I hope you all had a good summer. I very much appreciated the fact that it wasn’t too hot over the summer. My garden is certainly in a better shape thanks to the better weather. Now it is back to school and back to work and I am looking forward to setting up appointments and meeting people again.

For those who are eligible for the energy cheque but did not receive it this spring or if you did receive it but would like to review the amount received, you can now make a claim on the website chequeenergie.gouv.fr but you must make sure you do this before 31st December 2025.

On 1st August the interest rate of the LEP savings account reduced to 4%. To be able to open one of these accounts your taxable income needs to be below €22 419 (single person) or €34 393 for a couple. This rate reduction puts the LEP at only 1% higher than the other savings accounts such as the Livret A, the LDDS and the Livret Jeune which have an interest rate of 3%, set rate until February 2025.

If you are looking to save for your children there is a new savings plan called the Plan Epargne Avenue Climate (PEAC) which is available from 1st July 2024. It is a hybrid of the Livret A and the PER retirement scheme and allows you to save up to €22,950 with any gains being free of tax and social charges. There is no fixed interest rate, any gains will depend on the investment strategy but the investments are ESG and in “green” bonds. However not many banks or insurance companies offer this savings plan as yet preferring their own versions of assurance vies.

Since 31st July and until 4th December, those taxpayers who declared their income online can correct their declaration or amend any omissions by going onto their personal account on the impots.gouv.fr website under “accéder à la correction en ligne”. However, bear in mind that if the amendment results in less tax being paid or a higher tax credit, the tax office will probably contact you for more information or documents and can refuse to amend the tax return. If they do this, you need to make a complaint via the messenger service and, if this is refused, court action will be necessary. This comes from a decision of Paris administrative court of appeal of 28th June 2024 (no 22PA04610) whereby the the Court ordered the tax office to reissue the tax statement will the requested amendments. The online correction system does not let people know that their amendments can be refused.

As from September, if the amount of tax you pay is greater or less than the previous year, your monthly payments will change from 15th September. If you owe less or the equivalent to €300, the remainder will be taken on that date. If you owe more than €300, the payment will be spread out over four payments taken on 26th September, 25th October, 25th November and 27th December.

For those with Pru assurance vies or those thinking of investing in a Pru Assurance Vie, on Tuesday 27th August 2024 the Prudential Assurance Company (PAC) board reviewed the Prufund Expected Growth Rates (EGR) as part of the quarterly review process. Prufund aims to help customers grow money over the medium to long term ( 5 to 10 years) and it protects customers from some of the short-term ups and downs of the markets by using the unique established smoothing process. The Expected Growth Rate (EGR) is the forward looking element of the Prufund smoothing process. For this quarter the EGRs of the Prufunds in our assurance vie products remained unchanged for the € and $ but the Prufund Growth GBP dropped slightly from 7.7% to 7.3% and the PruFund Cautious GBP dropped from 7% to 6.6%. 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 was an upward UPA for the Prufund Growth USD fund of +2.19%.

September is really the beginning of the year in France, more so than January, after the long summer holidays. Referrals are very important in our business and so is our reputation with clients. Therefore we are asking clients to kindly give a review of our advisers and our business on Trustpilot. I would be very grateful if you would kindly take the time to leave a comment using the link below: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/spectrum-ifa.com

Please do get in touch to arrange a free, no obligation phone call or video meeting to discuss any financial or tax matters that you may need advice on. I look forward to hearing from you.

A question I’m often asked:

“I would like to gift some money to my daughter. How can I do this and what taxes do I need to be aware of? Will I need to use a Notaire?”

First, you need to determine if this is a gift or if you are providing financial assistance to a family member. You are allowed to provide financial help (subsistence support) to family members if their income is low, and in some circumstances, you can apply for tax relief on this. They will need to declare this income on their French tax return.

If it is a gift, is it for a wedding present? Is the amount you are gifting relative to your income, and have you gifted similar amounts to other children when they got married? You are allowed to gift up to 100,000€ to each child every fifteen years tax-free, but you must declare this to the tax authorities. If you die within those fifteen years, the amount you have declared will be used towards their inheritance tax allowances.

Your daughter will need to declare this amount to the relevant tax authorities. If she lives in France, she will need to make a Déclaration de don manuel if the amount is less than €15,000, and for amounts above €15,000, a Révélation de Don Manuel. If your daughter lives outside of France, she will need to contact the tax authorities in the country she resides in to declare this gift, and any taxes due will depend on the rules of that country.

The use of a Notaire is required if the gift involves a division of family assets or the transfer of property.

If you are unsure of what needs to be declared and when, you can easily email your local centre d’impôt. Their email address is on your Avis d’impôt.

When it comes to investing in assurance vie for inheritance planning, the focus is often on the very generous inheritance benefits applied to policies where sums are invested before the age of 70. I am often asked by clients ‘is it worthwhile investing in assurance vie after the age of 70?’ The answer is ‘most definitely YES!’

As a change from the norm, this article focuses mainly on the inheritance benefits of assurance vie investment beyond the age of 70.

As already stated, it is often a misconception that investing in assurance vie for inheritance planning is only attractive for people under age 70. Undoubtedly, investing before age 70 has very attractive inheritance benefits, but there are also valuable inheritance planning opportunities for sums invested after age 70 which should not be overlooked.

As a reminder, an assurance vie policy is “outside the estate”, according to Article L132-12 of the Insurance Code. This means that in the event of the death of the insured, the capital does not go to the heirs within the meaning of the Civil Code but to the named beneficiary(ies) of the assurance vie policy.

Sums invested into assurance vie beyond the age of 70 have an inheritance allowance of €30,500 and a exemption from gains on the total sum(s) invested. The choice of beneficiary is completely unrestricted and the allowance (and profit) is shared by all beneficiaries in the proportion to which they have been nominated. If you have existing policies that were funded before age 70 the €30,500 allowance is in addition to the €152,500 per beneficiary granted with pre-age 70 premiums.

It’s probably worth highlighting here that a notable difference between the pre-age 70 allowance and the post-age 70 allowance is that the €152,500 allowance includes both the premiums paid on the policy and the gains on these premiums, whereas the €30,500 allowance relates to the amount of capital invested and all gains across the whole policy are exempt from IHT.

It is perfectly possible to add sums to an existing policy after the age of 70 and the insurance company will calculate the benefit payable on death of the life assured in accordance with when premiums were invested. However, taking out a new policy after the age of 70 has the advantage of:

• Differentiating between sums paid before and after age 70 and therefore simplifying the tax calculation
• Provides an opportunity to nominate beneficiaries that are different from those nominated in other policies
• Designate different policies for different purposes

It is worth noting that there is no limit to the number of assurance vie policies that can be taken out but the IHT allowances apply across all policies of a particular life assured (i.e. the allowances are not per policy).

Let’s take the example of a couple who are living together but have no ‘legal’ relationship (i.e. not married or PACS’d):
– A 70-year-old makes a will in favour of his/her partner. Under standard French inheritance rules the surviving partner is entitled to an IHT allowance of just €1,564 on any assets received via the will, and above that will have to pay IHT at the rate of 60%.
– If the deceased had nominated his/her partner as the sole beneficiary of an assurance vie policy opened after the age of 70, the surviving partner would then benefit from an IHT allowance of up to €30,500 and an exemption from IHT on all the gains and interest on the policy.

Exceptions as to who shares the €30,500 tax-free allowance
Beneficiaries who are exempt from inheritance tax are not taken into account to divide the overall allowance of €30,500. Exempt beneficiaries include spouses and PACS’d partners.

Thus, if the spouse of the deceased is named as one of the beneficiaries of the policy, his/her share will not be taken into account when dividing up the €30,500 allowance, which will only be divided amongst any other named beneficiaries, meaning their exempt share will increase.

If, after applying the exempt allowances, there remains a taxable element of capital invested, this can be offset against the standard inheritance allowances determined by the degree of kinship.

The potential growth in value of an assurance vie policy makes investing after age 70 attractive

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

Example 1
A premium of €30,500 is invested at the age of 70, the insured person dies at the age of 87.

For 17 years, the policy grows at an average rate of 2% per year, net of fees. At the end of 17 years the gain in value is €12,339, thus a total of €42,839 is passed tax-free to the beneficiaries. At 3% per year, the amount of gain after 17 years represents €20,259 meaning a total of €50,759 passes free of IHT. If the €30,500 had been left on deposit with interest added at a similar rate the capital and interest would fall into the estate and be subject to the standard IHT rules.

Example 2
A premium of €100,000 is invested at age 70 and the life assured dies at the age of 90, i.e. 20 years later. The beneficiaries are the life assured’s two children in equal shares.

Taking an average growth rate of 4% per year, the €100,000 becomes €222,258 after 20 years. Each child receives €111,129. This is in addition to anything they may receive from a pre-age 70 policy. €30,500 of the capital and all gains are exempt, therefore the only taxable element for each child is €34,750 (€69,500 / 2). This can be offset against the standard IHT allowance of €100,000 per parent per child if this is not used up elsewhere.

Example 3
A nephew receives €55,000 from an assurance vie policy taken out by his uncle when he was over 70 years old.

The premiums paid amounted to €40,000, the gain was €15,000. €30,500 of the premiums paid and the gain of €15,000 are exempt.

Therefore, the potentially taxable element is €9,500 (€40,000 – €30,500). However, this can be offset against the inheritance allowance between uncle and nephew of €7,967. Assuming the allowance is fully available the taxable element is €1,033 (i.e. €9,000 – €7,967) at the rate of 55%. IHT of €568 is payable (i.e. €1,033 X 55%).

The outcome, €55,000 was transferred via an assurance vie opened after the age of 70 to a nephew who pays only €568 in IHT instead of €25,868 if the legacy had not been wrapped in assurance vie (i.e. €55,000 – €7,967 = €47,033 x 55%).

In summary, if your situation allows, it is definitely worthwhile considering investing in assurance vie after the age of 70 in order to take advantage of the additional €30,500 allowance and exemption on the total gains on investment which, in some cases, could be higher than the capital invested. Not forgetting, of course, that you retain control of the policy and can spend it or change the beneficiaries whenever you wish.

If you would welcome a chat about whether investing in assurance vie is right for you or would simply like a review of your financial situation you can contact me at sue.regan@spectrum-ifa.com or call me on +33 6 89 20 32 47

With the help of Moneycorp, lets take a look at this month’s market update with the recent political, economic & global news. Whats happened, how has the market reacted and what the future holds.

Big shock to markets in August already – What happened!?

• The month of August has started off with a big shock to global financial markets – the US Federal Reserve are likely to cut rates much quicker than previously thought, with something like 1.00 – 1.25% of cuts this year now on the cards to bring rates down to 4.25 – 4.50%.
• That is up significantly from the 0.50% cut priced in as recently at last Wednesday (31st July).
• This is the result of poor US jobs data – non-farm payrolls – and higher unemployment figures, leading to fears of a US recession building.
• Additionally, as I flagged last week, the Bank of Japan raised rates by 0.15% and the Bank of England cut rates by 0.25% last week, feeding into the overall market volatility globally.

What has been the market reaction?

• We have entered a “risk off” period due to the rapid change of interest rate expectations in the US, meaning everyone is taking their risky investments off the table.
• This means stock markets have fallen significantly since Thursday (1st August), with the S&P 500 down 6.8%, FTSE 100 down 3.1%, and the Japanese Nikkei 225 down almost 17% before recovering today.
• Usually in risk off periods, the US Dollar is the go-to investment as a safe-haven, however as this is driven by US interest rates the US dollar has also fallen between 1-2% against most other currencies and instead Euro, Swiss Franc and Japanese Yen have been bought, rapidly strengthening those currencies.

• GBPEUR is down 1.5% since Friday.
• EURUSD is up 1% since Friday but has been 2% up earlier.
• GBPCHF is down 2.6% since Friday.
• GBPJPY is down 3.3% since Friday.

What next?

• There are no major central bank meetings for the remainder of August, so the FX market will be reacting very quickly off the economic data releases, especially from the US.
• Next Wednesday 15th we will have both UK and US inflation data released. This will almost certainly be a volatile day for FX markets.
• UK GDP released on Thursday 15th – is the UK continuing its recovery?
• US GDP released on Thursday 29th – is the US really going into recession?
• EU CPI inflation on Friday 30th – will inflation still be under control dropping towards 2% in the EU?

Forecast Snapshot

Where do the banks think FX markets will be at the end of the year?

GBP/USD

• Current 1.27
• Barclays 1.31  (very bullish)
• UniCredit 1.26
• Wells Fargo 1.27
• BNP Paribas 1.27

GBP/EUR

• Current 1.16
• Barclays 1.23
• UniCredit 1.16
• Wells Fargo 1.19
• BNP Paribas 1.20

EUR/USD

• Current 1.09
• Barclays 1.06
• UniCredit 1.09
• Wells Fargo 1.07
• BNP Paribas 1.06

Source: Bloomberg Analytics

Please do get in touch if you have forthcoming FX requirements. Along with Moneycorp, I can explain how to reduce FX risk and/or make the most of the potential volatility coming up in August, depending on your risk appetite and timeline.

Following my outlook in January I am writing with a quick update on the year so far and a look forward for the rest of the year and into 2025.

One important point I would like to make is that many global issues, especially Politics and the outcome of the many elections we have in 2024, might feel very important to us on a day-to-day basis but might have a very different impact on investment markets and so do please read the following through the lens of investing.

Global equities have been performing well, with US equities gaining 15% in the first half of 2024, led by companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Apple, which contributed significantly to market progress.

The economic outlook indicates that the global economy is expected to grow by 2.6% in 2024, with improved growth prospects in the US and China due to factors like loose fiscal policy, immigration, and government stimulus programs.

Market ‘breadth’ has been a concern, with the above five technology stocks driving over half of the returns in the US market; as global growth continues this should lead to opportunities in other sectors like industrials that are connected to the Artificial Intelligence theme; very recently we are starting to see a broadening of market returns.

Market risks related to inflation and interest rates are expected to shift to a positive tailwind in the second half of the year, which should be good for both shares and bonds. Central banks, like the European Central Bank (ECB), are already cutting interest rates and others are likely to follow suit.

Here is a chart of four different Risk Benchmarks and the main UK and US Stock markets so far in 2024; steady, but the US continues to serge ahead… for now.

Inflation

Inflation hasn’t yet returned to pre-covid levels and is unlikely to drop back this much any time soon. Goods, energy and food inflation have all fallen but services inflation is still high, though this has started to fall slightly in recent weeks. ‘Services’ includes ‘shelter’ e.g. rent and other services such as hospitality.

Interest rate cut forecasts from the ‘experts’ have see-sawed so far this year but the current consensus view is that the first US interest rate cut should now be expected in September. The ECB has already started cutting rates, very slowly, and UK rate cuts might be pushed out into 2025 as services inflation in the UK remains ‘stickier’ than elsewhere.

US – The upcoming election is a key risk, with potential market volatility depending on the election result, especially following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the withdrawal of Joe Biden.

If Kamala Harris is selected as the Democratic candidate then Democratic party policies are likely to remain unchanged and so volatility in markets could be short lived, but if they enter the time consuming process of selecting a different candidate (increasingly improbable at the time of writing) then the inevitable political uncertainty could drive US share and bond volatility for longer.

According to the polls and bookmakers the Republicans are now more likely to win, but what might that mean for investors? Potential tax cuts, more deregulation, more protectionism and more oil drilling could be good for US corporate profits and might help bring down inflation. This might not be great for the planet and society but could be good for business.

In addition tariffs on goods entering US from China (and the rest of the world) could add to the short term inflation problem.

Europe – there has been a backlash against various EU led initiatives, like climate change policy and immigration leading to a swing towards the right in many countries.

France – President Macron called a snap election as the Far Right were gaining traction in EU elections; several left wing, centrist and right wing alliances formed as tactical voting led to a deadlock. The major coalition is now on the left of the house which is probably negative for French investment returns but any law changes are very unlikely for at least 12 months when another round of elections is expected.

UK – the new Labour majority government was not a big surprise with ‘time for change’ as a leading driver; but will they be able to do what they said they would do? So far they remain quite centrist and don’t appear to be planning on drifting back to the ‘old labour’ way. They are likely to be more fiscally responsible and will target growth BUT can they actually do it as the challenges are significant and the budget is tight – for example the demands on the NHS and the hot potato of immigration.

There might, however, be a big shift with the relationship with Europe, which must be positive for both sides, especially with respect to defence, cybersecurity and trade and even more so if the US becomes more self protectionist under Trump.

The French election results, however, were unexpected. We had anticipated significant market movements, but the outcome has been a 3-way hung parliament, with all other parties joining forces to prevent the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) from gaining power. This situation suggests potential political turmoil in France for at least the next 12 months until another election can be called. This is not a favourable outcome for President Macron or Europe as a whole. Despite this, the FX markets have remained stable, as the EUR had already weakened prior to the election.

Inflation data and interest rates continue to be the primary drivers of the FX markets.

Here is a Forecast Snapshot of where the banks think FX markets will be at the end of Q3 (30th September).

GBP/USD
Current 1.2840
Barclays 1.28
UniCredit 1.26
Wells Fargo 1.26
BNP Paribas 1.27

GBP/EUR
Current 1.1860
Barclays 1.22
UniCredit 1.16
Wells Fargo 1.19
BNP Paribas 1.20

EUR/USD
Current 1.0825
Barclays 1.05
UniCredit 1.08
Wells Fargo 1.06
BNP Paribas 1.05

I am, once again, very grateful to the teams at Evelyn Partners, Rathbones, New Horrizons and Moneycorp for their help in putting this summary together and hope it is useful in framing where we are today and how we got here.

Here are some further links to supporting views on the above:

https://www.evelyn.com/insights-and-events/insights/investment-outlook-july-2024/

https://www.rathbonesam.com/knowledge-and-insight/review-week-biden-bows-out

https://www.rathbonesam.com/blog/guess-whos-back

If you listen to podcasts I can highly recommend the Sharp End Podcast from David Coombs at Rathbones Asset Management

I am away on holidays until 5th August but if you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out via the below channels, or the booking system – always drop me a quick message if you need a time slot outside of those available.

For now, have a great day, and a wonderful summer

Best regards

Peter Brooke

… why, what and how …

Whether you are an existing client of mine or not, and following on from my previous article on ‘The Value of Seeking Financial Advice’, I wanted to take this opportunity to go through the steps in our ‘Client Financial Review Process’.

WHAT?
A review won’t just be looking at what has happened over the last year but is designed to identify potential financial planning adjustments we might want to make if your circumstances are changing.

The review should, and will, include the following:

• An update of your situation – incomes, bank balances, asset values, expenditures.
• Changes to your situation – retirement, moving house, changing jobs, school fees etc.
• Cash Flow planning update – are we still on target to meet your goals? … “am i going to be ok, and if not what do I need to do to make sure I am?”
• Investment Portfolio performance update – has it out-performed or under-performed the risk ‘benchmark’ we have allocated? If so, why? Are any changes needed?

HOW?
Many of my clients have been through this review process over the years but I have made a few tweaks and so I wanted to take you through the steps.

The biggest change for us is that I will be asking many of my clients to update their situation directly onto the Secure Cash Calc Portal prior to our review, so I have the most up to date information in advance. This will give me a chance to review your situation before our meeting to ensure we get the most from our time together.

Of course it is not obligatory to use the portal as it is not appropriate for everyone, but if you would like to then do let me know.

The following summary explains each step.

Options for you…
The above summary is focused on the normal Face to Face or Zoom meeting review process, but I can also provide your review as an email or I can even record a video presentation of my update on your portfolio and cash flow plan which you are then free to watch at your leisure; then we can discuss any steps necessary and update any administrative requirements afterwards.

Please do let me know if you prefer to have an email or video review?

As you can see, it’s a collaborative process and financial reviews are a great way to check-in on how things are going and where adjustments need to be made, so if your situation changes, please don’t wait for the next review, get in touch and we can review early.

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

If you have missed any previous emails, click here to access the Archive.

For now, have a great day,

During one of the presentations that we received in January at our annual conferences, we were told that this year 40% of the population would be going to the polls. Now, with Macron’s decision for an election, that figure has increased to almost half the world’s population.

Having already voted in the European elections earlier in June, I will now be voting in both the French elections at the end of June and the UK elections in July. Three elections in the one year! The first round of the French elections was on Sunday 30th June and the second round on the following Sunday, 7th July.

What does this mean?
Well, notably it means that any law reforms that had been going through the French parliament have now been suspended. What will be on the parliamentary agenda will be determined by whichever party gets the majority.

So far the markets seem to be less interested in the elections and more interested in the decisions of the central banks. With the European Central Bank reducing its interest rate by 0.25% on 6th June 2024, all eyes are on the Fed and the Bank of England to make a decision about their rates in the coming months.

As from 1st July 2024, Autoentrepreneurs carrying out a non-regulated ‘liberal’ activity under the micro-BNC regime will have to pay increased social contributions. The rate will increase to 23.2%.

Come the autumn months we will have to pay taxe foncière and taxe d’habitation for those with second homes. These taxes increased by 7.1% last year because of inflation and they are predicted to increase again this autumn by 3.9% due to the reassessment of the rental values. There may also be an additional increase if the local authorities of towns of more than 100,000 inhabitants so decide, which will be 1.2% on average.

From 31st July and until 4th December, you will be able to amend your online tax declaration on the impots.gouv.fr website if there is any information you missed out or you realised there were mistakes made but you were just trying to submit the return before the deadline.

Your tax statements will be available over the summer from 24th July and end of August. If you have paid too much tax, your statement will be available between 24th July and 2nd August online or between 24th July and 29th August by post. If you still have some tax to pay after your monthly contributions your statement will be available online from 26th July and 2nd August or by post between 25th July and 23rd August. If you opted not to receive paper statements, you will receive an email letting you know that your tax statement is online.

If you have less than €300 to pay in tax, this amount will be taken on 25th September 2024 but if you have more than this, then the payment will be spread out into 4 payments taken 25th September 2024, 25th October 2024, 25th November and 26th December 2024. You will continue to pay your normal monthly tax payments on 15th of each month but these will be adjusted as from September.

WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

I have worked with many of the panelists for a number of years and their knowledge and experience is valuable to me and my clients; so if you are looking at buying and/or relocating to France then please join us for this live webinar.

Our experienced panelists are here to discuss all nature of topics to do with buying and relocating to France:

Karen Tait – Webinar host
Peter Brooke – Wealth & tax planning from The Spectrum IF Group
Joanna Leggett – French Property Expert from Leggett
Jonathan Watson – Currency Expert from Lumon
Paulette Booth – Banking and insurance expert from AXA
Tracy Leonetti – Visa & paperwork expert from LBS
Sharon Revol – Mortgage expert from Cafpi

Tax season is pretty much over for another year, and by the time of publication most of the deadlines for filing will have passed. However, if you have an accountant who does your tax return they will usually be given extra time to file the returns. If you submitted your own return but have questions about whether you did it right and would like to speak to an accountant about it, you should try to speak to them late June, early July or early September to submit an amended return.

May is always a busy month for me, not least because of all the tax enquiries. However I also found time to write an article on French pensions. If you haven’t seen it already you can find the link here (https://spectrum-ifa.com/french-pensions/). If you have any questions on this article or your French pensions in general please do let me know

People often ask me whether they have to send in documents with their tax return or whether they are likely to get asked about what they have entered. The fact of the matter is that very often the tax office only really focuses on the tax returns of the very high earners (income tax, wealth tax, inheritances etc…). The French tax office generally go after the biggest fish, notably those with an income of over €1million per annum or gross assets that are subject to wealth tax of more than €6.9 million. However if you do start to do a wealth tax return you may find that your local tax inspector will take more of an interest on this one.

In 2020 there were a lot of people who, after many years of holidaying in France and owning a property here, decided to be considered resident in France before the Brexit deadline of 31st December. For wealth tax purposes you are exempt from declaring your worldwide assets for the first five calendar years of your residency. Unfortunately, even if you arrived late in 2020, this would still be considered your first calendar year. This means that as from 2025, if your world wide assets are worth more than €1.3million as on 1st January 2025, you will have to do a wealth tax return next year. You only have to declare your property assets, irrespective of where they are in the world. If you have money in investments or assurance vies, these are not included in your wealth tax return.

At this time last year, after having completed our tax returns, we still had to do the property declaration. This was an online declaration. Now, almost a year later, the tax authorities have produced a paper format of the declaration. You can download the paper form here https://www.impots.gouv.fr/formulaire/1208-od-sd/declaration-doccupation-des-locaux-par-le-proprietaire or some tax offices may have copies available if you cannot print it yourself.

Every year I get a lot of people contacting me about Trusts. Many years ago I wrote an article on Trusts which you can find on our website (https://spectrum-ifa.com/trusts-and-french-residency/). I have not updated the article because the law has not changed a great deal on this subject and much of the information is the same. If you are the trustee, settlor of beneficiary of a trust and you are resident in France you have to declare the existence of the trust using the form Trust 1 (https://www.impots.gouv.fr/formulaire/2181-trust1/declaration-de-constitution-de-modification-ou-dextinction-dun-trust).Then every year you have to declare the value of the Trust as at 1st January of each year using the Trust 2 form (https://www.impots.gouv.fr/formulaire/2181-trust2/declaration-annuelle-de-la-valeur-venale-au-1er-janvier-des-biens-droits-et-)

The deadline for filing the annual value declaration, which must be sent to the Non-Residents tax office, is 15th June.

If you have any questions on any of the matters mentioned above please do get in touch. I would be happy to arrange a phone call, video meeting or in person meeting to answer your questions or review your financial situation.

Many people come to France for “la belle vie” in retirement, but a large number of us (myself included) moved to France way before retirement and have even spent several years working in France contributing to the system here. Therefore when it comes to retirement, in addition to any other state or private pensions, we will need to apply for our French pension(s)..

Since 2017 the procedure to apply for your French pension has been simplified. You make one application and all your pensions from the various pension organisations will be paid to you. However, in practice things may not always go as smoothly and there have been numerous complaints from those trying to claim their French pensions.

No matter how long you have worked in France, or which pension body you have contributed to, you can consult your pension rights on this website www.info-retraite.fr. This is the website that you need to use to apply for your pension. You can also download from this site your pension entitlement statement. If you are getting close to retirement it may be advisable to download this document and keep a copy of it in your paper or computer files as it is updated each year so it is important to check it every year. The website may not take into consideration any years that you have worked in other countries in Europe, so you may need to email them to ask for more detailed information showing all the countries you have worked in.

If you can see that any periods of work in France have not been recorded, rather than asking for them to be investigated, it is better to ask whether you can buy any trimestres. By doing this, the pension authority will then have to investigate whether you can in fact buy any trimestres or whether you are fully up to date on all the periods you have worked.

Since 1st September 2015, is has been possible to obtain a provisional payment of your French pension even if your application is not “complete” and then have your pension recalculated once you have been able to provide the missing information. To do this you must apply for the pension four months before the planned date of retirement.

It is important to plan ahead and start the process of applying for your French pension 4 – 6 months before your intended retirement date. By requesting your retirement this will prompt the pension authority to start to calculate all the periods you have worked and what you may be entitled to.

If you are not satisfied with their response there is a mediation service available. You have 10 days for an urgent request, 40 days for non urgent requests, which may be extended to 90 days in more complex cases, and two months to apply to the Commission de Recours Amiable (CRA). If you are still not satisfied with the decision you can apply to the Defenseur de droits.

For those whose deceased spouse worked in France they may be entitled to a French widow/ers pension. Like other pensions, this should also be paid to you within four months of the date of application. However, this pension is means tested according to your annual income so you may find that you don’t qualify for it.

It is important to plan ahead and there are many things you can do at various stages:

1. 1. Throughout your working life in France, keep all paperwork. As cumbersome as this may be, it is important to keep all payslips, pension letters, social security payment statements, as you may need them when you apply for your pension.

1. From age 50, if you haven’t already created and consulted your account on the www.info-retraite.fr website, now is the time to do it. You should regularly download the career statements and save a copies. Sometimes any missing periods may appear on earlier statements but not on later statements.
2. From age 55, you can request pension simulations. The closer you get to retirement the more accurate these simulations are likely to be.
3. Once you reach 61, think about working part time from age 62 as a progressive retirement and look at buying back any missing trimestres. You have to buy back the trimestres before going part time. Once you start receiving your pension you cannot buy back any missing trimestres.
4. 4-6 months before your retirement date, start applying for your pension.

Can an employer force you to retire?
Strictly speaking an employer cannot force you to retire before you are 67 years old. If you want to retire before this date you have to request to do so and comply with the requisite notice period. Only when you are over 70 can an employer require you to retire without consulting you. Between 67 and 70 they can retire you, but only if you agree to leave. It is better to be asked to retire rather than voluntarily taking retirement since the statutory amount of retirement benefit is higher than the voluntary retirement benefit when it is the employee that requests it. You may have even more favourable provisions in your Convention Collective. This retirement benefit is exempt from income tax (except the higher amounts) whereas the voluntary retirement benefit is taxable in the same way as your salary.

For any questions about your pensions or planning your retirement, please do get in touch.