Legal news

Capital gains on the sale of real estate are subject to income tax and social security contributions.

However, there are many exemptions.

How is a capital gain calculated?

Capital gains are taxable when they result from a sale for valuable consideration: sale of a property or the rights attached to it, exchange, contribution to a company, etc.

It is calculated in two stages:

• the calculation of the gross capital gain (1), and
• the application of allowances (2)

• Calculation of the gross capital gain

The gross capital gain is the difference between the sale price and the purchase price.

The sale price is the price mentioned in the deed of sale added to the charges and indemnities paid by the buyer (e.g. eviction indemnity) and minus the costs incurred by the seller (e.g. the cost of real estate diagnostics or the costs of mortgage release).

As for the acquisition price, it corresponds to the purchase price or the value appearing in the declaration of inheritance or in the donation.

It is increased by:

• acquisition costs (notary’s fees, registration fees, etc.) for a fixed amount of 7.5% of the purchase price or actual costs based on receipts; and
• works for a fixed amount of 15% of the purchase price for a property that has been held for more than five years or at actual costs based on receipts.

Example: for a purchase price of €200,000, the flat-rate valuations allow the price to be increased by €15,000 for the acquisition costs and €30,000 for the works.

• Application of allowances

Allowances for holding periods are applied to this capital gain.

For example, for a property that has been held for 15 years or more, the seller benefits from an allowance of :

– 60% for income tax,

– 16.5% for social security contributions.

For a capital gain of 40,000 €, only 16,000 € will be subject to income tax and 33,400 € to social security contributions.

Please note

For properties located in certain “tight” areas between supply and demand, an additional allowance of 70% is applicable if the sale allows the construction of multi-family residential buildings and 85% if the majority are social and/or intermediate properties.

In practice, this exceptional allowance applies to sales made until the 31st of December 2022 (provided that the preliminary contract has acquired a specific date between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020).

The taxation rate of the capital gain: after the allowance, the capital gain is taxed at a rate of 19% and social security contributions are taxed at a rate of 17.2%.

An additional tax is due for capital gains superior to 50,000 €, after the allowance.

It is 2% to 6% depending on the amount of the capital gain.

What are the exemptions?

There are many exemptions for capital gains on property, each of which is subject to specific conditions such as sales of principal residences, those with a price of less than 15,000 € or sales to social housing organisations.

The capital gain is also exempt when the seller does not own his main residence and uses the money from the sale price to acquire one or when a non-resident sells a home located in France.

In addition, pensioners and people living in social, medico-social or nursing homes for the elderly or disabled adults can benefit from an exemption subject to income conditions.

Cabinet Nicolas BRAHIN

Advokatfirma i NICE, Lawyers in NICE

Email :  contact@brahin-avocats.com

1, Rue Louis Gassin – 06300 NICE (FRANCE)

Tel :   +33 493 830 876      /    Fax : +33 493 181 437

www.brahin-avocats.com

The VAT applicable to imports must now be declared to the General Management of Public Finance (Direction générale des Finances publiques – DGFiP) on the VAT return, not to the General Management of Customs and Indirect Taxation (Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects – DGDDI) during customs clearance.

Several information, in order to facilitate your VAT return:

• the online declaration is pre-filled with the amount of import VAT to be collected (excluding suspensive tax regimes – RFS), based on the elements that you or your registered customs representatives (RDE) have previously declared to the DGDDI.

The pre-filling is effective from the 14th day of each month for operations carried out during the previous month;

• the details of the pre-filled amount are accessible in the “DONEES ATVAI” tab of your professional account on the douane.gouv.fr website; in addition to the declaration numbers and, for each of them, the taxable base by rate and nomenclature, it also includes information identifying the RDEs (Name and EORI number); and
• for all import VAT payers, the deadline for filing the VAT return is the 24th of each month.

The pre-filled VAT amounts must be checked by you and corrected if necessary.

To do this, you should ensure that you have the necessary information, especially if you use a registered customs representative (RDE) to validate the import VAT amount.

If there is a discrepancy between the pre-filled amount and the amount you believe you should declare, you will need to correct the pre-filled output VAT amount and you could contact the RDE to keep him informed.

Before validating your VAT return, it is also your responsibility to complete it with the data not pre-filled such as the taxable import VAT bases when you use an RFS, the non-taxable bases and the related input VAT amount.

Clarification of the importer population

The collection of import VAT on the VAT return concerns all taxable persons and non-taxable persons who have a valid intra-European VAT number in France.

We remind you that the intra-European VAT number must now be entered on your customs declarations.

There are several details depending on your situation:

• If you are placed under the simplified taxation regime (RSI) for VAT and you intend to carry out imports, you will no longer be able to benefit from the RSI and will have to file a VAT return according to the normal taxation regime after having informed your tax department.
• If you are under a basic VAT exemption scheme, you will have to declare the VAT relating to the imports on the VAT return n° 3310-CA3 for the month in which the VAT became payable.

If you do not have a French intra-European VAT number even though you are importing goods into France, we invite you to contact your Tax office to obtain one.

Cabinet Nicolas BRAHIN

Advokatfirma i NICE, Lawyers in NICE

Email :  contact@brahin-avocats.com

1, Rue Louis Gassin – 06300 NICE (FRANCE)

Tel :   +33 493 830 876      /    Fax : +33 493 181 437

www.brahin-avocats.com

The VAT applicable to imports must now be declared to the General Management of Public Finance (Direction générale des Finances publiques – DGFiP) on the VAT return, not to the General Management of Customs and Indirect Taxation (Direction Générale des Douanes et Droits Indirects – DGDDI) during customs clearance.

Several information, in order to facilitate your VAT return:

• the online declaration is pre-filled with the amount of import VAT to be collected (excluding suspensive tax regimes – RFS), based on the elements that you or your registered customs representatives (RDE) have previously declared to the DGDDI.

The pre-filling is effective from the 14th day of each month for operations carried out during the previous month;

• the details of the pre-filled amount are accessible in the “DONEES ATVAI” tab of your professional account on the douane.gouv.fr website; in addition to the declaration numbers and, for each of them, the taxable base by rate and nomenclature, it also includes information identifying the RDEs (Name and EORI number); and
• for all import VAT payers, the deadline for filing the VAT return is the 24th of each month.

The pre-filled VAT amounts must be checked by you and corrected if necessary.

To do this, you should ensure that you have the necessary information, especially if you use a registered customs representative (RDE) to validate the import VAT amount.

If there is a discrepancy between the pre-filled amount and the amount you believe you should declare, you will need to correct the pre-filled output VAT amount and you could contact the RDE to keep him informed.

Before validating your VAT return, it is also your responsibility to complete it with the data not pre-filled such as the taxable import VAT bases when you use an RFS, the non-taxable bases and the related input VAT amount.

Clarification of the importer population

The collection of import VAT on the VAT return concerns all taxable persons and non-taxable persons who have a valid intra-European VAT number in France.

We remind you that the intra-European VAT number must now be entered on your customs declarations.

There are several details depending on your situation:

• If you are placed under the simplified taxation regime (RSI) for VAT and you intend to carry out imports, you will no longer be able to benefit from the RSI and will have to file a VAT return according to the normal taxation regime after having informed your tax department.
• If you are under a basic VAT exemption scheme, you will have to declare the VAT relating to the imports on the VAT return n° 3310-CA3 for the month in which the VAT became payable.

If you do not have a French intra-European VAT number even though you are importing goods into France, we invite you to contact your Tax office to obtain one.

Cabinet Nicolas BRAHIN

Advokatfirma i NICE, Lawyers in NICE

Email :  contact@brahin-avocats.com

1, Rue Louis Gassin – 06300 NICE (FRANCE)

Tel :   +33 493 830 876      /    Fax : +33 493 181 437

www.brahin-avocats.com

Giving part of your assets in your life remains the most effective way to reduce the inheritance tax due by heirs.

With an allowance currently set at 100,000 € between each parent and each child (200,000 € for a couple, per child), which is replenished every 15 years, the sums passed on without paying donation tax climb quickly.

Especially if you add the deduction of 31,8865 € which applies to family donations of money made by a donor under 80 years old to an adult beneficiary, which is also renewed every 15 years.

Today, a 50 years old person who gives 131 865 € (a “classic” donation coupled with a family donation) to a child can renew the operation at 65 years old, then at 80 years old, without paying a single cent to the tax office.

Experts even recommend giving beyond the allowance; up to around 550,000 €. This is especially so the donor can pay the donation tax without it being considered a supplement of taxable donation.

It is better to smooth out the transmission of one’s assets over time in order to purge the allowance every 15 years and reset the tax calculation scale.

As the tax rate is progressive, it allows you to take advantage of the bottom of the scale several times, up to the one taxed at the rather reasonable rate of 20% (capped at 552,324 €, NDLR).

If nothing is anticipated, the same sum transmitted once after the passing will be taxed at a rate of 30, 40, or even 45%, as inheritance tax.

Of course, the age to convey varies according to the size of the estate.

The average person will start to work on it at the age of 60 or 65, after having built up enough assets to transfer part of them.

Nevertheless, to convey during one’s lifetime is a very good fiscal operation, not only to reduce inheritance tax in the long run.

By giving the usufruct of a rental property for 5 to 10 years to a child who will finance his or her studies thanks to the rents he or she will receive, the parents take the property out of their estate subject to the real estate wealth tax (IFI), with a tax saving at the end.

In the same way, it is sometimes more advantageous to give a property than to proceed to its sale.

The reason for this? The act of donation erases the added value tax on real estate capital gains (at a rate of 36.2%, NDLR).

Don’t give away too much too soon

With the 15-year time limit, the number of donations that can be exempted remains limited for large estates.

However, it is better not to give away too much too young, at the risk of impoverishing oneself, getting into difficulty or losing control of one’s assets.

This is particularly the case if you give away the bare ownership of your main residence.

The donor who becomes the usufructuary of his home can no longer sell it without the agreement of his bare-owner children.

The donor is irrevocably stripped of his property. As the popular French saying goes: “To give is to give, to take back is to steal”.

If one should not give away too soon, the opposite is also true.

After the age of 81, you should no longer transfer in dismemberment of ownership, because the value of the usufruct reaches the rate of 20%.

The donation tax culminates at 80% of the value of the property in full ownership.

The cost of the transmission becomes dissuasive, hence the need to anticipate these operations.

Moreover, after a certain age, giving away is no longer of any use to the estate.

Donations made by the deceased to his heirs in the 15 years preceding his death are taken into account in the succession.

The 100,000 € allowance between parent and child being common to inheritance tax, it will already have been used up.

Moreover, when the tax rate is progressive, the bottom of the scale of calculation already used for a gift of less than 15 years will not be reused, or only up to the remaining balance.

The next lowest unused part of it will be applied in ownership.

But, contrary to popular belief, a previous donation is not taxed again.

Only the inherited excess is.

Nicolas BRAHIN

Lawyer of the Bar of Nice

Specialist in banking and financial law

Panthéon-Sorbonne University

Cabinet BRAHIN Avocats

nicolas.brahin@brahin-avocats.com

Taxation

A few days before the first round of the presidential election, Bercy launched on Thursday the last tax return campaign of the five-year term – which remains an obligation for all despite the tax at source – and has not hesitated to highlight the new provisions that can help lighten the bill of taxpayers.

This year, it is more specifically the application of the exceptional revaluation of 10% of the kilometer scale that should be closely observed by a number of households.

Those who are suffering from the explosion of fuel prices.

Announced last January by the government to reduce the cost of fuel prices, this measure provides more specifically to enhance in an “exceptional” way – of 10% – the kilometer scale.

This allows households to deduct from their taxable income, each year, expenses related to the use of their vehicle for business travels.

It is determined according to the type of vehicle and the kilometers driven.

However, in order to benefit from this significant boost due to the revaluation, households must opt for the deduction of actual expenses and therefore give up the flat-rate deduction of 10% that automatically applies.

This is difficult as the “actual expenses” option may be considered more complex.

A lot of people have an interest in switching to actual expenses, they need to take advantage of this tool.

This is the case, for example, for a 30-years-old single man whose net taxable income for 2021 is 28,000 € and who travels 50 km every day to get to work.

According to the DGFiP’s calculations, if this person opts for the flat-rate allowance of 10%, he will obtain a deduction of 2,800 € from his taxable income.

If he chooses the deduction of “real expenses”, and thus benefits from the 10% revaluation of the kilometer scale, he will have a reduction of 4,880 €.

To ensure that taxpayers choose the best option, the DGFiP has put online a simulator dedicated to the calculation of kilometer and other professional expenses.

More surprisingly, the tax authorities have even promised to automatically apply the most advantageous option for households that make a mistake…

Remote working fees

Another measure was put forward: the tax credit for households that have installed an electric vehicle charging station in their home.

More specifically, it represents 75% of the amount of expenses incurred last year within the limit of 300 euros per charging system, as specified by the tax authority.

The executive has also decided to renew in 2021 the exemption of professional expenses related to remote working.

This measure had been put in place for the year 2020 during which many employees worked from home because of quarantines and restrictions to fight against the coronavirus.

In detail, this exemption is capped at 2.50 € per day of remote working, 55 € per month and 580 € per year, slightly more than the 550 € provided in 2020.

Finally, the tax authorities are working with the Ministry of Education to improve the rate of use of school grants, which is considered “insufficient”.

Households with children in secondary school will be able to confirm their entitlement at the end of their online tax return, via a simulator.

This year, the deadlines for filling out the online returns are from May 24 to June 8, depending on the department.

Nicolas BRAHIN

Lawyer of the Bar of Nice

Specialist in banking and financial law

Panthéon-Sorbonne University

Cabinet BRAHIN Avocats

nicolas.brahin@brahin-avocats.com

Taxation

A few days before the first round of the presidential election, Bercy launched on Thursday the last tax return campaign of the five-year term – which remains an obligation for all despite the tax at source – and has not hesitated to highlight the new provisions that can help lighten the bill of taxpayers.

This year, it is more specifically the application of the exceptional revaluation of 10% of the kilometer scale that should be closely observed by a number of households.

Those who are suffering from the explosion of fuel prices.

Announced last January by the government to reduce the cost of fuel prices, this measure provides more specifically to enhance in an “exceptional” way – of 10% – the kilometer scale.

This allows households to deduct from their taxable income, each year, expenses related to the use of their vehicle for business travels.

It is determined according to the type of vehicle and the kilometers driven.

However, in order to benefit from this significant boost due to the revaluation, households must opt for the deduction of actual expenses and therefore give up the flat-rate deduction of 10% that automatically applies.

This is difficult as the “actual expenses” option may be considered more complex.

A lot of people have an interest in switching to actual expenses, they need to take advantage of this tool.

This is the case, for example, for a 30-years-old single man whose net taxable income for 2021 is 28,000 € and who travels 50 km every day to get to work.

According to the DGFiP’s calculations, if this person opts for the flat-rate allowance of 10%, he will obtain a deduction of 2,800 € from his taxable income.

If he chooses the deduction of “real expenses”, and thus benefits from the 10% revaluation of the kilometer scale, he will have a reduction of 4,880 €.

To ensure that taxpayers choose the best option, the DGFiP has put online a simulator dedicated to the calculation of kilometer and other professional expenses.

More surprisingly, the tax authorities have even promised to automatically apply the most advantageous option for households that make a mistake…

Remote working fees

Another measure was put forward: the tax credit for households that have installed an electric vehicle charging station in their home.

More specifically, it represents 75% of the amount of expenses incurred last year within the limit of 300 euros per charging system, as specified by the tax authority.

The executive has also decided to renew in 2021 the exemption of professional expenses related to remote working.

This measure had been put in place for the year 2020 during which many employees worked from home because of quarantines and restrictions to fight against the coronavirus.

In detail, this exemption is capped at 2.50 € per day of remote working, 55 € per month and 580 € per year, slightly more than the 550 € provided in 2020.

Finally, the tax authorities are working with the Ministry of Education to improve the rate of use of school grants, which is considered “insufficient”.

Households with children in secondary school will be able to confirm their entitlement at the end of their online tax return, via a simulator.

This year, the deadlines for filling out the online returns are from May 24 to June 8, depending on the department.