Do not miss social charge refunds

CLAIMS for reimbursements of French social charges on property income of people – such as non-residents - who were affiliated to another EU country’s social security system must be made before the end of this year if this is to count for charges paid in 2013.

As we report in this month’s edition of The Connexion newspaper, the first reimbursements have now been made following legal rulings that it is against EU law for France to levy its social charges (CSG and CRDS etc) on people such as residents of other EU countries who have income from French rents or from capital gains on sales of French homes (eg. holiday homes or those used for renting out). This is because of a principle that you should not have to pay into more than one EU country’s social security system.

France has been levying the charges on non-residents since 2012, however reimbursements can now be claimed, up to the end of the calendar year two years after the one when a levy was paid, ie. the end of 2015 for charges paid on capital gains in 2013, or for those paid in 2013 on rental income from 2012.

This comes as the French Finance Ministry has recently confirmed that refunds apply not only to non-residents but also to residents of France who are considered affiliated to another country’s system.

This includes some cross-border workers and it may include pensioners who have their healthcare paid for by another EU country via the S1 system, although Connexion is still seeking confirmation that this is the case.

The refunds apply to people affiliated to the social security system of a country in the EU or European Economic Area, or Switzerland. The government is putting in place a number for queries, on 08 12 04 00 95 (9.00-17.00, Monday to Friday).

Apart from income from real estate, in the case of French residents refunds may also apply to social charge levies on bank and investment income (ie. on their ‘property’, in the broader sense).

However the government says it will not refund the Prélèvement de Solidarité levy at 2% levied before 2015, because it was not used for social security.

As previously reported in Connexion you can put in claims to your tax office (for non-residents, the Service des impôts des particuliers non-résidents) either in writing (use a lettre recommandée avec avis de réception) or via your personal space at the impots.gouv.uk tax website under Réclamer (‘make a claim’).

The claim should be accompanied by documents proving the levies (eg. copies of the avis d’imposition for levies on rents or your capital gains declaration 2048-IMM); the government also asks that you provide proof of being affiliated in another country.

Connexion will be seeking further clarifications from the Finance Ministry for our December edition, including what to do if you have already applied some time ago but not had a response.

The government says it is still working out details of how to reclaim levies that were taken at source off bank accounts, assurance vie contracts etc.