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French property owners can now claim a refund for past prelevement sociaux charges in 16 and 17

Monday, 6 August, 2018
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Breaking News - reclaim your charges to prevelement sociaux for the tax year 2016 and 2017 now  

 

Long term visitors to our website will be aware that, up to the end of 2015, Prélèvements Sociaux paid on capital gains, rental income by certain non French residents and on other investment income for some French residents became reclaimable on the back of the “De Ruyter” affair.

 

This avenue was, controversially but firmly, closed for all Prélèvements Sociaux, (CSG, CRDS, Prélèvement Social, Contribution Additionnelle, Prélèvement Solidarité), charged from 01/01/2016 as a result of in depth modifications to French legislation introduced by the French Financing of Social Security Act 2016. (Loi No. 2015-1702).

 

The effectiveness of this legislation was, however, challenged in October 2016.

 

Initially refused by the local tax office, the claim was successfully appealed by the taxpayer at the local Tribunal Administratif. The Tribunal decision has subsequently been partially upheld at the Cour d’Appel Administratif level.

The French tax administration is now appealing the judgement to the Conseil d’Etat – who are in turn likely to refer to the CJUE -  and so the final conclusion on this saga, regarding the levy made since 01/01/2016 is still a little way off.

 

Nonetheless, with the right for the taxpayer to make a claim being time limited, we recommend that readers who have been charged Prélèvements Sociaux during 2016 and 2017 submit a claim before their opportunity to do so expires on 31/12/2018. The fact that there is current jurisprudence in favour of the taxpayer means that the tax office cannot reject any such claim outright: instead the claim will be held in abeyance pending the Conseil d’Etat decision.

 

Readers who have only paid Prelevements Sociaux in 2018 should nonetheless start preparing their files. Appeals will be addressed chronologically by the tax office and in areas with a high non resident or international presence, delays in treatment will be substantial -  in some tax districts claims on pre 2016 legislation are still not 100% processed almost 3 years later.

 

For the new round of claims, reference post 01/01/2016 legislation, the Cour d’Appel Administratif reasoning is complex, long winded (running to over 9000 words) and, currently, only approves a partial rebate of the levy. Because a final conclusion to the affair is also a little way off it will also be important to keep the appeal process open. For all of these reasons then, we recommend that readers seek professional support in preparing their claim.

 

If you paid Prélèvements Sociaux in 2016 or more recently then please contact Emilie Mengin – info@charleshamer.co.uk – for more information on how we can help. To date, we have a 100% success rate on our pre 2016 Prélèvements Sociaux claims. When contacting Emilie it would be useful to explain when and under what circumstances you were charged Prélèvements Sociaux.  

 

Meanwhile there will be more to follow on our website in the coming days and weeks on this subject, so please revisit us.....

 

 

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