Anyone phoned tax office for exchange rate yet?

[milkeybar kid]

Yes, I have it drummed into my head use the exchange rate of the day when gross piddly interest is paid into UK bank account, but if there is the option of using the rate tax office sets I was going to compare the totals using both of the above and choose the best for me - if that is allowed. I have probably missed the plot but I read this forum like a newspaper every morning for info - its brilliant, but sometimes confusing. So, exchange rate tax office is using anyone ? otherwise I thought I might be brave and go in and ask on Tuesday , they might be in a good mood after their hols and demo's.

[Nell]

Were you brave? Did you go and ask?? If you did, what figure did they give you??

[Suandpete]

I sent an email to ours and got this response:

Nature de la demande : IR revenus
Objet de la demande : Demande d’information pratique ou rendez-vous
Référence : TCHE-7RRGNB
Traité par : Isabelle MOREAU, SA
Bonjour Madame / Monsieur
Madame,
Le taux de change à retenir est celui au 31/12/08 à savoir 1,04986  pour
convertir la £ en €
cordialement,
Isabelle MOREAU
CDI de THOUARS
Tél. 05 49 96 02 02
______________________________________________________________________
Votre demande :
Bonjour,
Je voudrais savoir, s'il vous plaît, le taux de change de la livre
sterling à retenir pour les revenus de 2008.
Merci de votre assistance

[milkeybar kid]

That's spooky we went to the tax office this afternoon , we explained we needed to know the exchange so we could calculate the interest made in UK bank account and transfer the figure onto tax form in Euro , she said she must consult with colleague and returned with these figures - 0,9044760 on the paper that I will keep! , I asked would she sign the paper she said no because it was not needed as this exchange rate is being used all over France . Help, does this then convert to 1.04 ?? I am not only not good with French but maths as well!

I am in area 47

[Benjamin]

Hoping that she didn't mean 90 cents to the £ [:D] you should divide 1 by.9044760 which comes to 1.1056 €uros to £1.

Now you're flummoxed aren't you?  [6]

[milkeybar kid]

Yes,!! because looking at another forum many have been given the same rate by different tax office departments of 0.9525 when divided by 1.0000 gives 1.04 , in fact some tax offices have actually said 1.04.

Damn!

[Benjamin]

Sorry mbk but this happens every year. Somebody posts that they've just been given the definitive God sent figure and then two minutes later somebody else quotes another.

You chose.  [:D]

[milkeybar kid]

I wont give up just yet, I have persuaded another person who speaks better French than moi to call in to the tax office next week, also a French person who speaks good English to phone and ask next week, so I will report back. It seems very odd I have researched and found that the rate 1.102933 is the average given for December 2008- perhaps this is a clue or not. Sorry, if it has made confusion.

[spectateur]

[quote user="milkeybar kid"]Yes,!! because looking at another forum many have been given the same rate by different tax office departments of 0.9525 when divided by 1.0000 gives 1.04 , in fact some tax offices have actually said 1.04.

Damn![/quote]

Yes, I called in at my tax office and asked if there was an official exchange rate to use for income obtained in pounds sterling. The lady shuffled some papers, found the right one and said "use the rate of 1 euro = 0.9525 pounds". I went so far as to point out that the rate was much less than the average for the year, she replied "well this is the one that I have been told to give to enquirers".

[JohnRoss]

Has anyone asked this question of the Parthenay (Dept 79) tax office yet?........................JR

[Ron Avery]

No, do you want the number?

I phoned ours and the rate is the same as for last year[:-))], dure to severe under declaring last year by certain Brits,  every £ you have received in France taken out of the hole in the wall and not through money transfers,  which are to be spot checked, is to be declared as 1.25€.[kiss] 

[JohnRoss]

Have sent an email and will report back when response received. Not likely to be before next week as a bank holiday today I gather. Hope they are faster than HMRC though that is another story!........JR 

[JohnRoss]

Bounced back anyone got an email adress for them? Would like their reponse in hard copy!..............JR

PS Sorry finger trouble have re-sent

[Suandpete]

I posted my reply earlier in the thread - from the Thouars office, so in 79....

[milkeybar kid]

Your statement Ron -:

every £ you have received in France taken out of the hole in the wall and not through money transfers, which are to be spot checked, is to be declared as 1.25€.

I dont mean to be picky Ron , but monies received in France through hole in the wall or be it transferred is not automatically presumed by the authorities as taxable income. We know of many people once having received state pension, they top up funds in France with capital (the capital having already created interest in UK that they declare/taxed as un earned income in France , so they wont be paying twice !! ). So lets say Jo Blogs sends a money transfer of €12,000 taken from capital to buy a car - he certainly is not taxed on that as its generated from capital. Your statement surely is far too sweeping! I agree with some things you say Ron but not this.Sorry. Or maybe it was just a joke and I didn't see the funny in it.

[gosub]

No matter where you are in France. You can email in English to: [email protected] unless things have changed recently.

[milkeybar kid]

Thank you. I have been searching for that all week, will give it a go and keep all fingers crossed that I get the 1.04 rate like the majority. Its always possible I totally confused the women in the tax office what with charades and diagrams of arrows going from sterling to euro's , perhaps I am clutching at straws .

[cooperlola]

HERE is a very easy to use exchange rate finder, which will give you the rate for all 365 days of 2008 (or was it a leap year? I can't think.)  Simple to look up the rate for the days you received any money if that it the method you wish to use.

[AnOther]

[quote user="milkeybar kid"]We know of many people once having received state pension, they top up funds in France with capital (the capital having already created interest in UK that they declare/taxed as un earned income in France, so they wont be paying twice !! )[/quote]Surely in this position the correct procedure is to submit the necessary form (FD5 or whatever it's called) to have your UK interest paid tax free for declaration in France. For modest incomes it's advantageous too I believe.

[milkeybar kid]

Exactly or if gross then its declared on French Tax form and no need of FD watsit ! but my reply was in context to Rons statement which was weird - maybe Ron you were just making a joke when you said Quote-:" every £ you have received in France taken out of the hole in the wall and not through money transfers, which are to be spot checked, is to be declared as 1.25€."

Thanks cooperlola, I have worked it out using the method of finding the history already - done another workings with the rate 1.04 , and we would be at a disadvantage to follow the historic rate of the day , it is to our advantage to use the rate that the majority of income Tax offices are recommending.

[dragonrouge]

We have some capital left in the UK but our BS will not pay gross in t hat they say that HMG terms for so doing are onerous and costly. Indeed Nottingham say more and more banks and BS are moving to paying net.

Every year on the anniversary of the account I ring the BS they let me have the figures I then download the form to claim it back then send it to Nottingham or wherever they send it back to me six months later and then I send it back to the BS.

Being resident in France I cannot open an account with any other institution in the UK.

Indeed I wonder if there is now any benefit of keeping money in the UK.

[JohnRoss]

Many of the mainstream  BSs have off-shore branches on the Isle of Man some also owned by Santander. No income tax to pay so interest received gross but they can report details to the French tax people and compensation at a lower limit than mainland UK though this may have gone up of late. Interest rates, like everywhere, low just now though better for new accounts but minimum account balances have risen. See http://uk.local.yahoo.com/United_Kingdom/Isle_of_Man/Banks_%2526_Financial_Institutions/uk100000147-s-23424847.html?cb=21    ................................JR

[ali-cat]

We have a combination of monthly and annual interest Sterling income to declare.  Looking at the site for monthy rates posted by Coops, using the 'official' rate of 1.04 or 1.10 provided by the French tax authorities would be very advantageous to us. 

Still seems morally dubious to me though even if it is within the rules![;-)]

Perhaps the French authorities are throwing us Brits a lifeline?

MR Cat

 

 

 

[dragonrouge]

Ali-cat your mind is just about telling you that something is wrong and that morally you have considerable doubts.

It is your decision and yours alone and something that you will have to live with.

I have an appointment with our tax guys next Tuesday and I want them and in writing to confirm the rate to use. Then its all off to the Accountant and for him to complete and be happy. He is a consultant to the Appeal type Court in Caen and I will follow him and not some shifting rate which seems to be one mans meat and anothers poison.

rdgs

[allanb]

[quote user="milkeybar kid"]Its always possible I totally confused the women in the tax office what with charades and diagrams of arrows going from sterling to euro's[/quote] Yes, I think probably you did.

If the income in question was originally received in sterling, what the law requires you to declare is the euro equivalent on the day the sterling was received.  Whether you subsequently exchanged it for euros, and if so when, and at what rate, is totally, totally irrelevant.

Many tax inspectors have given a single conversion rate for the whole year, which they will accept in order to avoid all the calculations required by the law.  There are pages of discussion on this and other forums on what this rate should be, and whether you can safely use it.