Capital Gains Tax??

[Teejaygb]

Hi All, been reading about French Capital Gains Tax and am I right in thinking that as long as it is your only property and that you live in it and pay french taxes there is NO CGT to pay even after only 1 year for example??

We are thinking of moving and buying a house possibly spending a year updating and inproving a house to make sure we actually like living the french dream before setting up a business.  My only worry is that if we decide not to stay and want to come back to the uk would we have lots of tax to pay, (thats presuming we actually make a profit on the house of course!!)

 

[Will]

If it is your principal residence and you are tax resident in France there should be no plus value (CGT) payable. There are several ways of defining tax residency, for this purpose you will need to have made a French tax return, even if no income tax was actually payable. So for many people it is advantageous to get into the French system, even if you have little or no French income.

It would be a good idea to check with a French notaire about your exact situation, because everybody is different. As notaires are, in effect, government officials, there should be no charge for simple advice like that.