France 20.6.2007 By Simon Sweetman

Thank you S Wiseman - I should know better than believe what I read in the English press !

UK comment on France is, to my mind, frequently strange; it lets hares loose which then get chased by various other creatures.

If I have read the French press comment correctly (I am certainly no expert on French tax any more than British tax), the measures Sarkozy has proposed -- and which await ratification -- involve:

a: a tax credit limited to 1500€ p.a., and this based on a maximum of 20% of the interest paid on a 'principal private residence', and
b: this credit is available over the first 5 years only

This sum of 1500€ applies to a couple. A single person is entitled to half of that figure. Further, those who do not pay tax are catered for equitably as they can claim a credit of an equivalent sum

I obtained this from http://www.lesechos.fr/patrimoine/immobilier/300177360.htm

The impression seems to have set in, based on the article and comment, that this is limitless and will have a propensity to bias the tax system to give undue advantage to a certain group. Further, scripting this impression then provides others with a useful platform to broadcast a little of there own favourite polemic.

Perhaps, then, the UK citizens who might have further invaded the Dordogne could now slam on their brakes (please...please...), leave the French (and Europe) to live in peace within their support of European human rights legislation which the British abhor, and bomb off to Australia instead where I think they will find that there is greater flexibility to give tax relief on borrowings for secondary residences

So, au revoir to you all...no, on reflection, not au revoir, but rather adieu

There's what you say, and the dubious legal validity of the domicile laws.

See http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2007/03/02/the-uks-domicile-laws-are-illegal/

And quite a lot more on my blog too!

Richard