Do 'first years' have to submit a French tax form?

[Nickd]

Having only been resident in France since Sept 04, do I need to fill out a French tax form now or do I wait till next year? I would expect to submit a UK one, since I was earning there till last Sept. My income in France has only amounted to a few hundred Euros in the six months.

Perhaps someone who knows can let me know what I ought to do - I've had conflicting reports, so could do with a definitive answer, not that such a thing ever seems possible in this country!

Nick

[LesLauriers]

Assuming that France is now "home" then a return should have been submitted covering the period from the day after you arrived in Sept 04 to 31st Dec 04.

Best get down to your local tax office asap.

[Iceni]

Yes - it should include your worldwide income and any tax suffered in another country. Double taxation agreements exist with most civilised places (even UK) thus limiting tax exposure.

Better do it PDQ as our return had to be in by April 4. But not sure how "they" will know if you don't.

John

not

[Boiling a frog]

You have only been resident for 120 days maximum in the tax year so if I were you I would wait till next year.

 

[LesLauriers]

"If you move to France with the intention of residing there indefinitely you will become a French tax resident the day after your arrival...an introduction to French tax from Blevins Franks Tax Advisory Service"

Copied from http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-legal/

[Boiling a frog]

[quote]"If you move to France with the intention of residing there indefinitely you will become a French tax resident the day after your arrival...an introduction to French tax from Blevins Franks Tax Adviso...[/quote]

So they are mind readers as well as tax collectors Must come in handy

[LesLauriers]

"So they are mind readers as well as tax collectors Must come in handy"

I doubt it, they probably just use a little common sense and simple logic.

[Hegs]

As I understand it, if you have bought a house in France and that is your only habitation you will not have any luck with the 120 day rule, that only kicks in when you have multiple residences and share time between them.

[LesLauriers]

Leaving the UK in September you will have income from 6th April up to the date you left in September, against this you will have a full years UK tax allowance. If you were taxed through paye, you should be due a rebate.

Arriving in France in September you will be taxed on any income received between date of arrival and 31st December, against this you will have a full years French tax allowance.

In my case I arrived on 21st December and submitted a return covering the 10 days to 31st December.

From the UK I received a tax rebate of several thousand pounds, paid 11% social charges but no tax on unearned income at 10% in France instead of 40% tax in UK.

As my tax bill was zero I did not have to pay tax d’habitation for the following year and received 563€ towards the cost of my kids school books for the rentreé.

All in all it can work out to be very much in your favour to submit a return in these circumstances.