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Are French property owners set for some good tax news?
Lower year-on-year inflation means that next year’s tax increase should be lower - but not all owners will be affected equally
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Government warning about scammers pretending to be French authorities
Fraudulent emails and texts are rife during tax season
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Can home owners ask for French property tax payment deferral?
Property tax notices will arrive shortly if not already
Even 'old' foreign bank accounts need to be declared
Reader was fined by tax office for mistake over Australian bank account that is still open
A reader from Occitanie has contacted us to warn about the importance of declaring foreign bank accounts – after he was hit with a large fine for holding one in Australia opened before he and his wife moved to France several years ago.
“It came up because we had a tax check of our small business and a couple of times we had brought some inheritance money that was in the account over from Australia,” he said.
At first the couple were accused of money-laundering, but showed their bank statements and explained. “They accepted that but said they would fine us personally for non-declaration. We also had an English account that was mostly dormant. They charged us €1,500 per year, per account for the last three years – the period covered by the check.”
As we state in the annual Connexion guide to French income tax, anyone with a foreign account opened, closed or used during a tax year that ‘habitually receives’ cash, shares or other investments should declare its existence on their tax return – as well as declaring income from it. Failure to do so can result in fines and possibly having to pay missing tax, increased by interest.