Was my tax deduction right?

[ranjk]

I am a University Professor in India. I came as a Visiting Professor to an institute in Paris for a month. I was offered a salary of about 5000 Euros for the period but paid only about 3500 Euros. The difference was attributed to tax. I do not have any other income in France for the rest of the year. I now understand there is in fact no tax for an income of 5000 Euros and that the tax that was withheld would be correct amount if I stayed in France the entire year instead of just a month.

My question is was it correct on the part of the institute I visited to withhold tax since I was there for only a month? The simplest way to handle this would have been to pay me the entire amount and let me handle the tax myself. Any comments?

If I need to file a tax return to get the deduction back, do I need a social security number or other documents for the tax filing?

Thanks.

Ranjith

[NormanH]

Tax, in the sense of income tax,  is not deducted at source in France, so none should have been taken.

It is payable the year after. You make a declaration of what you earned in the previous year, and then you are sent a tax bill,  but you are right that on 5000€ there is normally no income tax to pay.

Social charges may have been deducted, but for that you would have a SS number and the details would be shown on your Bulletin De Salaire.

[nomoss]

I believe taxes are deducted in the case of foreigners working for short periods (less than 183 days) in France.

This leaflet sets out the rules for researchers, I think those for a visiting professor (professeur invité) will be similar [url]https://www.fnak.fr/doc/Impots2011.pdf[/url]

EDIT:

I assume the OP has documentation justifying and itemising the deduction(s) which will have taxpayer identification and reference numbers.

This will enable the OP to make a tax return in the following year in order to reclaim some or all of the taxes paid, but part of the deductions may be Social charges, which may not be refundable.

[NormanH]

OK thanks for the information and correction. [:)]

[ranjk]

Many thanks for the information.

Ranjith

[ranjk]

Hello,

The salary statement for my month-long stay at an Institute in Paris as Invited Professor is at the link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9rpxa2w41sc2yfj/Pay%20slip%202.pdf?dl=0

I received 4081.36 Euro in my bank account in India as salary (I'm guessing that's the 4095.58 Euro figure in the salary statement minus the wire transfer charges to India). This is my only income in France for the year. So I think I do not owe tax whereas tax has been withheld. Can someone please point out by looking at the salary statement how much tax I can reclaim and how do I initiate the reclaim process?

Thanks,

Regards,

Ranjith

[idun]

In my opinion there is nothing whatsoever wrong with your figures and you cannot reclaim.

http://www.impots.gouv.fr/portal/deploiement/p1/fichedescriptive_5347/fichedescriptive_5347.pdf

You paid 387€ in tax, that is the retenue a la source. The rest are typical of ALL french pay slips and everyone pays all those social charges, as that is what they are. You will not be able to reclaim a thing.

For anyone working in France on such a contract, they would need to ask what the salary NET will be, including retenue a la source and NEVER the salaire BRUT.

I would complain to the university about being misled if I were you.

[idun]

[quote user="NormanH"]Tax, in the sense of income tax,  is not deducted at source in France, so none should have been taken.

It is payable the year after. You make a declaration of what you earned in the previous year, and then you are sent a tax bill,  but you are right that on 5000€ there is normally no income tax to pay.

Social charges may have been deducted, but for that you would have a SS number and the details would be shown on your Bulletin De Salaire.

[/quote]

NH, this is what happened to us for years, and that is how pay slips were when we moved back to the UK. The SS deductions are different too. I know it looks a little strange, but it is what it is and the income tax is hefty with a french income and living abroad.

[Loiseau]

Around 10 years back my UK-resident daughter and a group of musicians were engaged to give a concert in the Vendee. Their "cachet" (I forget the actual figure) was quoted in their contracts, and I was rather dismayed to see that it was stated that French income tax would be withheld from this fee.

However, this had clearly been taken into account by the French organisers. The musicians all received the amount of money specified in their contracts; the organisers had on paper paid them more, so that once the tax was deducted they pocketed the amount specified.

Angela

[ranjk]

Hello again,

Another quick question.

Since I paid tax in France for the 1 month salary, am I exempt from paying tax for that amount in India? Is there some sort of a tax treaty between the two countries?

Thanks,

Ranjith

[EuroTrash]

It appears there is.

http://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/1188-PGP?datePubl=16/11/2012

Happy reading :-)