Am I entitled to money back for home help costs?
For five years we have employed a woman who works two hours a week doing housework. We pay her using the CESU scheme. Friends say we should have received annual reimbursements for our social charge cotisation payments. Are they right? A.G.
The position with the CESU is that half of the amount paid during the year (in wages and cotisations) can be refunded by the tax office by reducing your income tax by the amount of the refund. This is a credit impôt (tax credit), which means that if tax due to be paid by you is not as much as the refund that is due, the excess is paid to you.
The total you have paid in a given year should be declared in box 7DF of the 2042 RICI form when you make your French income declaration for that year’s income.
You need to check your income tax assessment to ensure the refund has been made. If not, write to the tax office to ask them to apply it (the address is on page 4 – however do not write to the Trésor Public). Note however that you are asked to deduct from the sum declared any money you may have received to help with employing the person such as the APA benefit.
There is a ceiling, variable according to family size and the number of people aged over 65, which applies to the amount of expenses on which that tax credit can be calculated. However this is significantly higher than the costs you are talking about; as a result, you are entitled to half your expenses back.
Reader's query answered by Hugh MacDonald
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