.......Britons! - Your Country needs YOU!

Unfortunately the Government does not understand this fact.
VOTES FOR BRITONS 

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Read and Act Please!






NOW.

Unfair Taxation.

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The effect of the Double Taxation Convention France/UK

The example below illustrates the gross unfairness of the imposition of the Double Taxation Convention on many British expatriates in France.

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Mr. and Mrs Smith are OAPs resident in France.
Let us suppose that they jointly have a global income of 32000 euros, all of it originating from the UK.
It originates from two sources. A Government service pension, and the joint Old Age Pensions (full for Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Smith has a reduced pension as a wife on her husband’s contributions).
The Government pension is £17715/year and the joint OAPs are £10125/year.
In Euros this is 20362 € and 11638€ respectively
These together are £27840 which at 1€= £0.87 is 32000 euros

The £17715 is taxable in the UK. Tax claimed is £820
The 11638 euros of OAP are taxable in France. Tax claimed on this is zero.
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A home help is employed which costs 2000 euros/year (less than three hours/week). This, in France, attracts a 50% tax abatement of 1000 euros.
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If the whole 32000€ were taxable in France, then only 354€ (£307) tax would be payable.
As it is Mr. Smith is taxed £820 in the UK.
It is patently clear that the DTC is discriminatory against Mr. Smith.
It is clear that Mr. Smith pays more tax than a French National in exactly the same circumstances.
It is clear that Article 25 of the Double Taxation Treaty is infringed.
Article 25 states that no-one should suffer a greater tax load compared with a French National as a result of the operation of the Double Taxation Convention.
Article 26 requires that the HMRC should take action if article 25 is infringed.  They refuse to do so!

Democracy for the Moroccans but not the Brits

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Friday 1st July after prayers at a mosque in Cahors (a modest provincial town in France), Moroccans resident in the locality went to vote over three days in a referendum on the Moroccan constitution.  There are not that many moroccans resident in the district. No doubt this activity also was commonplace in Spain and Italy?

Extract from La Depêche, 2 juillet 2011.du Midi (Lot) [click to enlarge picture - to return, use < arrow on screen]

British citizens after 15 years have no voting powers for the British Government nor for any referenda relating to the UK.  Many British citizens who have no recent connection with any UK constituency have any vote at all! Yet they may be forced to pay tax to the UK and have numerous personal links with the UK, and a deep concern with how the UK Government performs at home and abroad.

There have never been any polling stations for Britons in France!
Britons! Visit this site....
VOTES FOR EXPATS! 
Discover the issues - Why you need the vote.

Taxation in France & UK

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The table below compares the income tax payable on incomes for a couple in the year 2010.

The figures assume that the couple are both over 65 years old.  It assumes that they have certain expenses which attract tax abatements in France.
1. A home help costing 1600 euros/year. (50% abatement)
2. Charity support of 300 euros/year (75% abatement) 
3. Subscription to a local natural history organisation of 20 euros/year (66% abatement)
These abatements amount to 1038 euros reduction of tax.

Such abatements cannot be used to reduce tax paid in the UK.
In France the total household income is assessed altogether.  In the UK husband and wife are taxed separately. [One must understand that this can complicate the situation dramatically.]  Here, the income is simplified as being from one source.
All these figures have been checked and confirmed by both English and French accountants. They are correct.

The columns are self-explanatory.
They demonstrate only too clearly the enormous disparity between UK and French taxation levels.  At the very lowest levels the UK residents pay over £2200 more than the French.

BUT - what is exceedingly disturbing is that if we consider a British national who is a retired teacher (or police- fire service - military etc.) and who lives in France - then they pay tax to the UK on their teacher's pension [because of the imposition of the Double Taxation Convention].   Thus such a person may well pay thousands (£) more tax than an equivalent French couple. The DTC is not advantageous to British ex-government pensioners.  It would far better if all income for all individual expatriates were taxable in France.

Revenue £ 2010	Revenue in € @£0.87=1€	Income Tax if taxable in the U.K. in 2010	Income Tax if taxable in France in  2010
24000	27586	£2285.5= 2627 €	0
25000	28735	£2585.5= 2972€	0
30000	34483	£4047   = 4652€	629€
40000	45977	£6438   = 7400€	2423€
50000	57471	£9663   = 11106€	3973€

For 2010 the income for a couple of any age with NO expenses on home helps would have to start at 17283 euros to have any possibility of having a tax bill. For a retired couple with NO home-help expenses income would have to be over 25400 euros to pay any tax.
To calculate your own taxes you may use the very simplified spreadsheet on this site.  click here
Or use the much more complicated French Government site  (in French) . click here

Benefits

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Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Disability Allowance

I am grateful to David Burrage (legal adviser to the Spanish Expatriate's Association for all the supporting material in this matter.

On March 17th 2011 the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice gave an opinion (as guidance to the Court - one still awaits the Court's decision) which would mean that if the UK is the competent State for the support of your social security then you can receive these benefits at any time at which you may need them, as if you were living in the UK.
The UK is your competent State if you have never earned a living under the Social Security system of France (or any other European State where you may reside).  You, or someone on whom you are dependent, are likely to have paid contributions to the Social Security of the UK (National Insurance).  You probably have a UK Old Age Pension.

A possible scenario...  Mr. and Mrs. Smith retired to France in their late 60s, healthy.  Ten years later Mr. Smith becomes incapacitated (e.g. dementia).  If he had lived in the UK he would have been entitled to an Attendance Allowance.  He is entitled to receive this allowance in France although he has never received it in the UK.  

Until now the UK has resisted such a  payment (and probably will still do so!). They have insisted that any applicant should have resided in the UK for 26 weeks in the previous year. This insistence is illegal.

David Burrage writes as follows.

"Having regard to the above, all first time claimants to any of the above benefits, provided they meet the UK's qualifying criteria, as applied to UK residents, and where the claimant's competent State is the UK, should submit a claim immediately, even though they may at first be rejected. They should then lodge a formal appeal to a tribunal, since even where we may have to wait a few months for the final decision, the clock will already have started ticking from the date they made their first claim, provided they back it up within the prescribed limitation as to time, which is within 30 days of any dis-allowance notification.

Our message must therefore be, 'Don't delay, do it today'. " 

So if you are refused,  request at once the procedure for appeal.

The ECJ ruling can be accessed here.***click