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Capital Gains on Spreadbetting


beedee

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Hi there

Does anybody have any experience of how the French Revenue treats Capital Gains on spreadbetting? The UK Revenue considers such gains to be a reult of "a bet" and therefore outside the scope of CGT - hopefully the French do the same....

many thanks

beedee

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
I hope you can find out something about this. I would certainly like to

know, although it is not sufficiently important for me to chase up just

yet (ISA/PEP - PEA shennanigans are still occupying my time).

At the moment, given that our PEP & ISA gains* are going to become

"visible" (and, therefore, "imposables"), I might even be pleased to

discover that S/Bs.

Anyway, please do come back with any information you may discover on this.

*As I currently understand it (no guarantees of correctness but it is

my working hypothesis), sales within PEPs & ISAs which result in

gains will be taxed in France, the gain being calculated as sale price

minus purchase price (and costs) irrespective of when the purchase was

made (i.e. maybe years before becoming tax resident in France).

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  • 10 months later...

Regarding capital gains on your spreadbetting returns, I am afraid to say that the situation will not occur.

I still live in the UK, but myself and wife are seriously considering the move to France. I e-mailed my own spreadbetting company, CMC Markets enquiring to the situation regarding speadbetting in France. They informed me that it is illegal to speadbet in France.

The only way you can trade in France, is to have a UK address, then it is legal to trade in France. But you will  be unable to trade in France if you try to open an account with a French address.

Hope this helps.

 

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If the profits (gains) are significant, then set-up an offshore jurisdiction limited company and keep the profits/gains there. Appoint yourself a working representative and award yourself a salary, thus allowing you to import funds legally.

Using the various benefits of the right offshore jurisdiction, most tax can be negated.

 

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Even then I don't think it's easy. I understood that the 'working representative' (i.e. person who draws the salary) cannot be a director, or a member of the director's family/household. So you need others to act as directors of your offshore company. OK as long as you trust them.

Although I agree 100% that there are ways around just about any taxation issue, the big problem with France is that so many people (and I include the very expensive so-called expert financial advisors in this) concentrate solely on tax and overlook the even more punitive social security charges associated with drawing, and even more so paying, a salary in France. So you can still end up with only about a third of what you thought you were getting.

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Oh dear Will , never be a director of an offshore tax avoidance vehicle!

One approach is ownership of the trading company through a Lichenstein Anstart, which owns say a Swiss corporation held only through bearer shares. Could be a Luxembourg corporation.

The "Directors" are the lawyer and accountant on whose wall the brass plate appears and classically two of their junior staff!

As I said before, depends on the profit/gain, since thje set-up and annual maintenance costs are not for the faint hearted. It's why the rich become richer and the super-rich become supra-rich!

Or, as Leona Hemsley said (before she was arrested for tax evasion, of course!) "Taxes are for the little people!"

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not wishing to post incorrect information on this site, in an earlier post I claimed that it is illegal to spreadbet in France, with a French address. I based this on an email from my own spreadbetting company CMC Markets.

Having since emailed four other spreadbetting companies, two of which I have an account with, and two that I do not. They all assured me that it is legal to spreadbet in France, with a French address, providing the account is opened before leaving the UK. Proof of your new French address would be required, but other than that it seems perfectly legal to carry on trying to win/lose your shirt whilst living in France.

I have since emailed CMC Markets enquiring why they think that it is illegal to spreadbet in France, but as yet have had no reply.

 

 

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Unfortunately no nearer having even the faintest idea how things stand here in France.

I heard from someone in Finland that the Finnish authorities (apparently) bowed to an EU ruling on the subject (and accepted that s/bs are free of tax) but I have no reference for chapter/verse as far as the EU reg is concerned.

That was a specific question that I asked IGIndex but they sidestepped/ignored that one.

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