New French taxes

[Steve]

I wonder if anyone here would like to comment on the new French taxes?

Their new socialist leader seems to be trying to drive Brits and other foreigners out of his country, with very high taxes on things like 2nd homes in France.

Some say it also affects those who just happen to choose to live there.. how can this be?

All info/views/details very much welcomed.

Steve

[Mike]

I wonder if anyone here would like to comment on the new French taxes

Steve

I suppose that would be me then

I am in two minds about this, coming from the Westcountry, where prices have been driven up by second home owners that leave them empty for the best part of the year and to the point where young people on average local wages have very little chance of buying a home. I could not really argue against a tax on second homes.

Here, where I live in Brittany, partly due to the inheritance law and the French people preferring to buy modern homes rather than renovating older ones, there are still large numbers of houses that have been empty for years.
So it doesn't really make sense to me to deter people buying them as a second home.
I think that the extra taxes raised may well be offset by the amount of people being deterred from buying.

As for other taxes, I have opted and have already submitted a French tax return ( many other expats over here do not ) my allowances over here are higher than in the UK plus being retired I get about half the equivalent of the UK rates on my house deducted so I am not complaining.

[Steve]

Mike,

Several folks here seem to own second homes in France, so we may get other comments.

The new laws seemed aimed at them more than you. I don't know how concerned they are.

One thing I couldn't understand from the reporting was how it all affected folks who emigrate to France and have their only home there. The reports said it did but not how.

My guess is it is the large capital gains tax he is introducing. I thought that went away if you lived there long enough though.

The whole announcement sounded dumb and typical confused socialist thinking - but maybe there is something clever about it that I am missing.

Steve

[Nigel]

Don't forget the new breath test carrying law if driving in France. There's supposed to be two of them. I can't remember when the grace period finishes, sorry.

Nigel.

[Mike]

]

Mike,

Several folks here seem to own second homes in France, so we may get other comments.

The new laws seemed aimed at them more than you. I don't know how concerned they are.

One thing I couldn't understand from the reporting was how it all affected folks who emigrate to France and have their only home there. The reports said it did but not how.

My guess is it is the large capital gains tax he is introducing. I thought that went away if you lived there long enough though.

The whole announcement sounded dumb and typical confused socialist thinking - but maybe there is something clever about it that I am missing.

Steve

I'm surprised that no one else has commented on this subject, as you say there must be a few on here that own a second home in France. However like most "Headline news" I think the actual reality will be no great change.
As in the UK capital gains tax is exempt on your main home and I think the extra taxation for second home owners applys only to unfurnished properties.
There is quite a good article here http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/m...-property.html

[Mike]

Don't forget the new breath test carrying law if driving in France. There's supposed to be two of them. I can't remember when the grace period finishes, sorry.

Nigel.

Nigel,

Actually only 1 is required to keep within the law, I think the idea though is to test yourself before driving so If you only had one and tested OK you couldn't drive anyway without breaking the law! All seems pretty daft to me as I can see people relying on a test kit that costs a couple of euros whether to drive or not.
The grace period runs until the 1st November.
Bye the way I have yet to see one on sale anywhere yet! Perhaps I'd better walk.............

[Frenchman]

Re: French tax proposals
The proposals are that Capital gains tax on properties rises to about 35% from 15 %, a massive hike in my opinion, although you can offset any money spent on renovations and improvements to certain types of properties. At the moment the CGT on properties decreases at 1% per year so that after 15 years the CTG is zero, I don't know if that would change under Mr Hollandes proposals
The other proposal is to raise tax on property rentals from 15% to 34.5%
These proposals would be aimed at foreign property owners whose main property is not in France.
Under EU laws a country cannot discriminate against other members of the EU.
This is where the new proposals might fail.
If they do so then any tax on income in France could be offset against tax in other EU countries.
This is how I understand the situation

John

[Steve]

John,

Thanks for that info. That sort of things was what I had seen in the media....but some media outlets took that anti foreigner line about it and some didn't...saying it applied just as much to the French or folks who had their main home in France.

As you say, it is normally said to be illegal to try and do things like extra taxation to those from other member states, so you'd think it simply couldn't be done in the way some media outlets portrayed it as it would simply be illegal and couldn't stand up in court etc.

I'm not impressed by this new French leader from what I've seen and heard so far. Mind you, when was the last French leader who was even half decent... Not that we can crow about ours either.

Steve

[Frenchman]

I think the media take great pleasure in trying to stir up trouble between the UK and other countries, especially France.
I don't think anyone is trying to oust the brits.
They are just trying to raise more income by higher taxation.
The French would certainly not be too pleased with higher taxation.
Talking to people in France, even brits, at the time of the election there seemed to be a wave of popularity for Mr Hollande.
This was the same with Sarkosy
Its quite a common theme to elect leaders on a wave of popularity only to regret it soon after.

John

[Steve]

John,

It does sound like France is headed for pretty hefty taxes in general. As a way to try and deal with the debt everyone is in it is one way to go I suppose.

The rubbish leaders we do not vote for can be even worse of course, I mean we had Brown didn't we!

I've voted for Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and Boris Johnson. Who could ever want most of the other 'leaders' we've had though. The sour drivel from Ken Livingstone, the totally out of his depth Gordon Brown, the ultra boring ones like John Major, and now we have Cameron.. who I wish all the best but whose government seem to panic an awful lot... and who seem to make a lot of daft decisions.

Re the debt crisis and French taxes and ours etc etc. As it affects the whole World, I Personally do not see why the whole World can not come together and agree a restart of all things financial. No debts, new currency... ideally one for the whole World... etc. We act as if we, the people of the World, have no control over the World... which seems amazingly silly.

Steve

[Frenchman]

I suppose an 11 euro on the spot penalty for not carrying a breath tester will help ease the tax burden Ha Ha
They are for sale on Amazon at 5.95/pair.

[Mike]

It looks as if there has been a "U" turn over the taxes by Francois Hollande http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...day-homes.html

[Steve]

Mike,

Hmmm.. I read that story as showing even more that the man is simply confused and doesn't know what he is doing.

I just looked around a little and from what I can see of it they haven't even debated the idea of these new rules yet, so the outcome seems to be totally unknown really.

The FT certainly doesn't say it is all off etc... here is their story that is a few days newer than that other one: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2aa708d8-c...#axzz20mvJ9NZP

Steve

[Mike]

Mike,

Hmmm.. I read that story as showing even more that the man is simply confused and doesn't know what he is doing.


Steve

I can't really argue about that, I also take most of what I read in the news with a pinch of salt!