Can I move British investment fund to a French 'wrapper'?

I have a discretionary investment fund which was tax-efficient in England but is not in France. I am happy with my fund manager and will at some point return to the UK. I have heard it is possible for the fund to have a ‘wrapper’ in France so that it will be taxed more kindly here. Is this correct? D.M.

THERE is no means of having an investment wrapper of any kind wrap itself around an existing investment.

There are indeed investments which can act as wrappers, such as assurance vie contracts (life investment bonds), but to access one requires the complete and total sale of your current investment, with the inherent capital gains or income tax liabilities due on any gains, and then the acquisition of a new independent investment, with the associated new charges.

So it is possible to sell your current portfolio, pay the relevant taxes on the inherent gains, to then buy a new investment, pay the initial costs (investment and funds) and then make the investment in the same way as your original investment, and have the new investment managed by the same asset manager, but not without incurring costs.

And then you will have to do the reverse when returning to the UK.

However it is impossible to add a new investment - such as the assurance vie contract - to an existing investment.

Reader's query answered by Hugh MacDonald

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