Postillion Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 We bought our French house in 1989 using an off-the-shelf UK company. We now wish to sell the shares to ourselves and own it under French law 50/50 each. We have twice asked a French notaire if there would be any French taxes to pay should we do so, hesaid he didn't know but would find out - he has failed to come up with an answer. We have also asked the French taxe office the same question - they have not answered our letter. Please does anyone know the answer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJSLIV Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Irrespective of any French liability for tax I think you are likely to be hit with three sets of costs.1 The company sells the property .......UK Corporation Tax on any gain.2 The company is liquidated so that you receive the proceeds............UK Capital Gains Tax on any gain.3 You purchase the property ...........French Notaires Fees..Could be quite a cash outflow.At least you won't have to pay any estate agents fees.You need to find a good accountant to minimise the chances of incurring some or all of the above. Surprisingly the greatest potential risk is in the UK, not in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbogardis<P>sysadmin - Leggett Immobilier <a target=_blank Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Hi,first post here...We were advised by two notaires that we would be liable to capital gains tax in France. The question of off set costs though are unclear. One said we could be free of the capgains if we sold after 15 yrs, the other said we would have to amortise the costs of the house over some period and therefore we would have less to offset over time... arghthe second notaire is the one we tend to believe, he told us that the impots would want 33% of the gain, after any offset costs which, of course now, only includes factures from registered French artisans, no building materials can be offset if a DIYer did the work.the only ray of sunshine in this morass of dark cloud is the fact that uk inland revenue will allow you to offset the costs of french taxation against any gains made in the uk.nightmare all round.lb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owens88 Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 As accountant explained the amortisation to me. It starts after year 5 and by year 16 there is no tax to pay - in France. Probably no net benefit if you are going to stump up the balance in the uk anyway ?John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 My reading of the abatement of CGT for second homes in France was that it only applied to real people as opposed to Bodies Corporate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owens88 Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Oops sorry I missed that aspect.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postillion Posted September 28, 2005 Author Share Posted September 28, 2005 Many thanks to you all for your help. One point - a French Notaire at the French Property Exhibition in London said that the rule for no CGT after 15 year's ownership applies to both companies and private individuals. Oh why do they all have to disagree with each other! Has anyone actually done this change? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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