InVinoVeritas

Having become conscious of the fog of blissful ignorance in which some French members find themselves, I thought it timely to post a thread reminding members about undeclared foreign bank accounts.

This is law in France, it applies to rich and poor alike and it applies to all residents whether of French or foreign nationality.

If you are resident in France and you have a bank account outside of France which you have not declared then you will be fined €1,500 fine per account for each year of non-declaration. It doesn’t matter how much is in the account or how long you have had it or where the money came from - this is the minimum you will pay.

From 1st January 2017, countries will begin exchanging details of bank accounts held in their jurisdiction with the countries in which the account holder is resident. This means that the French will find out what accounts you hold, details of balances, interest, dividends, and sales proceeds from financial assets. This will also include trusts and foundations.

The fine is increased to €10,000 per account for each year the host country of the account was on the OECD blacklist (includes Switzerland for example) as well as France’s own blacklist (includes Jersey for example).

If there was any income or capital which would have been taxed in France during the previous 10 years then corrected returns for income, capital gain and wealth tax (if relevant) for the last 10 years will need to be submitted.

In addition there will be a fine of 5% of the accounts balances per annum, compounded interest (at 0.4% per month) and penalties of between 15% and 30% going back up to 10 years for any under-declarations.

I don’t expect to win any karma for this post but on the other hand fore-warned is fore-armed.

Tweedpipe

And there are certainly no brownie-points if you were friends with J Cahuzac......

InVinoVeritas

Except on my underwear

babyposer

Thank you

It's ridiculous

dennerlymum

we discovered that you must declare this when submitting our tax declaration to a very assiduous tax officer a couple of years back - as we have nothing in the uk it was very easy - I just tick the box yes and attach a statement to the declaration

bigglesworth

If I can add one further point.
You have to declare them and re-declare them every year.
And it is not just bank accounts. I believe it is anywhere or anything that holds financial assets

Tweedpipe

Does that comment refer to the underwear or the exchange details of bank accounts?

babyposer

"If you are resident in France and you have a bank account outside of France which you have not declared then you will be fined €1,500 fine per account for each year of non-declaration. It doesn’t matter how much is in the account or how long you have had it or where the money came from - this is the minimum you will pay."

I have 30£ on my english bank account

EuroTrash

I have a dormant account with about 17p in it, that I haven't used in years but keep open just in case I ever need another UK account. I declare it, to be on the safe side.
The wording used to be ambiguous, it talked about comptes that had been closed, used or 'ouverts' during the year - wasn't clear whether it meant accounts that you had 'opened' during the year, or accounts that had been opened in previous years and remained 'open' during the year in question. I believe that the current wording seems to say that it means every account that you have, whether you use it or not.

nicktonight

Do you have to declare a house that you own in the UK too even if you don't rent it out and don't therefore receive rental income? If so how do you declare it?

InVinoVeritas

That is whole other kettle of fish, nicktonight.

If your French is up to it, look up ISF on Google France. ISF is Impot de Solidarite sur la Fortune or in English Wealth Tax. You only have to declare your assets if you have over €1.3M (in 2014), previous years had different rules.

If you are in the position where you need to declare your assets then you have to declare ALL your worldwide assets and in some detail - however, currently there are no plans for a system by which countries will automatically share this information.

EuroTrash

No, not unless/until they ask - unless, as IVV says, you're in the supertax bracket.
They might ask if, for instance, you try to claim certain benefits.

Confusedinfrance

I checked with my bank in the Uk and the answer was NO information would be given out.

InVinoVeritas

Ask again but this time ask to speak to their tax compliance officer.

petitefrancaise

Hi IVV the info I can find says that the countries will exchange info on interest earned in other countries, since this what is usually taxed. So, if you have a current account that earns no interest for you, I'm assuming that information won't be shared. Do you have any references that can clarify this? thanks