Hopefully 1 or more of you has experience of this subject and will help me out.
My wife’s son has very generously given us money for the purchase/installation of solar panels and electric heaters/aircon units. Cannot recall exact amount but around €20,000 in total.
Do we have to declare this on our annual return? If so which section?
Is it taxable? At which rate?
The money was transferred to our Uk £ account then transferred to our French account in € so there is a paper trail
Thanks in advance, I have confidence in your combined wisdom.
Weather report from N Lot - cloudy/misty all day with rain/showers on and off all day.
This may be complicated by the fact that is sounds from the original post as though @Thefoolonthehill is not the biological father, although he may have adopted the son. France seems to be all for excluding step relations.
That reply certainly makes me think your handle (or userid) fits …. Karen is always helpful and polite in her answers, I doubt you will get many more from the rest of us.
Well spotted hairbear. At least you are capable of understanding that wot I have writ.
I did not impregnate his mother, I did not adopt him and of course I should have made clear that the recipient of the gift was his mother. This is complicated by the fact that we have bank accounts in joint names (though of course our UK account is an « and »
whilst our FR account is an « or ».
Perhaps a trip to the local tax office to discuss a hypothetical gift will be required . Though my wife assures me that she can rely on the €100,000 clause.
Sun shining this morning, not raining but my dog did not understand the concept of an extra hour in bed.
Relax, professor. People are trying to help - they ask questions that may seem to you to be missing the point, in order to make sure they understand fully what you are asking. And some, like me, are sometimes a bit slow on the uptake.
Especially where “legal stuff” is involved this can make the difference between getting the right advice and wrong advice.
And while you have explained your situation quite well, often folks posing a question leave out critical bits of info, or (understandably) use the wrong terminology, so SF members tend to ask for clarification just in case.
And a good day to you as well! May all your kippers be freshly smoked!
I think there might be a cultural difference. For example I wondered if the OP waa American particularly when the point about clarification also was missed.
Nothing wrong with seeking clarity. Social media is by definition not private and I’m happy to look stupid if it’s possible there are other factors to take into account.
Dear @Thefoolonthehill
I’m not sure how long you’ve been around on SF so I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and merely inform you that we do not tolerate aggression, rudeness or personal attacks on SF.
Your réponses have been very ‘borderline’ in terms of all three.
I strongly suggest you think about your perceived ‘tone’ before pressing ‘send’ going forward.
I fear that if you go to the local tax office with the above, as a hypothetical, they might well be somewhat sceptical of your claim that the gift was made only to your wife. They might well advise you that 50% of this hypothetical gift is in fact likely to be taxed on you, not being a blood relative, particularly if it had been received in a joint UK account with your wife, then passed to another joint French account with your wife (forget the ‘ou’ - it’s still a joint account).
Tax costs: €10000 (50% share) less an exemption of approx €1500, then taxed at 60% under droits de donation rules.
Might it be worth considering if there are other options to characterise this transaction, (including ideas suggested earlier in this thread) provided of course they follow the facts?
People are trying to help - they ask questions that may seem to you to be missing the point, in order to make sure they understand fully what you are asking. And some, like me, are sometimes a bit slow on the uptake. 
