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French income tax


Ron Avery

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At the begimnning of the year, there was a lot of postings about how, why and when to send your French Income tax return.  I did mine on line, after several attempts and help from the SW France tax office in the Dordogne ( Thanks for the E mail link, Les) managed it successfully.  But now what?? 

When does it have to be paid and how do I receive notification of the amount?  I know I can pay on-line but I need the reference number from the bill to do so.  Anyone who has paid in previous years any idea of the payment timetable please 

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We do ours the hard way by filling in forms manually, I don't know if it makes any difference. Last year, a notification came through the post in September, and it had to be paid to the local Trésor Public by 15 November.

So it looks as if you are safe for a while yet. 

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Next year will be a bit different though. You will still get your bill later in the year. 

Firstly if you take out a prelevement that will start in January 2006 until October and that will be based on the payments you make this year adjustments will be shown on your bill that comes in late summer and if you realise that your tax bill  is going to radically different to the amount you pay this year, then you can tell them once you have filled in your tax form and they will adjust the prelevement payments. Otherwise if you are underpaying on your prelevement payments they will take the extra money out in Nov and Dec.  

If you don't do a prelevement then will have to make three payments next year based on the amount you will be charged this year, sort of, as September's payment is usually variable.

These payments have to be in by certain dates, this year they were 15 feb, 16 Mai  and 15th Sept the first two of these payments are an exact third of the amount you will pay this year. If you don't pay by midnight on these dates then there is a fine. Then on the 15th of September you will pay the difference, or maybe even be reimbursed.

I have a feeling that these dates will be mentioned when your impot bill for this year comes.

 

I hope that this is clear. If it isn't I'll try to explain it all a little better.

 

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I have just had a quick trip to my french house and found a reminder to complete my "Declaration Des Revenus 2004 (Form 2042)".  If I had done my research properly I would have realised that I had to get one of these completed earlier, so I have probably given M. Chirac another reason to be disgruntled with the Brits!!!!!  

I should explain that our only incomes are our UK salaries, which are taxed here by PAYE, so I think the return should be fairly straightforward - however, as this is the first time I have completed one of these, I would appreciate some guidance from those more experienced out there:

The French Entree site explains that "earned income from a UK activity, should continue to be taxed in the UK but you still need to declare the taxable amount on your French return as 'revenue exonérés à prendre en compte pour le calcul du taux effectif global'

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a separate section on the form for this - so is there something I have missed or do I simply include the salaries in the general "Traitements, Salaires" section and add a note to explain that they are UK-taxed?

Thanks

Stuart

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Sorry - second question:

I have inserted my french address as at 1st January 2005, but the form also asks for my address as at 1st January 2004.  We only bought the house in March 2004, so do I leave this section blank, or put in my UK address?

Thanks again

Stuart 

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A quick trip back to your french house?

Are you a french resident or not? If you aren't a french resident then you don't pay income tax in France.

Exceptions would be that you should declare rental or any other income specific to France.

 

 

 

 

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Stuart

It would seem from what you have posted, you have no need to declare any income to the French tax people as you were not resident in France in 2004, so just ignore it.

Next year, if you are going to live here for more than 183 days you will need to do a return and will have to get a Form 2047 as well, this is the one for declaring income from abroad, IE the UK. 

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Ron/TU

That sounds good to me and thanks very much for the help.  Should I just reply to the tax office that "nous ne sommes pas domiciliées en France"?

If this means that I just have my taxes d'habitation and fonciere to worry about, does anyone have a magic wand for getting rid of those as well??? 

Stuart

 

 

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Yes something along those lines will suffice, however you will have to pay the local taxes.  You may also find the Taxe D'habitation will be based on the income of the previous owners until you make a declaration, but I am not at all sure how this works having not had a bill for this for the last two years
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