http://www.completefrance.com August 2019 French Property News 77
Running a company
There must be some bad news,
surely, or where does high
taxation come from?
France is most definitely not a
great place to run a limited
company, especially one
employing people, as the costs can
be astronomical.
It is often said that the swap
between the UK and France is that
of ‘grey hair for grey matter’, thus
the huge number of French people
living in London are not there to
retire, or enjoy the lovely English
weather, but to run companies,
where the cost of doing so is
significantly lower than France.
Running a small ‘micro’ business
is fine, even attractive, but I cannot
recommend France to those with
ambitious business plans, as you
will then be stumping up the
money for where France gleans
most of its taxation revenue.What about Brexit?
Indeed, we can be as miserable as
we like about the politics, but we
can be overjoyed that we are here
(or looking to move as soon as
possible). People are worried
about their right to remain and
the unknowns on tax and health.
If you want to live in France, none
of these are issues.
Non-EU citizens move to France
all the time, with no problems. In
fact it is estimated that 30% of all
foreign residents in France are not
EU citizens).
Tax is covered by tax treaties
which are bilateral agreements,
so nothing to do with the EU,
and there are solutions available
for health, even if Brexit ends in
a total disaster. I would reason
that if anyone putting off a move
to France blames Brexit, it is
because their hearts simply are
not in it. EXPERT ADVICE
Robert Kent is Managing Director
of Kentingtons tax and
investment consultants
Tel: 08451 238423
kentingtons.com© Blablo101– iStock / Getty Images Plus©biscotto87– iStock / Getty Images PlusThe ‘flat tax’ on savings
The new tax is 30% but thankfully
this includes social charges, which
are now 17.2%, so actually the flat
‘tax’ is just 12.8%. This does have
an impact on assurance vie
investments after eight years,
which could be taxed at 7.5%, so
this adds 5.3%.
In the early years, however, the
original tax at source rate started at
35% plus 17.2%; therefore, the new
tax is actually a huge improvement.
With good financial planning, it is
possible to make significant savings
being assessed via the declaration,
since much of the income derived
from an assurance vie is not even
deemed ‘taxable’.
To illustrate that this tax is hardly
an issue: If Mr and Mrs Smith (our
friends from earlier) were drawing
their €50,000 from an assurance vie
instead of a pension, their income
tax bill would be €0!
Read more articles about
the different taxes
imposed in France
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