thehepples

If I read it right both the decennale and the ADO are ten years from date of work, so the work was all done in 2004, just after we bought the house, so that's not going to be an issue.  Which is nice! 

[quote user="EuroTrash"]what about decennale insurance? [/quote] In the manner of Manuel, que??? What is this please?

[quote user="EuroTrash"]what about decennale insurance? [/quote] In the manner of Manuel, que??? What is this please?

Well I can only hope that he does respond to the message I've sent on facebook. However, we bought what was basically about to be demolished and we have turned it in to what is now probably worth 200K.  Did I read somewhere that under these circumstances a special valuer or estimator can come out to basically asses the work that has been done and put a value on the renovations?  It might have been one of George East's books. 

[quote user="thehepples"]May need to track down those builders! [/quote] Isn't it amazing how many people are on facebook.  Found one of them, I think

15% of the selling price or the price we bought it at?  May need to track down those builders!

[quote user="Pickles"]Have a look at this thread: http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/2990226/ShowPost.aspx Allowable costs are for improvements rather than maintenance. Bear in mind that in the calculation for the UK capital gains tax (to which you will be subject as well, with allowances for French tax paid), the purchase price and costs need to be converted into sterling at the historic exchange rates that applied on the dates that they were incurred. There are links in the thread to on-line simulators for the French tax. [/quote] Thanks for the link, Pickles.  I had done a whole forum search for Capital Gains Tax and only an old thread in this "Legal Issues" section showed up.  The receipts are definitely not for maintenance.  The house was a shell full of rubbish.  The benne rental alone to clear the junk came to nearly 5K Eur!!!.  We had to get special permission to install a septic tank as the garden is small and we would have broken all the rules about postion relative to walls, wells and boundaries.  But as the nice lady said at the time, houses need toilets!  The simulators work well and the gain won't take us outside our combined UK yearly allowance.  Just out of interest, how does HMRC know I have a house in France if I've never told them?? We don't let it out - I'm fussy about who sleeps in my bed - just like Mother Bear - so there's never been an income from it to declare.

Didn't the foreigner tax get scrapped??  http://www.frenchpropertylinks.com/french-property-sales/french-holiday-home-tax.html "From the web page given, my highlighting Second home, second Taxe FoncièreThe new tax was to have worked like this: Already burdened by the normal property owner's tax Foncière, and the residents' tax d'Habitation, second home owners from outside France would have faced another tax, something akin to an additional Foncière. If this had been approved, as Sarkozy wished, the rate of 20% (on the cadastral value) was to apply. The law would have become effective in 2012. Victory for the dissentersHowever, Sarkozy and his government came up against a powerful opposition to the plan. During a meeting, held on June 18th (2011), the French president was forced to shelve the plan for the new tax. No less than nine senators, all of whom represented French non residents, voiced their dissatisfaction with the bill, and applied pressure to prevent it coming into force. They also had on their side a question regarding EU Law, which raised the issue of discrimination between residents and non residents, also contrary to the dictates of the French constitution, known for its commitment to equality."  Has it been reversed again???

Hello everyone.  Wracking my brains on this and I seem to be going around in circles.  We have a maison secondaire near Bordeaux.  We are UK residents.  We are considering selling the Bordeaux house and buying one on the Med side of France - nearer to beaches and warmer mostly We bought in 2003 so have had the house just over 10 years.  The house cost 36000 Euros and was a wreck.  No bathrooms, no inside loo, no kitchen, no fires, no heating, soil floors.  Walls falling down.  I have receipts for every thing we bought to make the house liveable EXCEPT from the British builders who installed the fosse and did the heavy work who shortly after they finished disappeared off the face of the planet apparently.  No problems with their work.  Just can't prove what I spent! Now if I have this right: CGT is charged at 19% of the gain Gain is Selling value - (Original value+cost of selling+cost of allowable renovations+  Anything else anyone knows about???) I get a 5% reduction on CGT for each year we have owned the house after year 2 = 40% if I sold this year (assuming we are still on 22 years for full exemption) In addition I will have to pay a 13.5% Social tax.  What I can't fathom is what value this is paid on.  Is it charged on the Selling value or the CGT amount or what other figure plucked out of the air?? Has anyone a link to a list of what ARE acceptable renovation costs, please. It probably won't be this year

Feb 2014.  Still not fixed or open.  We had forgotten about this from our trip last October and had to do the same detour again going southbound from Calais towards the A28.  Fortunately our next two trips are both overnighters via St Malo.  Detour Signposting in Rouen is sketchy at best.  Best avoid it if you can

Thanks for your help and wishes. Its not life threatening, just a medical fail

@ Polly. That's the one. Cheers very much. Actually the point is now moot. We are no longer off to NZ as I will fail the medical requirements.

I would like to thank those of you who HAVE given useful information. You have clarified for me the most recent changes. Less appreciated are the implications that we bought the house as an investment and/or that we've done a botched job on the work we've done and/or we have spent over the odds and/or have questionable taste We took a house with major problems - no inside loo, no running hot water, no septic tank, walls with doorways with no lintels - and made it livable. All I wanted to know was whether we were entitled to make a reduction in our tax.

Thanks for your input PD R, however I think you missed my initial point. The house was bought as a holiday home for us. We did repairs like install a septic tank, replace knackered windows, install an inside loo. But we did it ourselves and so have NO evidence of the improvements. We are not selling to MAKE money, but because we may be migrating to the other side of the world

Found at http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-legal/displayarticle.asp?id=1908 Looks like you will pay CGT, just like me. Do a google search on "france tax cgt" QUOTE One of the most frequent misunderstandings is caused by the fact that you can only call your “home” your “principal residence” if you are formally tax resident in France. Barring any very specific exceptions, covered by the Double Tax Treaty, your residence of France begins from the date that you move to France with the intention of living here. Accordingly, it is perfectly logical to assume that your French home becomes your “principal residence” from that date. However, many people have already been subjected to the actual practical guidelines laid down for the Notaires, who are responsible for deciding whether capital gains tax is payable, and for eventually collecting that tax. The guidelines logically state that, unless you can show that you are paying taxes in France, your French “home” cannot be your principal residence. In practice, the problem is that, until that person has actually submitted his/her first French income tax return (which can be anything up to 17 months after your actual arrival), the person is not actually registered in the French tax system, as a French tax payer. Hence, were the person to sell this property before making their first tax declaration in France, if the Notaire wants to deduct French capital gains tax from the proceeds of the sale, in respect of any gain made by the seller, he is perfectly able to do so. In fact, the actual guidelines, originally received by the Notaires, recommended that two tax returns be obtained, so as to ensure that the seller had been resident in France for at least a full tax year, but this guideline does not appear to be applied in practice. END QUOTE