Wait and see on Hollande 'tax grab on holiday homes'

LET'S wait and see is the advice after The Telegraph website reported on François Hollande's proposals to increase taxes on foreign-owned second homes.

As the French government looks to reduce the country's deficit this year to 4.4% of economic output, proposals to increase taxes on rental income and higher capital gains tax levels have been outlined.

Tax on rental income would rise from 20% to 35.5%, and capital gains tax on property sales would rise from 19% to 34.5%.

But Guillaume Barlet, a French lawyer at Bank House Investment Management, said there is a long way to go yet.

"The Bill has just been passed on to Parliament yesterday and will not be seen before 16 July 2012," said Guillaume Barlet.

"I would wait to see how it fares after the first round in Parliament as it will be debated in the Assemblée Nationale then Sénat. If it is still around after the second round, then it can be taken more seriously.

"I would add that this proposal may be challenged as being in breach of European rules and from a political perspective, Mr. Hollande may not wish to lose the support of French nationals resident abroad, which he gained during the election campaign."

Comments

[Sophia Mose]

Craig, in addition it's not clear whether the proposal even applies to rental income from furnished lets. I've done an analysis of Article 25 of the proposed law as my first blog post here http://blog.provencesearch.com and on the face of it the amendments of the social code only apply to unfurnished lets. I hope the weather in Loubejac has improved a bit!

Very best wishes from hot and sunny Provence,

Sophia

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Sophia, many thanks for looking in to the proposal, hope all going well in Provence :-)