forum? Presume I could PM you (if I can remember how to).
From my point of view though, having read all the posts, the options and calculations re allowances and double taxation seem fairly clear - I guess you would really want an opinion on whether your UK house could be seen to be a principal residence from France POV thus avoiding the whole thing!
Presumably you have read these…? The UK guidance gives a calculator to work out what tax you might have to pay.
It ought () to be straightforward. You declare to HMRC straight away, and then include in your French tax return. If you have paid tax in the UK then this will fall under the double exemption.
(Possibly if you have owned the place for more than 22 years then would be exempt from French capital gains tax anyway…).
I can’t remember details but when I disposed of my share of my mother’ s house it seemed straightforward. But then the capital gain was pretty small!
Thank you @larkswood12 and @JaneJones - very useful. Kentingtons was one of the people I contacted, Dave so I do have the numbers you mention! I was looking to see what other contacts anyone might have before doing a major ring-round
I’ve dealt with the UK side, Jane but will dive into your link on the French side. I “think” that I am exempt from CGT but not from cotisation sociale and also there is the question of their equivalent of wealth tax, which might also apply. (It was only a small house but I have heard the sum of 50,000 euros mentioned and anything bigger than a garage is likely to net more than that!)
I shall feed back any advice I get from anywhere, for future references
Jane’s link is interesting - it sets out the social charges, but not any 7.5% S1 rate mentioned by France property.
Angela - perhaps you can argue, with no CGT and exempt from social charges (if you have that - S1 etc) then you can argue no France tax is due so no need to make any declaration?
“If the capital gain realized abroad is exempt from tax in France, you do not have to subscribe to declaration n ° 2048 in addition to form n ° 2047”. Of course, at the moment I have no idea what might go in form 2017! (or the text might mean don’t mention it on either form - I used google translate quickly here…)
Thanks Dave. I think that, while I am exempt from social charges on income because of the S1, that doesn’t apply to capital … I’ll see if I can get a rdv with the tax people…
The S1 only exempts you from social charges on your pension. We pay the solidarity 7.5% social charges on everything else… capital gains is I think 16% on selling your old main home.
I have always found the local tax people marvellous. If you emphasise that it was your main home, that you owned it for over 22 years, and you paid plus value in the UK they may well tell you to forget about declaring it at all! (I am a perpetual optimist!)
Great, lets hope for a good result.
I moving to South of France with my long term partner ( She’s French and Im Italians).
We planning to rent our house in UK …we lived in it since 2014 so about 7 years and planning to rent in France for about 2 years then sell it to buy something permanent in France.
I understand very well the Capital Gains tax in Uk but no-one can tell me if we will have to pay also capital gains in France.
My partner will be working in France… possibly full time or part time while I, as a self employed, will try to keep a bit my remote work and still get paid to my uk limited company and possibly looking for a part time job
Not sure where to get proper advice and any suggestions will be very appreciated it
If you are unable to amend your Registration to give your Full Name… perhaps you would put your first and last name on this thread and I’m sure @cat will be able to amend your Registration for you.
Maybe it’s the amount of Rosé I’ve had this evening, but thank you @Stella, this comment, and the preceding few, has made me laugh harder than I’ve laughed in some time This feels like a Two Ronnies sketch gone terribly wrong
) to be straightforward. You declare to HMRC straight away, and then include in your French tax return. If you have paid tax in the UK then this will fall under the double exemption.
This feels like a Two Ronnies sketch gone terribly wrong 