Getting back the CSG taken by the Notaire on sale of second home

[NormanH]

I sold a résidence sécondaire last year, and the Notaire took a hefty whack of the 'plus value' in tax.

However following advice from Pommier  [B]on this Forum I found that I was entitled to an exoneration which the Notaire should have applied if he had done his job and asked about my circumstances.

However he hadn't and I had paid.

I found the regulations "vendeur titulaire d'une pension de vieillesse ou de réversion ou d'une

carte d'invalidité (de 2ème ou 3ème catégorie) sous certaines conditions

liées notamment aux ressources"

(which means that if you are a pensioner with an income under a certain level, and do not have enough capital to pay wealth tax you don't pay the CSG), and sent it off together with my Avis s'imposition for the last three years,  and the evidence that I had a French pension at the time to the bureau des Hypothèques.

I got a letter today saying that I am entitled to the tax back.[:D]

It's not a vast sum by Forum members' standards, under 10,000€, but better than a smack in the face.

Now I am going to invite the Notaire to compensate me for the préjudice morale I have suffered because of his faute professionelle.

I doubt I will get far with that but am giving it a try...

Thanks to Pommier.[:)]

It may be of interest to others here to know of this exoneration .

[Pommier]

Oh well done NormanH! I'm so glad to hear that you were successful in getting your money back.

[idun]

Good for you NH.

[nomoss]

The law exonerating pensioners with limited income from CSG came into effect in, I believe, 2006, and I saw it flagged up on the impots.gouv.fr site as a nouveauté.

In 2007 were about to sell an apartment in Le Barcarés. I went to see our local Notaire, in Peyriac-Minervois, to check this with him, and ask him to handle the sale, taking with me a printout of the details from the website.

He told me in a very sarcastic and condescending way that I was completely wrong, that such an idea was idiotic, and that I shouldn't believe things I saw on the internet. Obviously he knows all foreigners are stupid.

I next went to two other Notaires, one in Homps, the other in St Laurent de la Salanque. The first didn't know about it, but checked in his Notaire's bumper handbook, confirmed the law existed, and made a copy of my printout. The second was not particularly interested, and said he was too busy to handle the sale for some months anyway.

I then got on the 'phone, and eventually found a Notaire in Rivesaltes who was really on the ball and knew all about the new rules, so we used her to handle the sale. Even so, she was very nervous about not collecting any CSG, took copies of our Passports and tax returns, and said that the tax people would very likely investigate my claim. They never did (well, not yet anyway).

Since then I am very careful to check anything I am told by a Notaire, even if it's just the time of day [Www]

 

[woolybanana]

Well done Normie, not just a pretty face in a barrel, then!!

[pachapapa]

Well done.

The CFDT have a useful website.

http://www.cfdt-retraites.fr/Exonerations-taxe-habitation-CSG

[just john]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Well done Normie, not just a pretty face in a barrel, then!![/quote]

Congrats from him and from moi aussi, sad to say the rest of us who feel obliged to assume Notaire knows best can take this as a wake-up call.

[idun]

How do I consider Notaires, glorified tax collectors and I almost expect them to get that right......... and knowing that they cannot even do that is really disgraceful. Too full of their own importance too, Maitre indeed! I had more respect for our village butchers than the notaires.

[NormanH]

If anyone has a doubt with their Notaire contact the Chambre des

Notaires

http://www.lawperationnel.com/EncyclopedieJur/NotaireMiseenCause.htm

They have a sort of collective professional insurance to cover mistakes.