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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
House hunters in France are having a bit more of the worry
taken out of buying property this year. The French
government is trying to increase transparency in house
sales by requiring the inclusion in the title deeds of a dossier de
diagnostic technique starting from November 1 this year.
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Read more...
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
Dear Editor,
I refer to page 13 of the May edition, item 1 in the Feedback
section regarding French succession tax payable by a French tax
resident on receipt of a UK-based inheritance from a UK tax
resident. In cases where the beneficiary is a tax resident in
France on the date of the death and has been so for six or more
of the previous ten years, Bill Blevin’s response seems on the
face of it to be at odds with the French government’s own
website page http://impots.gouv.fr/ which states that:
“Si le défunt n’avait pas son domicile fiscal en France et
pour les décès intervenus à compter du 1er janvier 1999,
l’imposition dépend du domicile de celui qui reçoit les biens: le
bénéficiaire est domicilié fiscalement en France au jour du décès
et l’a été depuis au moins six ans dans les dix années précédant
la date du décès, tous les biens meubles et immeubles français et
étrangers reçus sont imposables en France.”
Nothing in the rest of the document suggests that succession
tax would not be applied for any ‘normal’ inheritance.
If there is indeed an error in Bill's piece, some of your
readers may get an expensive shock; if my research is correct, a
UK IHT free estate of £300,000 passing from UK parent to one
child who is a tax resident in France could attract French
succession tax of roughly €70,000. I for one would like to think
that he has information that I do not, and that his piece was in
fact, correct.
Steve Chittenden, by email
Bill Blevins replies:
The page quoted from the www.impots.gouv.fr website makes no
mention of the impact of double tax agreements (DTAs -
conventions internationales). DTAs override domestic legislation.
There is some conflict between the UK and French inheritance
tax systems, because the UK taxes the estate of the deceased
whereas France taxes the beneficiary. However, Clause 5(2) of
the inheritance taxes convention of 1963 between the UK and
France makes it very clear that:
“Where a person was at the time of his death domiciled in
some part of Great Britain duty shall not be imposed in France
on any property not situated in France, and in determining the
amount or rate of duty payable on a property which is
chargeable in France, any property not situated in France shall
be disregarded”.The agreement also extends to Northern Ireland.
‘Property’ means assets. ‘Domicile’’ has different meanings in
the UK and France and where there is any doubt about the
deceased’s domicile for the purposes of the DTA, it is defined
along normal tax residence lines.
So, in practical terms where a deceased individual died taxresident
in the UK, there can be no French inheritance tax
(succession tax) except on French-situated assets (which would
normally just be French real estate and shares in Frenchincorporated
companies that the deceased had owned).
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
Dear Editor,
Much as I love my big Collins/Robert, I am tempted
by the idea that, for perhaps €150-€200, one of the electronic
dictionaries might help to decrease time taken to
answer queries.
Any of your readers have views on the usefulness, quality, etc of
any of these devices?
Yours faithfully,
Martin Brady, by email
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
Dear Sir,
Having read Marlene Hewitt's letter on the
brown hare, I thought she might be interested to
know that here in the Lot-et-Garonne our
Syndicat de Chasse (which allows three hares to
be killed per season) releases hares throughout
the spring/summer. There are several people who
keep breeding pairs and will release the leverets
into the wild as and when appropriate. However,
they also purchase breeding pairs from Central
Europe at €180/pair. These are released
immediately into the wild and the offspring fare
better than those released by the locals. This is a
common event, carried out by many syndicates,
but I have no knowledge of how many pairs are
imported throughout the season.
As an aside, last weekend I was in Suffolk
and at night, while lamping foxes, we saw nine
hares on 120 acres, and last December on the Isle
of Man I saw six hares in a five-acre field! It is
good to know the hare is still flourishing in
certain areas.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Willmot, by email
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
We have recently had a house built on nearly two
hectares of land which has no vegetation on it.
We plan to plant trees and then leave them to
grow naturally. We have heard that it is possible
to get a grant and that if a certain size of plot is
planted with one type of tree it is possible to get
tax relief. Could someone advise us on this
please?
Helen and Barry Raphael,
47360 Lusignan-Petit
Jeanne Livingstone replies:
I spoke to the DDAF (Direction départementale
de l’agriculture et de la forêt) of the Lot-et-
Garonne who said that you have the right to
plant the trees, but they have decided not to give
financial aid for tree plantations in that region,
I’m afraid. Other regions may decide otherwise.
For example in Poitou-Charentes the DDAF is
waiting to hear whether the conseil régional is
going to offer subsidies for plantations of more
than four hectares. Anyone else hoping for help
in their region should therefore contact their
local DDAF for information. Be sure to check
what type of soil and drainage you have before
deciding what trees to plant.
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