Form 2778

[Chrissie]

Has anyone tried filling out the French tax form 2778, which deals with the cashing in of an overseas assurance vie?  I am having trouble getting it right and no-one in my tax office, or that of the sous-prefecture, has ever heard of it......  I want to make sure I don't miss out on the tax benefits I understand are available.

(I spent at least 10 minutes today with them, arguing that Luxembourg IS in the EU!     I have to say, I do wonder why I bother sometimes!!![8-)])

Chrissie (81)

[parsnips]

[quote user="Chrissie"]

Has anyone tried filling out the French tax form 2778, which deals with the cashing in of an overseas assurance vie?  I am having trouble getting it right and no-one in my tax office, or that of the sous-prefecture, has ever heard of it......  I want to make sure I don't miss out on the tax benefits I understand are available.

(I spent at least 10 minutes today with them, arguing that Luxembourg IS in the EU!     I have to say, I do wonder why I bother sometimes!!![8-)])

Chrissie (81)

[/quote]

Hi,

      This form is used to get the benefit of the" prelevement forfaitaire" which can be applied automatically to french sourced insurances .  You need to fill in section 4 , if the insurance is over 8 years old when the set rate is 7.5%.    If it is more recent , it may be to your advantage to not complete this form, but to opt to have the money taxed at your marginal rate (especially if you normally pay no tax) . The rates are printed in sec 4 of the form.

      I advise you to take the form to the tax office , and explain the purpose of it to them, and discuss your best option.  

[Chrissie]

Thanks Parsnips - I realise that the form is to pay withholding tax at 7.5%now, rather than marginal income tax later.  (Also to declare same sum for social contributions.)  The policy is well over 8 years old and I thought it would be straightforward, but am having trouble with the sections for "credit d'impot", which I assume are nil as I have paid no tax elsewhere on the gain, but tax office here weren't sure.  I explained all this to them, but they were totally flummoxed. I only have until 15th Sept to pay the bill, or it will default to paying income tax later. 

I also understand that, having paid this bill by 15th September, when I fill out the usual tax forms for the year 2011 I will be entitled to a 9,200 euro reduction on my amount imposable.  Am worried that this has to be flagged in some way on the form or I will miss out.

Any help welcome!

Chrissie (81)

[parsnips]

[quote user="Chrissie"]

Thanks Parsnips - I realise that the form is to pay withholding tax at 7.5%now, rather than marginal income tax later.  (Also to declare same sum for social contributions.)  The policy is well over 8 years old and I thought it would be straightforward, but am having trouble with the sections for "credit d'impot", which I assume are nil as I have paid no tax elsewhere on the gain, but tax office here weren't sure.  I explained all this to them, but they were totally flummoxed. I only have until 15th Sept to pay the bill, or it will default to paying income tax later. 

I also understand that, having paid this bill by 15th September, when I fill out the usual tax forms for the year 2011 I will be entitled to a 9,200 euro reduction on my amount imposable.  Am worried that this has to be flagged in some way on the form or I will miss out.

Any help welcome!

Chrissie (81)

[/quote]

Hi,

      It appears to be quite straightforward; under sec.5 is a note (in heavy print) " En l'absence de credit d'impot à imputer, reporter le montant obtenu en case IL en case OR".........in other words in IL the amount of tax on the lump sum  at 7.5%  and then the same amount of tax is transposed to case OR in sec.6.

   If your tax office persist in misreading their own form , I suggest you get a written acknowledgement from them that you have submitted it, and take the matter up with the "Conciliateur Fiscal" for your departement.  Merely mentioning that you intend to do this may well induce them to get their act together.

[Chrissie]

OK, Parsnips - if I stick with credit d'impot = zero, and carry on down, I have one more question:

I  have put the total gain into each of the sections under "8" except PS, and the calculated amount of social contributions appears under each bit in "montant brut", which I then transfer manually across to "montant net", getting a total in PT = PU.  That's fine.  Then I add OR and PU to get QR - that's also fine.  But the automated form insists in putting the figure from OR into section 10 QA.  Despite MP being zero, I cannot overwrite this number.  Do I just leave it and not declare anything in the eventual 2042 line BG? 

Goodness, I feel a wimp  [:(].  Thanks for helping.

Chrissie (81)

[parsnips]

[quote user="Chrissie"]

OK, Parsnips - if I stick with credit d'impot = zero, and carry on down, I have one more question:

I  have put the total gain into each of the sections under "8" except PS, and the calculated amount of social contributions appears under each bit in "montant brut", which I then transfer manually across to "montant net", getting a total in PT = PU.  That's fine.  Then I add OR and PU to get QR - that's also fine.  But the automated form insists in putting the figure from OR into section 10 QA.  Despite MP being zero, I cannot overwrite this number.  Do I just leave it and not declare anything in the eventual 2042 line BG? 

Goodness, I feel a wimp  [:(].  Thanks for helping.

Chrissie (81)

[/quote]

Hi,

     This is because you should have included sec. PS, which is also due.

If you continue to have problems , why not download the manual version of the form, and hand write it?

[Chrissie]

I was told that PR (at 2.2"%) was instead of PS (at 2%, only applicable to certain other types of invetsment).

I worry about QA because there is a usually a reason for these French forms to fill themselves out in a certain way!

Chrissie (81)