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Time limit for querying tax paid?


Elle Gee
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We paid taxes this year way above what our accountant had calculated. She queried it and the tax office came back with a revised amount (and Impots refunded the difference)

However the net amount of tax paid was still significantly higher than the accountant's estimate. The accountant now says she is too busy to query this further before January.

Is there any time restriction for this type of query? Is it ok to wait?
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https://www.impots.gouv.fr/portail/particulier/delais-de-reclamation

Whether that covers the case where a claim has already been made and revised is another matter.

But perhaps you need to query the accountant and find out why the figures are so different. Was it a poor estimate in the first place?

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Elle Gee wrote : However the net amount of tax paid was still significantly higher than the accountant's estimate. The accountant now says she is too busy to query this further before January.

I hesitate to answer you as you are a newbie.. but what I would say to someone I knew on here would be .. have you thought about changing your accountant as, in my view, with an attitude like that, your accountant is only partially on your side .. which is not the service that you are paying them for.

Edit : I retract my statement .. as having read Wooly's post below .. I think he is much more likely to be right then I am.
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wooly said : I have no brief for the accountant but remember it is the end of the French financial year on 31st Dec so their busiest period.

And you are entirely right .. in all the upset and confusion I am presently living in I had completely forgotten that.

So I have edited my post to the OP to reflect this.

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Hi Elle
I think you are being more than kind to your accountant.  Having been in practice for 30 plus years (in the UK - I am a Charteredf Accountant) I can tell you that what your accountant said about being too busy was totally unprofessional.
I am certain that had we ever said such a thing to a client they would have immediately have become ex-clients.
All accountants have busy times (ours in later years was 31st January when the Tax forms have to be in) but you work longer hours if need be. 

In any case I do not understand the accountant not knowing the correct tax that would be payable. We did even 20 years ago, professional computer programs rarely get it wrong and we found quite frequently that if the tax office paperwork did not agree with ours then usually ours was right! We just sent printed copies to the tax office and they confirmed it.  I am assuming that your tax affairs are not very, very, complicated! If they are then you are using the wrong accountant.
Good luck when you get to see your accountant next, be firm though and insist on an explanation of the tax.

Mrs H.

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I can't remember any significant changes in tax except for savings and income tax where the default became a fixed income tax rate of 12.8% and social charges of 17.2% giving a total off 30%. However it was possible to opt for being taxed at your marginal tax rate (as was the case in previous years), which for many, would be less by checking a box on the tax form.

So is it possible the accountant forgot to check the box despite working out the tax at the marginal rate?
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