Declaring your overseas investment policies

Form 3916 - 3916 bis in both its online and paper formats has sections specifically for declaring details of foreign life assurance schemes and similar investments.

When completing this section online, you will be asked which of the three kinds of overseas holdings (bank, cryptocurrency, investment) you have and how many of each. The system then opens the relevant sections to be completed.

If declaring on paper, you should complete a copy of the form for each relevant account. In section 2, put a cross by the type of account concerned.

With regard to declaring life assurance policies and similar overseas investment schemes, the following lines are to be completed as applicable:

Désignation du contrat ou placement

Give the product name of the contract, for example Assurance vie ‘Evolution’.

Référence du contrat ou placement

Give the policy number.

Caractéristiques du contrat: Contrat de capitalisation 

A ‘capitalisation contract’ is a kind of investment policy similar to an assurance vie but lacking an actual ‘life insurance’ element.

Autre placement de même nature (contrat d’assurance) – Cross if declaring an assurance policy.

Autre placement de même nature – Cross if declaring another overseas investment scheme that does not fall under either of the above.

Désignation de l’organisme d’assurance et assimilé, et, le cas échéant, de la succursale qui accorde la couverture

Enter the name of the actual assurance provider, ie. not the name of a broker with whom you arranged the policy. Succursale refers to a subsidiary branch of a large company. If the latter applies, give its name as well as the name of the main firm. You are then asked to enter the address of the body above, including country.

Nature des risques garantis

This translates as ‘nature of the risks covered’. Some financial advisers suggest leaving this blank if this is unclear or, for a life assurance policy, you could enter ‘vie’ if leaving it blank is not accepted.

Moment à partir duquel le risque est garanti (sauf disposition contraire du contrat, il s’agit de la date de souscription)

Literally, ‘date from which the risk is covered’. In most cases you should enter the date when the policy began.

Durée de la garantie

Length of the cover, for example viager (for lifetime) for a life assurance policy.

Date d’effet des avenants intervenus en cours d’année

Date at which any modifications to the policy were made during the year. This does not refer to switches of investments within the policy but, for example, to a change to a beneficiary clause.

Date d’effet et montant de chaque opération de dénouement partiel intervenue en cours d’année

Enter date/s of any partial withdrawals during the year and their totals. The following line is for the same information if you withdrew all of the money from the policy.

Montant total des opérations de versements des primes effectuées en cours d’année

Enter the total paid into the policy during the year.

Le cas échéant, valeur de rachat ou montant du capital garanti, y compris sous forme de rente, au 1er janvier de l’année concernée par la présente déclaration

Enter the value of the policy on January 1, 2025.