Afy Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 hello everyone.... I am new to the forum, and have just moved to France from Asia. A question I have is as follows:I am in the process of setting my self up in france, and am borrowing money from my Family for this purpose. The money will be wired into my account here.Now the questions are as under:1. Since the money will originate from different accounts in the EU what is the legal limit I can have transfered. 2. Will this be taxed? I dont think so since it is NOT income, but then I know nothing about the legal system here. Would greatly appreciate your inputs on this... Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afy Posted July 28, 2005 Author Share Posted July 28, 2005 Woha... I cant believe that no one has the slightest bit of information on this. Maybe a web site or something that might help? Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 I think you should contact a bank you fancy using in France and discuss it with them. These days I'm pretty sure that they will want to know why amounts would be coming into your account from all over europe. That is all I can suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deby Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Yes, I believe money coming in from different sources will attract attention. I believe anything over a 1000E coming from a foreign source would automatically be questioned by a bank - if it was for a house purchase/sale the bank would be aware of such information through discussions with their clients.I had a few raised eyebrows and questions when I received money which was not expected by my bank and of course the Impots (tax authorities) were undoutedly informed.So you would need to explain any income - income = taxable funds until proven otherwise in france.Deby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Any individual transfer of over Euros 9999 will generate a standard request to supply the reason for the transfer to the Account such as "invoice number" as a protection against money laundering. However for the most part the replies to this can be fairly simplistic. Our local bank carefully translated the form into English recently I filled it in with "living expenses" having previously (the last four years) carefully spelled out in French what we were using the money for. Three days latter at 8 am I received a 'phone call asking what was meant by "Living Expenses". I replied a friend of mine once suggested it was ensuring that the Maitre D did not say " how did you enjoy last night when you arrived at a restaurant with your wife" but in my case it meant cheese bread and good wine.Before you put large amounts of money into France from a foreign taxation regieme I suggest spending £ 30 on the PKF Jersey book on taxation in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarkkent Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 Teamed Up is absolutely right - talk to a bank. There are now very strict EU-wide procedures about money transfer which relate to the monitoring of potential money laundering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted July 28, 2005 Share Posted July 28, 2005 All this is very interesting. We regularly transfer money from the Uk and the U.S.A., no one has EVER asked us about it. Many transfers from the U.S. are well over 20,000 Euros. Never any questions asked. Money has always arrived in a timely manner and been accessible with no questions.Sure, it never hurts to talk to your bank, make sure you know the procedures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afy Posted July 29, 2005 Author Share Posted July 29, 2005 Thank you everyone for your inputs. I did go to the bank in this question: Banque Populaire... and not unsurprisingly they were completely clueless about this. All they did was give me the day's exchange rate, and a list of how much it would cost for services if we used them. The lady in charge was even clueless between the differences in remittances to and from France. Ah well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 In answer to your 2 questions there is no limit to the amount you can transfer into your account from any source. The bank will however ask you to justify its source before they will credit the money to your account. My banks limit is 6000 euros before they contact me and require documentary proof of the source. The funds transferred should not attract any tax unless it is used for income purposes. eg. investment income.I think I might change my bank to that of Lori. Who are they Lori? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 Credit Agricole Alpes Provence. And it does not come as any surprise to me that Banque Populaire or any other bank here might not be able to give you any coherent responses to these types (or any) type of issues. It is our experience that most of the bank staff here are about as clueless as can be. Perhaps it is because we are not in a large city, but really I find it incredible. We were fortunate that when we opened our account (in another village from where we bought our house), we were met with extremely intelligent banking staff. Unlucky for us, the village where we bought our house has a Credit Agricole (much more convenient to us) with a constant staff turn-over and a lack of intelligence. Whenever we have anything serious to do, we go to the bank where we opened our account. Luckily for us, the same staff remains in our original bank branch.So, good luck as this is just one of the many things that, I believe, are quite unique to France. If you go around to several banks, perhaps you will find an intelligent staff such as the one we found. And, don't feel bashful about doing so. You pay these people all kinds of ridiculous fees, and it is YOUR money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 I suspect that with your particular bank Lori the management exercise a large dose of practical common sense. However the French central bank have issued directions that all large incoming credits to French bank accounts must be investigated andthe source sanctioned. This is part of the control of funds suspected to be crime proceeds and terrorism funding. Its also an EU directive so all other EU banks in theory should follow the same practice. However in reality individual management do their own thing. Very typically French! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted July 29, 2005 Share Posted July 29, 2005 No kidding. They have never asked us to prove the source. The source is our bank in the U.S. where my husband's personal income is deposited (which, by the way, most of it is spent here in France). They have our tax returns, they know all about my husband's employment and income. They have more private data on us than anyone I can think of. I'm sure large transactions get reported to God knows who these days, but as far as banking goes, we have never been questioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afy Posted July 31, 2005 Author Share Posted July 31, 2005 Well the bank is making us jump through hoops... and have asked for our last three years income tax even though none of the income was earned in France... because we did not live here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 Afy - they asked us for the same details - and none of our income has ever been earned in France. They ask for a lot of personal detail as the loans they offer are strictly based on personal ability to pay back. They NEVER look at the house in question, etc. It is all based upon your personal ability to pay back the loan. Therefore, they want to know every little bit of data about you. An enormous change from the U.S. procedure. Just the way it is here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 Afy - they asked us for the same details - and none of our income has ever been earned in France. They ask for a lot of personal detail as the loans they offer are strictly based on personal ability to pay back. They NEVER look at the house in question, etc. It is all based upon your personal ability to pay back the loan. Therefore, they want to know every little bit of data about you. An enormous change from the U.S. procedure. Just the way it is here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 Afy from what you have said, you sound like a prime candidate for banks to want to know exactly where you money is coming from. French banks don't know you either, so will want to be sure that the money they are taking in is from legitimate sources. And back to original post, you said that the money would not be income. Well if it is a gift then it could well be eligible for french tax. If you are loaning it then you need loan agreements drawn up to prove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afy Posted August 1, 2005 Author Share Posted August 1, 2005 [quote]Afy from what you have said, you sound like a prime candidate for banks to want to know exactly where you money is coming from. French banks don't know you either, so will want to be sure that the mon...[/quote]Loan Agreement for a Loan from a sibling? If I told my sister/uncles that we needed a formal loan agreement I think that they would be very offended. But one can always try... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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