Francophile

ALBF, you clearly keep some very strange company!

In round figures, your income totals €41.5K which, if it were taxable in France in its entirety, would result in a tax bill of approximately €2K. But only your State pensions (€13K, slightly more than 30% of total world income) are actually taxable in France, so your liability to French tax is just over €600 (slightly more than 30% of the €2K). So no, I don’t believe a trip to the tax office is called for!

[quote user="parsnips"][quote user="Francophile"]The clue is probably in the title of this thread, but can somebody please confirm, on good authority, that it is only Investment Income that is exempt from Social Charges for holders of an S1? Or, preferably, can somebody please confirm, on good authority, that income taxed under the Microbic regime (such as rental income from running a gîte) is similarly exempt?[/quote] Hi,    Here are the words used by the Conseil d'Etat in it's ruling of 17/04/2015; " que la circonstance qu'un prélèvement soit qualifié d'impôt par une législation nationale n'exclut pas que ce même prélèvement puisse être regardé comme relevant du champ d'application du règlement n° 1408/71 ; que ne peuvent être assujetties à des contributions relevant du champ d'application du règlement n° 1408/71 les personnes qui résident en France mais qui ne relèvent pas du régime français de sécurité sociale ;"   roughly translated " the fact that a national legislation (france) regards an imposition as a tax , does not exclude that same imposition being regarded as falling under EU reg.1408/71 ( which states that a citizen can only be subject to one social security regime at any one time); (therefore) that persons residing in France but who are not affiliated to the french social security regime (S1 holders)  cannot be subjected to contributions falling under the scope of  EU reg .1408/71." I regard that as a pretty good authority that S1 holders are exempt from all and any social charges on all their income from any source - however , don't be surprised if , in the first instance , your local tax numpties do not understand or accept the implications of this ruling.    [/quote] Thanks Parsnips. Very helpful.

The clue is probably in the title of this thread, but can somebody please confirm, on good authority, that it is only Investment Income that is exempt from Social Charges for holders of an S1? Or, preferably, can somebody please confirm, on good authority, that income taxed under the Microbic regime (such as rental income from running a gîte) is similarly exempt?

I do wish that people would cease being sanctimonious about the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP). Those who seek (as has the UK Government) to link its payment to winter temperatures are missing the point entirely, as it is not linked to winter temperatures in the UK. The payment is the same in the Scilly Isles (average temperature of 9C between November and March) as it is in Dalwhinnie (average of 2.2C over the same period). Why, therefore, is it suggested that it be paid only in those countries overseas where the winters are deemed to be cold? Especially when the methodology used in the calculation of average winter temperatures is so seriously and cynically flawed! The UK benefit that is dependent upon the actual winter temperature is not the WFP, but the Cold Weather Payment, a payment that is means-tested. The WFP is no more and no less than a top-up to the State Pension but one which, by virtue of the fact that it is non-taxable, comes at a greater cost to the Exchequer than had it been absorbed into the State Pension itself. If it is paid to everybody in the UK who meets the age qualification, then it is immoral not to pay it to those UK State Pensioners who are now living overseas. And, of course, any failure to pay it to those who have retired to a member state of the EU will be declared illegal in due course. In the great scheme of things, suppression of the WFP isn’t something that will have a huge financial impact on many people. (It certainly isn’t of the same order of magnitude as the proposed removal of the zero-rated tax band, where we could be talking serious money. And it isn’t of the same order of magnitude as the failure to make inflationary uplifts to pensions payable in Australia, Canada and elsewhere.) In fact, the recent rise in the value of Sterling will, if it is maintained, more than compensate for the loss of WFP. But there’s a principle involved. We, who live overseas, are being denied, quite unjustifiably, part of our State Pension Package. Why should we accept this treatment with a Gallic shrug? Those of us who live overseas are easy targets for posturing Government ministers as many of us have become disenfranchised. And please don’t anybody try to tell me that nobody made us leave the UK or that we knew at the time we left that eventually our vote would be denied to us! I know that nobody forced me to leave UK and I accept that I knew at the time that ability to vote would be time-limited. It doesn’t make it right!