Although the official beginning of Summer is not for a few weeks, these last few weeks of lovely sunny weather already makes it feel like summer is here.
Tax season is almost at a close. Those in departments numbered over 55 have until Thursday 5th June to finalise their tax declarations. I hope you managed to submit your returns in time.

If you now realise that you missed out some income or misdeclared income, you can still amend your tax return on the online webpage. Please note however that as the return has been filed by the deadline, this will generate a tax statement and any tax due on this first statement must be paid promptly. If you amend your return on the website now, this will generate a second statement which may request more tax from you and therefore adjust your monthly payments or will result in a tax rebate. Whichever the case, you must pay the first tax statement first and wait until the second statement is issued.

In June there is still one more declaration to complete if you are a trustee of a trust for which one of the beneficiaries, settlors or trustees are French resident. A trust must also be declared if it contains French based assets.

Although Trusts do not exist under French law, the French courts have accepted that Trusts set up in other countries can have effects in France (Paris Court of Appeal decision, dated 10 January 1970, Epoux Courtois and others of Ganay) provided that they have been set up in compliance with the laws of the country in which it was set up and that they don’t contain any provisions that go against French public policy (ordre public) especially as regards the réserve heriditaire (mandatory heirs rights).

Although generally, if it says Trust in the document, then it needs to be declared, there are some exceptions such as Unit Trusts, a company trust, or an investment trust. Also pension trusts do not need to be declared in the annual trust declaration provided the trustees of these pension trusts are subject to the law of a State which has signed an agreement with the French state to provide administrative assistance in the prevention of fraud and tax evasion (https://bofip.impots.gouv.fr/bofip/7886-PGP.html/identifiant=BOI-DJC-TRUST-20220330). This includes pension trusts in Malta.

There are two declarations that need to be done, TRUST 1 (https://www.impots.gouv.fr/formulaire/2181-trust1/declaration-de-constitution-de-modification-ou-dextinction-dun-trust),  if you have never declared the trust before or it is a new trust and TRUST 2 (https://www.impots.gouv.fr/formulaire/2181-trust2/declaration-annuelle-de-la-valeur-venale-au-1er-janvier-des-biens-droits-et- ) which is the annual trust declaration which must be done every year. Unfortunately, you cannot submit these forms online like you can when you do your income tax return, they must be submitted in paper form and sent to the Non-Residents tax office in Noissy-le-Grand before 15th June every year.

For those with Pru Assurance Vies or those thinking of investing in a Pru Assurance Vie there is news as, on Tuesday 27th May 2025, the Prudential Assurance Company (PAC) board reviewed the Prufund Expected Growth Rates (EGR) as part of the quarterly review process. The Expected Growth Rate (EGR) is the forward looking element of the Prufund smoothing process. Pru announced that the EGRs for all the offshore versions of Prufund remain unchanged. The Unit Price Adjustment (UPA) part of the smoothing process, which is a backward looking element, and which is formulaic and non-discretionary are also reviewed quarterly. This quarter there is a negative UPA for the Prufund Cautious fund in GBP of – 2.3%.

At the beginning of June, I shall join some of my colleagues and some of our product providers for our adviser meeting in Paris. It will be interesting catching up with my colleagues and also hearing our providers views on the markets in what has been a very interesting first part of the year!

After all the May bank holidays, I am looking forward to having some normal working weeks and getting lots of work done before the summer holidays. If you have any questions or would like to organise a meeting to discuss your finances, please do get in touch.

I recently attended the FEIFA Annual Adviser Conference in London and wanted to share a brief summary of the latest market insights, along with how advisers are continuing to evolve their approach to best serve clients in today’s environment.

The Federation of European Independent Financial Advisers (FEIFA) – not to be confused with the football governing body! – was founded 16 years ago by a group of experienced IFA firms across Europe. They saw the need for an organisation that could uphold professional standards and represent the interests of advisers and their clients with both industry bodies and regulators across the continent. Spectrum is proud to be one of the original founding members, and we continue to support and build on those standards through our ongoing involvement.

The annual conference brings together FEIFA members and leading industry voices to discuss the unique challenges of advising cross-border clients. As Head of the Spectrum Investment Committee, it remains a valuable and important event in my calendar.

Avoiding volatility by sitting in cash is not a good idea either as Inflation diminishes the purchasing power of cash – as illustrated in this Equities v’s Cash ‘inflation adjusted’ performance chart.

He also stressed the unconsidered challenges that passive investments (eg ETFs) pose to market stability due to being “forced sellers & and forced buyers” therefore adding to volatility.

Active management, in his view, remains vital, especially in 2025, and he shared a wonderful example of how active he has been in the last year:

The below chart is the Shopify share price, a share he has held for some time, the red dots are where he sold some shares (trimmed) and the yellow dots are where he added money – this shows that active management is much more than strategically choosing which companies to own or not own, but how to add value through tactical decisions.

… BUT as Harry Markowitz, the architect of Modern Portfolio Theory & Efficient Frontier said “Diversification is the only free lunch to investing”.

Therefore while passive investing remains a useful tool, LGT and Spectrum advocate for highly diversified, actively managed portfolios to help manage risk and improve long-term returns.

If you are going to own passive investments you have to be active with them.

This fits strongly with my recent newsletter about risk (click here) – If most ‘Balanced’ portfolios are similar to each other and most ‘Growth’ portfolios are similar to each other then the outcome for you, as my client, is not in picking between two balanced funds or two growth funds… it’s ensuring we choose correctly between Balanced or Growth in the first place!!

Good risk profiling conversations make sure we start in the right place.

Lions V’s Australia
Of course, seeing family and friends is the main priority — but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t something else I’m particularly excited about.

As a lifelong rugby fan, getting the chance to see the British & Irish Lions take on Australia in both the 1st and 3rd Test Matches — plus the Queensland Reds in early July — is nothing short of a bucket list experience for me.

As always, if there’s anything you’d like to go over before I head off, just let me know. And if anything comes up while I’m away, I’ll do my best to ensure it’s handled smoothly.

Contact me if you have any questions via the below channels, or the booking system – always drop me a quick message if you need a time slot outside of those available.

Mobile & Whatsapp: +33 6 87 13 68 71

Email: peter.brooke@spectrum-ifa.com
Calendly booking system: https://calendly.com/peterbrooke/30min

I wrote an article back in 2021 which you can read here.  I just wanted to offer a reminder of the 10 most important reasons why you should consider having an Assurance Vie whilst living in France:

1. Tax Efficiency: Assurance vie allows for tax-deferred growth on income and gains while the funds remain within the policy.
2. Flexible Investment Options: With my help and planning you can choose from a variety of funds, including equity, bond, and special products, allowing for a diversified investment strategy.
3. Access to Capital: You have full access to your capital at all times, with the option to take regular income withdrawals (possibly subject to an early exit penalty in the early years).
4. Inheritance Planning: Assurance vie is highly effective for inheritance planning, allowing policyholders to designate beneficiaries and providing significant tax-free allowances.
5. Long-Term Savings: It serves as a viable alternative to traditional pension plans, offering flexibility in saving for retirement.
6. Potential for Higher Returns: By investing in unit-linked funds, there is potential for higher returns compared to traditional savings accounts.
7. Social Charges on Gains: Only the gain element of withdrawals is subject to social charges, which can be advantageous compared to other investment vehicles.
8. International Options: International assurance vie policies offer additional benefits, such as investment in multiple currencies and broader investment choices.  We offer these at Spectrum meaning if you move country your Assurance Vie is often portable.
9. Adaptability to Risk Tolerance: We offer regular reviews so can switch funds as your circumstances or attitudes toward investment risk change.
10. Tax-Free Allowance After Eight Years: After eight years, gains can be offset against a tax-free allowance of €9,200 for couples or €4,600 for singles, enhancing tax efficiency.

You can now book a 30 minute zoom meeting with me (at your convenience) by clicking here.

May is when France comes out to play because the weather is warmer and the days are getting sunnier. However it is also the month when, if you haven’t already begun your tax declaration, you need to at least make a start on it over the next few weeks. The first deadline for filing the tax return is the 20th May for the paper returns which you will need to complete if this is the first year doing a tax return and you don’t have a tax number or login details to do it online.

The other deadlines for submitting both your income tax return and where applicable, your Wealth Tax return, are as follows:

If you do not at least attempt to get some sort of declaration submitted by these deadlines a 10% penalty will apply to the amount of taxed owed. Luckily, Spectrum has a free tax guide which you can find HERE. If you have any questions on this guide, please do get in touch.

I know that it may seem daunting and believe me, even though I was a tax adviser and used to do hundreds of declarations for my clients, I still find doing my own quite a challenge! So to help you, here are my ten top tips:

• HAVE YOUR FIGURES READY– Make sure that you know what kinds of income you need to declare and what the total annual figures are, whether they are taken off a bank statement or a tax certificate.
• KNOWING THE EXCHANGE RATE: The Banque de France average exchange rate for 2024 is €1.18 to £1. This is also the rate used by the Connexion newspaper. Make sure you have all your foreign income figures converted into Euros ready to input into the tax form.
• CHECK THE FIGURES ALREADY ENTERED ON THE TAX FORM – French source income (pensions, salaries, French bank income etc) should already be entered on the tax form. Whilst this information is generally correct, it is still worth checking these figures with any tax certificates issued by the relevant body or your December 2024 payslip.
• FOREIGN INCOME ANNEXE – I have noticed this year that whilst some annexe forms such as the 3916 are automatically ticked and carried over from the previous year, the 2047 for foreign income is not. You will therefore have to tick this box in the ANNEXE section of the online form to make this form appear. You must enter all foreign income received in 2024 on this form and then make sure that it is carried over or inputted again into the main 2042 tax form.
• CHECK THAT ALL THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF INCOME ARE TICKED – This applies on both the 2047 form and the main tax form (2042) as when you then click to the next page you will only be shown the boxes and pages that correspond to the income selected on the earlier page. So if you are only declaring pensions and bank interest, only those pages will appear. If you have other income like rental income or business income, you need to tick the relevant box for the page to appear. You can also look at the declaration that you did last year under the “documents” section on the main page and see what boxes you completed last year, then you can use the “search box” option.
• REMEMBER THE BANK ACCOUNTS AND UPDATE THE ASSURANCE VIE AMOUNTS – All non-French accounts must be declared on the 3916 form. This should automatically appear as a form if you declared accounts last year and boxes 8TT and 8UU were ticked. Any accounts you declared last year can be carried forward but if there are any changes, any new accounts or closed accounts, you must provide this information. Your assurance vie information will also be carried forward from last year but you will have to check the letter that was sent to you by the assurance vie provider in order to enter the value of the policy as at 1st January 2025.
• DON’T FORGET YOUR TAX CREDITS – If you have any domestic help or services paid via CESU, the amounts declared will be already entered on the tax form, you just need to check that these are correct. However if you have had any other home help (cleaners; gardeners, child care, after school lessons etc) from private companies or associations, these amounts are not always automatically entered. The company or association should have sent you a tax certificate for last year so you will need to enter that amount in the tax credit section. If you have a child in high school, sixth form or university, don’t forget to tick the box to get the (albeit small) tax reduction.
• RETIREMENT CONTRIBUTIONS – if you work in France and want to contribute to your pensions, it is a good idea to open a PER account. If you have already made contributions to a PER in 2024, you can deduct a percentage of these payments from your taxable income. The amount that can be deducted or carried over from previous years is shown on your tax statement. However to deduct these amounts from your tax you will need to reenter these amounts in the correct box.
• CHARITABLE DONATIONS – If you have made any charitable donations in 2024 you should have received a tax certificate from the charity with the amount to deduct. This may have been sent by email and fallen into your spam box so it is important to find the email or if it has been sent by post to keep the tax certificate in your tax file. If you still can’t find it you can contact the charity to send you another copy.
• NOBODY IS PERFECT (especially not me ;)) — you can start your declaration and go back to it later. You can do one version and then go back and change it. Once you get to the signature page which shows the tax due (this won’t appear if you have foreign income that will receive a tax credit) if something seems wrong you can go back and amend it. You can do this as many times as you like until the official deadline without it generating separate tax bills and even after the deadline provided you have submitted something before the deadline. If it gets close to the deadline it is better to declare something and sign the tax return and then correct it at a later date rather than incur a fine for late submission.

Until recently, couples were taxed at the same rate unless they opted for their individual rate which most people didn’t. The result of this was that, because women generally receive less than men when it comes to salaries and pensions, the woman was paying a disproportionate rate of tax. As from 1st September this will change and couples will automatically be taxed at their individual rate unless they opt to pay the same tax rate.

Unfortunately it is too late to contact tax advisers, tax lawyers or anyone else offering help with tax returns as they will be very busy completing the tax returns they already have, so don’t be surprised if they are not returning your calls or emails. However, with a bit of patience and perseverance it is possible to do your own tax return. If you have any questions please do get in touch and I will help as much as I can.

Uncertainty leads to Volatility

Quite understandably my inbox has been full of messages from concerned clients and musings from commentators and investment managers about how to respond to the current market reaction to President Trump’s raft of tariffs.

The uncertainty around how these tariffs will play out has led to large falls in stock markets, especially the US.

As discussed in my last newsletter Lets Talk About Risk, volatility is an important and unavoidable part of investing and will be negated by time in the market and can provide great opportunities. The key is to ‘stay the course’ and try and ‘see through the noise’.

However, I did want to get something out to you with some current thoughts about what is happening, what might happen in the near future and why ‘staying the course’ is the best option.

Years to Note:

• 1970: Market fell -26% from peak to trough… yet ended +3.6%
• 1975: Dropped -14.1%, but closed the year up +37%
• 1987 (Black Monday): Down -33.5% mid-year, still finished +5.8%
• 2009: Deep in the Global Financial Crisis, dropped -27.6%, yet ended +26.5%
• 2020: COVID crash brought a -33.9% drawdown… ended +18.4%

On each occasion, the best course of action would have been to avoid the noise and stay invested.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

I hope that the above shows that though periods of volatility will always happen and always be temporary it is best to stay the course and try and avoid the noise;

I do appreciate that it is difficult with today’s ‘news’ channels adding to the feeling of panic on an hourly basis so I have shared below some links from firms much closer to the markets to share more detail about what is happening and what investors should consider in these temporarily volatile times.

Traversing Trump tariffs by Daniel Casali, Chief Investment Strategist at Evelyn Partners

Latest tariffs and their market impact from Sanjay Rijhsinghani, Chief Investment Officer at LGT Wealth Management

Trump’s tariffs: how should investors respond? From Rathbones Investment Management

I would like, once again, to thank these expert commentators and the team at New Horizon Asset Management for their quick and important updates to a challenging situation.

Mobile & Whatsapp: +33 6 87 13 68 71
Email: peter.brooke@spectrum-ifa.com
Facebook: Peter Brooke – Financial Advice
Calendly: https://calendly.com/peterbrooke/30min

The clocks have gone forward, winter is officially over and the lovely sunny weather seems finally to have arrived. Spring has sprung but of course April also hails the beginning of tax season in France and the start of the new tax year in the UK, bringing with it new financial laws and measures.

The measure introducing the lower VAT threshold of €25,000 has been postponed until 1st June 2025. VAT will apply to auto entrepreneurs as soon as their turnover exceeds €27,500 (if their turnover was less than €25,000 in 2024). If their turnover is less than €27,500 in 2025, the VAT will be due from 1st January 2026.

As from 2nd April, those people with EU, EEA or Swiss citizenship, must have an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). This will cost approximately €12 and can be obtained from the UK ETA app or the GOV.UK website.

If you need to take a taxi or ambulance to go to the hospital or return home you may have to share your journey with another patient. The aim of this measure is to reduce costs for the health care service. Two patients may be required to share a taxi or ambulance for part or all of the journey if the prescription specifies that the health of the patient would not be jeopardized by sharing the transport with someone else. However this can only apply if the detour to collect the other patient is no more than 10 km per patient and up to 30km maximum. Also the waiting time for the taxi/ambulance before or after the appointment cannot be longer than 45 minutes. This only applies for medical visits to treat certain kinds of conditions such as cancer, chronic liver failure etc. The patient can refuse to share their taxi or ambulance but will not be covered by their mutuelle and will not be fully reimbursed.

After a busy March, I am set for an even busier April with plenty of appointments in my diary. I am looking forward to driving through the beautiful French countryside and catching up with my clients. If you have any questions and would like to make an appointment with me to discuss your financial situation, please do get in touch.

“Risk” is an unavoidable, and sometimes welcome, part of investing so having a better understanding of the different forms of risk can help investors make informed decisions that align with their financial goals. In this (quite long) article, we explore key types of “risks” and how they impact financial planning.

What is RISK?

Definition: The possibility of something bad happening!!

What is INVESTMENT RISK?

Definition: The degree of uncertainty and/or potential financial loss inherent in an investment decision.

So we need to frame our conversations about “RISK” by trying to understand the ‘something bad’ in every decision we make.

Volatility risk is mitigated by TIME in the market

Volatility is part and parcel of investing, and your investment time horizon almost without exception determines the likelihood of investment success. This chart shows the annualised returns over four different time frames (1, 5, 10 and 20 years) using data from 1950 to today.

A 50/50 portfolio of shares and bonds (the green bar) shows that in the last 75 years you could lose up to 24% or gain up to 49% in any given one year period.

However, over every 10 year rolling period in that same 75 years, your worst possible return would be 1% p.a, (ie. no loss) and the best would be 17% p.a.

The longer the investment term, the less relevant volatility becomes, and crucially, the longer the investment term, the greater the likelihood of investment success.

What’s the something bad? – Not maintaining a long-term perspective and reacting impulsively to market swings.

Final Thoughts

Investing always carries ‘risks’, but knowledge and strategy can help manage them effectively. Whether it’s inflation, market fluctuations, or longevity concerns, working with a financial adviser ensures that risk is considered within a well-thought-out plan. Overall doing nothing is the largest risk.

Staying focused on long-term goals, and avoiding emotional reactions to short-term market movements, usually leads to successful financial outcomes.

I would very much like to thank the team at RBC Brewin Dolphin for their kind input and help with this article, I truly hope you found it useful.
If you’d like to discuss your investment strategy and how to manage these risks, feel free to get in touch!

Contact me if you have any questions or the click on the calendar to make an appointment via my booking system.

ONLINE LIVE WEBINAR

Join our expert panel on Thursday 27th March
18.00 (GMT), 19.00 (CET)

An informative webinar where our panel of experts will address topics such as relocating to France, mortgage, visas, buying and living in France, and currency transfers. We will also provide insights into the buying process in France.

• Gareth Jefferies – French Property Expert at Alpine Property
• Alan Watson – Wealth expert (The Spectrum IFA Group)
• Jonathan Watson – Currency Specialist (Lumon)
• Fiona Watts – Finance specialist (International Private Finance)