Reclaiming tax

[bubbles]

Our French impots people say they are sending me back my form FD5. I presume they have signed or stamped it or whatever is necessary to prove I pay taxes here in France.

Do I now send the original to the tax people in England to reclaim overpaid tax?

Or should I just send them a copy?

And should I send it accuse de reception to be on the safe side?

And.......do I need to do more to make sure that in future I don't pay tax on interest from savings? Is there yet another form I should be asking for.

Sorry if this has all been covered before. I did do a search but just got more and more bogged down and confused.

Bad enough paying tax once on our little income - but twice is just too much.

[Hereford]

The FD5 is usually sent direct to the UK by the French impot people. Certainly the UK need the original.

You may find it hard to get your interest gross from the UK! The vast majority of the banks and building societies do not accept the correct form (sorry I can't remember the number) and will only accept the form for saying "I am not a taxpayer" - which is not the right one if you pay tax in France.  I had this confirmed to me some years ago by the UK tax office(I am an accountant) and I don't think it has changed.  No-one seems to know the reason for this  - just that the banks can't be bothered probably.

I once had a bizarre conversation with a bank employee who told me that they did not deduct the tax from the interest the tax office did ... er

If your bank is one of the culprits you will have to claim the tax back each year from the UK.

Mrs H

[Araucaria]

If the bureau des impots does send you the original stamped and signed FD5, you should probably take it back to them and ask them to send it to the UK via Paris, as described on the form itself. They may of course just be sending you a copy, but HMRC can be very sticky about going through the procedures properly.

The bureau des impots is supposed to stamp and sign the form, and send it to their Paris head office, who then send it on to HMRC. If HMRC get it direct from you, they may refuse to act on it.

This is partly personal experience. The local bureau des impots kindly signed and stamped two original copies for me. They sent one off to Paris and gave me the other, which I sent  off direct to HMRC in Nottingham. HMRC acknowledged receipt of the copy I had sent, but said they could do nothing until the other one arrived via Paris (which turned out to be about six months later).

[bubbles]

Thanks for your reply.

Whatever they are sending me didn't arrive today so I'm still waiting with baited breath.

[Patf]

Hoping it all works out for you.

Just a bit of advice from my experience - be sure to give them your UK bank account details for them to pay the refund. I forgot to do that, and it took much longer as the money order got lost in the post.

There's a section at the end of the form for that.