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All churches in France will ring their bells for seven minutes straight next Friday
Pope Leo XIV is visiting the country from September 25
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British diver missing in cave in south-west France
43-year-old failed to return from a dive at the Gouffre de Saint-Sauveur on Friday
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Hospital in Nouvelle-Aquitaine to make some parking spaces paid: how common is this in France?
The hospital said the measure will prevent long-term parking by non-hospital users
Americans risk French bank shutdown
Increasingly tough demands by US tax authorities for information about American clients of French banks have led to fears that tens of thousands of accounts could be closed by the end of the year.
The problem relates to Fatca, a US regulation against tax evasion, and French banks are calling on the Finance Ministry to find a solution.
Americans must declare their income to the US wherever they live in the world, though, depending on double tax treaties, not necessarily for it to be taxed again.
Due to Fatca and an agreement signed between France and the US, French banks are required to pass to US officials the American Tax Identification Number of American clients.
This can be hard for them to obtain, especially for “accidental Americans” – those who have US nationality by birth but have lived most of their lives in France.
The banks have been able to pass on the client’s date of birth if they have no access to the number but this option expires at the end of the year and the French Banking Federation says 40,000 accounts are at risk.
