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CSG Changes for Expats in France

Details of the changes to the charges were made by President Emmanuel Macron during a television address that was designed to pacify the anger of protesters in the country. Macron said that proposed increases to the contribution sociale généralisée (CSG) rate would be shelved for any person living on less than €22,850 a year.

As result only 30% of retirees will now have to pay the increased rate of CSG.

Expats and pensions exemptions

Furthermore, any expat living in France who carries an ‘E’ form, S1 health certificate, or who receives a government service pension will be exempt from additional charges as they qualify for 100% relief against the social charges on their pension income – any additional pension income will be subject to the charge unless additional exemptions apply.

Calculating liability

The amount of charges applicable to an expat will depend on their total taxable income – i.e. pension income, investment income and salary income.

Spouses are subject to a common rate. This is true regardless of whether one spouse could have claimed an exemption or different rate.

However, expats who are hoping to enjoy the more preferential rates will have to wait until the summer, following the submission of their 2018 tax return, at which point they may receive a rebate for any money they have overpaid in social charges since January 2019 (the date at which the new CSG charges took effect).

Prélèvement de Solidarité – different dates for different income

If an expat does not receive French state healthcare and instead receives it from another EU or EEA country, they will be subject to a flat rate 7.5% tax under the Prélèvement de Solidarité system.

Prélèvement de Solidarité does not apply to all types of income from the same date. Investment and passive income are only eligible for the tax from 1st January 2019; in contrast most capital gains and rental income from unfurnished properties are eligible from 1st January 2018.

Expat wealth management in France

Blacktower Financial Management can help you with your expat wealth management, including expat tax planning in France, to help you ensure that your investment, pensions and rental income is optimised to your best possible benefit.

Contact us today for information and advice.

Other News

QROPS transfers to get cheaper

CubeIt has just become more straightforward for those looking to transfer their pensions into a QROPS in France, with many pension providers promising to drastically reduce their exit charges in the wake of comments from Chancellor George Osborne saying he will introduce legislation to cap costs.

This comes in the wake of concerns that some savers have been discouraged from making the most of flexible pensions access because of exit charges of between 5% and 10%.

Osbourne commented, “The government will not allow financial firms to rip off customers who have spent their working lives saving hard for retirement.”

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Done & Dusted

The much talked about UK election is now well and truly behind us, how can the opinion polls have been so wrong you may be asking yourself, it had most investors worried about a hung parliament or even a Labour victory which we were led to believe would send the markets crashing down around us.

Well now you can let out a sigh of relief, or can you, the result was taken well by the UK equity markets and in the short term should provide businesses with a stable political and legislative background in which to invest for the future.

However it is debatable as to whether the UK election results will have any impact on interest rates, the Bank of England voted last week to keep the base rate at 0.50%. Official figures at the end of the last month showed the total size of the economy increased by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. That was half the 0.6 per cent growth rate seen in the previous quarter and the worst performance since late 2012 – raising fears that the recovery is running out of steam.

Read More

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