JanTy Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Our newbuild in Brittany was finished last June complete with Geothermal heating. We sent off the certificate/facture to the Impôts immediately & finally received an acknowledgement in February stating that we could only claim if the house was a primary residence. As we have not spent more than 183 days in France in any one year we concluded that it was not a primary residence until we move permanently later this year.We have since discovered that, in fact, it is our priomary residence by dint of the fact that the majority of our assets arre now in France & we can, therefore claim residency as from June 2007 if we wish. However, for various reasons, we are finding it difficult to decide whether to claim residency from last June which will mean a lot of shifting about of money, tax refunds etc whiich will, no doubt be complicated. Alternativelly we could claim residency from January this year.The problem is that we are unsure of the timescale during which we can claim the tax refund on the Geothermal heating. We have been told only during the first 12 months, that we have 2 years & even that we have several years by people who have installed various types of qualifying heaters.Please can anyone out there clarify the length of time we have to claim the refund (which for Geothermal is substantial) in order to help us decidewhat to do. If we claim residency from June, the refund will be vital in balancing the books here in the UK & in France.Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachouette Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Sorry to have no answer............but why not ask your local Impôts - ours are always very helpful.Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanTy Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 We're in the UK until mid May & lengthy conversations over the phone in French without any facial cues are a bit difficult. I know I could write & ask but, going by the length of time it took them to get an acknowledgment out, I thought it might be quicker to ask if anyone here knew the answer. If not, I'll just have to write. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lachouette Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Until someone else comes up with a better answer..........we can email our questions in English to our Impôts and get a reply in English, so why not try that - infotax-southwest@dgi.finances.gouv.fr. We live in the Limousin so are miles away from you, but they might help!Bon courage,Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 You will find full details of the tax reliefs set out in [url=http://www3.finances.gouv.fr/calcul_impot/2008/pdf/form-2041-GR.pdf]tax guidance note 2041GR[/url].EQUIPEMENTS DE PRODUCTION D’ENERGIE UTILISANT UNE SOURCE D’ENERGIE RENOUVELABLE, POMPES A CHALEUR SPECIFIQUES, EQUIPEMENTS DE RACCORDEMENT A UN RESEAU DE CHALEUR ET EQUIPEMENTS DE RECUPERATION ET DE TRAITEMENT DES EAUX PLUVIALESL’année au titre de laquelle le crédit d’impôt est applicable diffère selon que ces équipements s’intègrent dans un logement neuf, dans un logement en état futur d’achèvement, en construction ou dans un logement déjà achevé. Lorsque ces équipements s’intègrent à un logement en construction ou acquis en l’état futur d’achèvement, le crédit d'impôt s'impute sur l’impôt dû au titre des revenus de l’année au cours de laquelle le logement est achevé. Lorsque ces équipements s’intègrent à un logement neuf acquis achevé, le crédit d'impôt s'impute sur l’impôt dû au titre des revenus de l’année d’acquisition du logement. Lorsque ces équipements s’intègrent à un logement déjà achevé, le crédit d'impôt s'impute sur l’impôt dû au titre des revenus de l’année au cours de laquelle la dépense a été payée.In that basis, your claim is only potentially allowable against 2007 income, so you would have to submit a tax declaration for 2007. However, tax residency doesn't necessarily solve your problem because I'm not sure whether the tax office will ask for proof that you have been occupying the property as your full time residence. If they still classify it as a secondary residence, then you've lost the relief....[:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanTy Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 Thanks for that Sunday Driver. Looks like we may have to tot up how long we've spent there since the house was finished & see how it looks. However the 'Post-It' note which they sent attached to the info sheet stated that the house had to be a maison primaire which it is due to the criterion of most of our assets being in France which, as I read it makes the number of days spent there irrelevant. It's a bit complicated as we didn't get 'Reception du Chantier' until halfway through June 2007.Perhaps an email to our Centre d'Impôts might clarify things - assuming they answer. Failing that, a visit when we get back to France.Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJSLIV Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I really don't think you have much hope of getting this refund.The fact that you are saying that we will have to look into it the next time we are in France certainly doesn't help your case.Your assets may well be in France, I am assuming that you have moved your investment portfolio to France in advance of your move, but as far as the tax rebate is concerned it will be a matter proving that how much time has been spent at the property. The kind of issues that will be addressed will probably include....Has it been your habitual residence?Is your family life centred around the property for the majority of the time?Where do you live whilst working? etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 [quote user="JanTy"]However the 'Post-It' note which they sent attached to the info sheet stated that the house had to be a maison primaire which it is due to the criterion of most of our assets being in France [/quote]You may well have most of your assets in France which makes you tax resident here, but as Bjsliv says, that's not the relevent issue. Many French taxpayers have second properties that they do not occupy full time and which are therefore classed as maison secondaires.In the final analysis, you have not been occupying the property as your permanent home - ie, you haven't moved in lock stock and barrel and you still aren't living there full time. If you had moved over here in Summer 2007, then you would have been obliged to register for heathcare and you could have produced your assurance maladie paperwork as proof of residence at that address. Even importing and registering your car here at the time of the move may have supported your claim, as would registering with your mairie in December for the local elections. Could you produce a full set of utility bills for the final six months of 2007 evidencing full time living expenses?I suspect you haven't any of this type of proof, so it will be very difficult to persuade the impots otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanTy Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 Thanks for all the replies. We have actually been splitting our time between UK & France on an 'un mois sur deux' basis since mid June & since the beginning of December we have spent more time in France than the UK. We pay our EDF, FT & water bills by direct debit but have not yet re-registered our car. Our house is a newbuild so we haven't had any tax bills yet.It may seem a ridiculous situation but as I have an 86 year old mother in the UK & am an only child the problems should be obvious. We are doing our best to sort out a way of being completely full time & think we will have it sorted by September but that doesn't help our problem.Thanks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boiling a frog Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 I suspect that the impots may be suspicious if ,with your first tax return, you include an application for a refund for your heating.They may ask for proof that it is your sole residence and your primary residence.They could ask if you have registered for health care in France/do you have a social security number.I presume you have not.They could ask if you have a bank account here in France and then examine its usage.(You probably have a non resident account at the moment)They could ask for your phone bills and then ask about usage.Or a whole variety of other things to prove that you are resident /tax resident in France ,it is your sole and primary residence and it was your sole primary residence when the heating was installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.