French Inheritance Planning
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 9th September 2016
In May, I wrote about tax-efficient savings & investments in France, including Assurance Vie (AV), which is the most popular type of investment in France for medium to long-term savings. If you did not see the article, you can find it at https://spectrum-ifa.com/tax-efficient-savings-investments-france/
I had intended to return to discuss the benefits of AV for French inheritance planning, in the following month. But then we had the result of the Brexit vote and that caught my attention just a little more!
So now I am getting back to basics of what works for successful French inheritance planning for financial assets – regardless of whether the UK is in or out of the EU – and regardless of nationality. Without a doubt, this is the AV, as this is an excellent planning tool for protecting the survivor, providing you with freedom of choice about who you can leave your financial assets to, as well as mitigating the potential inheritance taxes for your beneficiaries.
In France, there are strict rules on succession and children are ‘protected heirs’, each being entitled to inherit a proportion of their parents’ estates. For example, if you have one child, the proportion is half; two children, one-third each; and if you have three or more children, three-quarters of your estate must be divided equally between them.
However, for a quirk of historical reasoning, the death benefits paid from an AV fall outside of your standard estate. Therefore, you can leave the proceeds of your AV to whoever you wish and so get around the French ‘forced’ succession rules. I know that there will be many out there who are saying that you can do this anyway now, as a result of the EU Succession Regulations. Well that’s true, but maybe it’s not quite as straightforward as one might think – or at least hoped!
The problem is that even though the EU Regulations have been in place for more than a year now, these have not been widely tested. Notaires and cross-border legal specialists are still trying to get to grips with how these Regulations actually work in practice. So I, like many other professionals, still hold the view that if there is a tried and tested ‘French way’ to achieve your objectives, then this should be used. Early articles that I wrote on this subject can be found at https://spectrum-ifa.com/the-eu-succession-regulations/
The EU Succession Regulations do not change the potential French inheritances taxes that are payable, but an AV does. Whilst there are no French inheritance taxes between spouses and partners who have entered into a legal civil partnership (known as a PACS, in France), for other beneficiaries, the tax rate varies according to their relationship to you. For example, step-children (and other non-blood beneficiaries) are taxed at a punitive 60%!
For amounts invested in an AV before age 70, each beneficiary (whatever their relationship to you) is entitled to a tax-free allowance of €152,500. Taxation is limited to 20% on amounts paid above the allowance up to €700,000, and at 31.25% for amounts exceeding €700,000 per beneficiary). There is still no tax between spouses and PACSd partners, whatever amount is transmitted.
There is no limit to the number of beneficiaries that you can name. Hence, whatever your family situation, it is possible to pass on your capital to whoever you like, without them suffering excessive rates of French inheritance tax. Thus, the survivor can be fully protected and then the capital can subsequently pass to your other beneficiaries, following the death of the survivor.
For amounts invested after age 70, the inheritance allowance for all your beneficiaries combined is reduced to €30,500 (plus the investment return on the total amount invested). In effect, therefore, it is only the amount invested that exceeds €30,500 that would be taxed at standard French inheritance tax rates.
Sadly, social contributions are now charged on any gain in the policy paid out as a death benefit. Even so, when the above inheritance planning advantages are taken into account together with the personal tax savings, this makes the AV a very attractive proposition.
Inheritance planning is a highly specialised and complicated subject. Everyone’s family situation and level of wealth is different and it is very important to seek professional advice, so that the best course of action for you can be established.
The benefits of AV and tax-efficiency is a subject that we cover in our popular financial seminars across France – “Le Tour de Finance – Bringing Experts to Expats”. Overall, our industry experts will be presenting updates and outlooks on a broad range of subjects, including:
- Financial Markets
- Assurance Vie
- Pensions/QROPS
- French Tax Issues
- Currency Exchange
The date for the local seminar is Friday, 7th October 2016 at the Domaine Gayda, 11300 Brugairolles. Places are limited and must be reserved, in advance. This venue is always very popular and with less than a month to go, the event is likely to soon be fully booked. Therefore, you should contact us as soon as possible if you would like to come to the seminar. I will be at the event with our other advisers in this area, Rob, Derek and Sue.
In practice, financial advice is needed more than ever in uncertain times. Doing nothing can often be an expensive mistake. Hence, if you are not able to attend the seminar and would anyway like to have a confidential discussion with one of our financial advisers, you can contact us by e-mail at limoux@spectrum-ifa.com or by telephone on 04 68 31 14 10 to make an appointment. Alternatively, if you are in Limoux, call by our office at 2 Place du Général Leclerc, 11300 Limoux, to see if an advisor is available immediately for an initial discussion.
The above outline is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute advice or a recommendation from The Spectrum IFA Group to take any particular action on the subject of the investment of financial assets or on the mitigation of taxes.
The Spectrum IFA Group advisers do not charge any fees directly to clients for their time or for advice given, as can be seen from our Client Charter.
Autumn Tour de Finance seminars
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 16th August 2016
At this time of the year, it’s pretty difficult for anyone to think about financial planning. The sun is shining, families are visiting, or perhaps we are taking our own vacations somewhere else. Tax, investment markets, pensions and inheritance planning are usually the last things that people want to think about, but this year is proving to be a pretty exceptional year.
September brings the rentrée and it’s also a time when reasonable assumptions can usually be made about what might happen in financial markets over the rest of the year -although this year may be a challenge!
There is at least one ‘big political event’ up ahead that might keep the markets guessing and who knows what the outcome of the US Presidential Election will be? Can anyone ever depend again on forecast polls to gain some insight, after the shock result of the EU Referendum?
On the UK, could there also be a General Election? If not this year, next year? Will Theresa May really be able to resist the pressure that is likely to ensue and stay firm to the statement she made in her leadership campaign not to call a snap election?
Brexit is of course a big question – will it happen or not? If so, when? No-one really knows, but in the meantime, markets remain on high alert and sensitive to the potential outcomes of a Brexit.
As a result of Brexit, the Bank of England has drastically cut its forecast for UK growth for 2017. The interest rate has also been cut to a historic low of 0.25% and this may not be the last reduction for this year. Combined with the prospect of an increase in inflation, due to a weaker Sterling, the prospect for any meaningful return on cash has diminished still further. How will this affect you? What will happen if interest rates stay permanently lower and not just for longer?
There are other things that could affect the way that markets perform over the rest of the year and into 2017. What is the prospect for global equity and bond markets? Are we reaching the peak of the current market cycle? Should you be taking short-term ‘protective’ actions to protect your wealth for the long-term? Do you need to take action with your pension funds to make sure these last as long as you do?
Le Tour de Finance
All very interesting questions and fortunately, we are again holding our popular financial seminars across France – “Le Tour de Finance – Bringing Experts to Expats”, which is a perfect opportunity for you to discuss some of these questions directly with experts. Our industry experts will be presenting updates and outlooks on a broad range of subjects, including:
- Financial Markets
- Assurance Vie
- Pensions/QROPS
- French Tax Issues
- Currency Exchange
The date for the local seminar is Friday, 7th October 2016 at the Domaine Gayda, 11300 Brugairolles. Places are limited and must be reserved, in advance. This venue is always very popular and so early booking is recommended.
In practice, financial advice is needed more than ever in uncertain times. Doing nothing can often be an expensive mistake. Hence, if you would like to attend the seminar or would anyway like to have a confidential discussion with one of our financial advisers, you can contact us by e-mail at limoux@spectrum-ifa.com or by telephone on 04 68 31 14 10. Alternatively, drop-by to our Friday morning clinic at our office at 2 Place du Général Leclerc, 11300 Limoux, for an initial discussion.
One final thing to share with you is the news that our Languedoc team is expanding. Sue Regan has joined us as an adviser and so now we have six advisers covering this region. Sue lives at Cruzy and so is well placed for visiting clients in Narbonne, Beziers and the surrounding areas. She can be contacted directly by telephone on 04 67 24 90 95 or by email at sue.regan@spectrum-ifa.com. Sue will also be at the Gayda event with Derek, Rob and myself.
The Spectrum IFA Group advisers do not charge any fees directly to clients for their time or for advice given, as can be seen from our Client Charter here
Le Tour de Finance spring events
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 16th June 2016
The final three Le Tour de Finance events of the spring season finished in Pezenas, Nimes and Frejus. The venues for these past three events were spectacular bringing even more enjoyment to the days events for the attendees. The weather was kind and the events were a huge success.
So far, Le Tour de Finance in 2016 is proving to be the most popular series of events ever. The seminars offer English speaking expats a chance to meet various experts from fields including; specialist expat independent financial advice, wealth management, currency exchange, QROPS/pensions and expat tax advice. The experts represent a range of international institutions giving attendees unprecedented access to ask those nagging questions about living as an expat in France.
Representatives from a wide range of international companies such as Tilney BestInvest, SEB Life, Standard Bank, Rathbone Brothers plc, Prudential International, Momentum Pensions and AXA attend the events for a small presentation but more importantly, the events allow attendees to ask direct questions to these experts. This unprecedented access to the experts is what really sets Le Tour de Finance events apart.
The events will re-commence after the summer break in September and October. Keep an eye open for events in France, Spain and Italy or contact us here to receive updated information on events in your region.
The objective of Le Tour de Finance is to provide expatriates with useful information relating to their financial lives. We try and cover frequently asked questions that we receive from our clients, however, it would be helpful for us to know what your particular areas of interest might be.
If you have any specific question please contact us here – Le Tour de Finance Questions
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Le Tour de Finance Italy
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 30th March 2016
We know our clients well and can tell you what their main
financial concerns are in today’s world.
- What will happen to my money if Italian banks go bust?
- What will the impact of BREXIT be on my money and should I change my Sterling into Euro now or wait until until later?
- Is it possible to pay less tax in Italy?
- Do I have the right financial products for a resident of Italy, even if I have finances in other countries?
- Am I invested in the correct financial markets given the ups and downs at the moment? Is it really possible to protect my money from recent falls in value like that of the oil price?
If you would like to know the answers to any of these questions, you are invited to a FREE seminar where The Spectrum IFA Group will bring you a cross section of experts in International and Italian financial matters.
Le Tour de Finance Italy
- April 13th – the Santa Caterina Hotel,Las Spezia
- April 14th – the UNA Hotel Tocq, Milano
The events will commence at 10:30 with a welcome caffè and end at approx 14:00 following a FREE buffet lunch including wine and a chance to speak with the experts one on one. The discussion will start at 11:00 with brief presentations followed by targeted questions for the speakers by Gareth Horsfall of the Spectrum IFA Group (Italy). During this time, we openly welcome questions from the attendees and even welcome questions in advance of the event.
The speakers on the tour will be:
Chris Wanless: Associate Director at Rathbones Investment Managers (UK)
Answering questions on the state of world financial markets and how to protect yourself from further falls in the markets.
Andrew Lawford: From SEB life International.
Explaining how to utilize the Investment Bond as a way to minimize taxes on assets for Italian resident expats.
Judith Ruddock: Representing cross border tax experts, Studio del Gaizo Picchioni
Judith will be taking questions on being ‘in regola’ in Italy.
Gareth Horsfall: Manager of The Spectrum IFA Group in Italy
Discussing financial planning issues that concern all foreigners living in Italy.
For further information on Le Tour de Finance Italy and to book your place please click here
Le Tour de Finance
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 21st March 2016
The first spring leg of Le Tour de Finance has finished in France, with three events being held in Limoges, Poitiers and Mouzeil.
The events were a resounding success with attendance up on last year and an extended pool of international guest speakers present for the three events. The organisers work hard to bring representatives from large international financial institutions to these events, giving attendees unrivaled personal access to these experts and asksome of those ‘need to know’ questions in a small and informal group. Each event ends with a complimentary buffet and offers attendees even more personal access to the experts.
Le Tour de Finance will return to France in May with events in Toulouse, Bergerac and Brantome with further events in June.
Le Tour de Finance – Italy
Le Tour de Finance continues in April with events in La Spezia on the 13th April and in Milano on the 14th April. More information and booking information can be found here.
Le Tour de Finance – London
We are also pleased to announce that Le Tour de Finance will be running an event in London. This is the perfect opportunity for those of you who are thinking of making the move to France and will allow you to ask these experts direct questions about becoming an expat.
For more information about Le Tour de Finance in London please click here
Le Tour de Finance – Spring Seminars
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 23rd February 2016
The spring run of Le Tour de Finance seminars in France is kicking off this week on the 8th March in Limoges and then moves on to Poitiers on the 9th March and Mouzil on the 10th March.
Le Tour de Finance in 2015 proved to be the most popular series of events ever and we celebrated the 100th event in November. The seminars offer English speaking expats a chance to meet various experts from fields including; specialist expat independent financial advice, mutli-asset wealth management, currency exchange, QROPS/pensions and expat tax advice. The experts represent a range of international institutions giving attendees unprecedented access to ask those nagging questions about living as an expat in France.
The events commence at 10am with a welcome coffee followed by a series of short and informative presentations. The seminars are wrapped up with a free buffet lunch and the chance to personally meet these experts and mingle with other like minded expats.
The next events are:
| 8th March 2016 | Haute-Vienn Limoges | Register Now | |
| 9th March 2016 | Poitou-Charentes Poitiers | Register Now | |
| 10th March 2016 | Pays de la Loire Mouzeil | Register Now |
If you would like further information or would like to book a place, please contact us
The objective of Le Tour de Finance is to provide expatriates with useful information relating to their financial lives. We try and cover frequently asked questions that we receive from our clients. It would be helpful for us to know what your particular areas of interest might be.
For further details and to book your place at a future event please register here or complete the form below.
Le Tour de Finance – 100th event in Dinard
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 15th November 2015
Our 100th financial seminar was quite rightly our biggest yet with approximately 90 attendees out of the 106 who had RSVP’d.
Guest speakers from Rathbones, SEB, Tilney Best Invest, Prudential International and Standard Bank all flew in specially for this event alongside the organisers and founders, Pippa Maile from Currencies Direct and Michael Lodhi from The Spectrum IFA Group.
The venue, Le Grand Hotel Dinard, was a fabulous location with first-class service and an excellent buffet lunch to finish.
There were plenty of prized to mark the event – five lucky attendees went home with 100euros in cash each, everyone received a goodie bag plus there was a prize draw for other prizes including champagne, signed British rugby shirts and autographed books.
Thank you to everyone who came along and made this such a great success. If you are one of the people who unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute, please feel free to drop us a line at seminars@ltdf.eu if you would like copies of the presentations or have a specific topic that you would like advice on.
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Le Tour de Finance – autumn 2015
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 25th September 2015
We have been proudly taking part in ‘Le Tour de Finance’ which has now completed nearly 100 events.
The 100th event is in November taking place at the stunning Grand Hotel in Dinard. During 2015 we have already covered events in Italy, France and Spain that proved to be a huge success. The events are fact filled sessions followed by an opportunity for an informal questions and answers session over complimentary refreshments and a buffet.
The relaxed and open forums are a chance to expand your knowledge of personal finance as an expat resident in France. The panel of speakers are experts in their respective fields and are on-hand to answer questions you may have about protecting and strengthening your personal financial situation while a resident in France.
We welcome you to join us for these autumn events in France.
• St. Endreol (Provence) – 7th October register now | more info
• Aix en Provence – 8th October register now | more info
• Gayda (Languedoc-Roussillon) – 9th October register now | more info
• Avrillé, Loire – 11th November register now | more info
• Dinard (Brittany) – 12th November – OUR 100th LE TOUR DE FINANCE EVENT! register now | more info
The objective of Le Tour de Finance is to provide expatriates with useful information relating to their financial lives. We try and cover frequently asked questions that we receive from our clients. It would be helpful for us to know what your particular areas of interest might be.
Send us your questions and the event you will be attending and we will try and cover them on the day:
QROPS – Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 4th August 2015
I’d like to revisit the topic of pensions this month; specifically QROPS pensions. I’m sure you remember that it stands for Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes. I spend a lot of time talking to clients these days about QROPS. I don’t want to bore you with loads of technical detail here; I want to concentrate on the core reason why you should consider a QROPS if you are non UK resident or are considering becoming so. Much has happened this year in the UK pensions industry, and it has tended to cloud the picture regarding expats and their retirement savings. Let’s try to regain some clarity.
If you’ve moved to France, or are considering a move here, you need to at least consider a QROPS as an option. It gives you the right to move your pension fund out of the UK jurisdiction altogether, and have much more control over your pension pot, and protect it from internal taxation and other forms of interference from the UK system which is focussing more and more on how to tax your assets.
I’m talking to a client in this position at the moment. His name isn’t Steve, but we’ll call him that anyway. He has a £400,000 pension pot made up of four different pensions accrued over his working life. He and his wife are UK resident, but intend to be French resident soon. I’ve given him all the background information, and he has come back with a very succinct question:
‘I think it quite likely that I will live in France for many years, but equally likely that I will return to the UK at some stage in the future. As my pension will revert to UK jurisdiction when that happens, is it worth my while paying the overseas trustee fees while I am outside the UK?’
Steve is 65 years old, and he thinks he will return to the UK when he is 80. Let’s also assume a modest net return of 5% per annum of the QROPS pension. This of course cannot be guaranteed, but is the current performance of my preferred investment fund over the past 5 years. Let’s assume that he decides to do a QROPS transfer.
Now let’s move forward in time by 10 years. Steve’s pension fund is now worth £550,000. (the mathematicians amongst you will of course realise that he has been drawing down some of this pension to supplement their other sources of income) He’s quite pleased with this, but would be less pleased to learn that in two weeks’ time he will be killed in a tragic car accident.
As tends to happen in later years, Steve and his wife had discussed what they would do if one of them died. Steve thought that if he was the one left, he would stay in France, but his wife, we’ll call her Jane, thought it more likely that she would go back to the UK to be with the children and grandchildren. This is indeed what Jane decides to do, and to facilitate this, she decides to take the full pension pot as a capital sum to enable her to buy a decent house back in Cambridge. She will invest the proceeds of the sale of the French house when, and if, it sells.
Because Steve decided to transfer under the QROPS system out of the UK pension jurisdiction, Jane will get every penny of the £550,000 pension lump sum. If Steve’s decision had gone the other way, and he had decided to keep his four pensions in the UK, Jane would be looking at a tax bill from HMR&C of 45% on the majority of the money if she took it as a lump sum. Her tax bill would be in the region of £210,000 at current rates.
There will have been additional costs in having a QROPS pension, principally to remunerate the overseas trustees who take on responsibility for the administration of the pension under HMR&C rules. There will also have been savings. UK pension funds are subject to UK Dividend Income Tax. The rebate of the 10 per cent credit (ACT) was withdrawn by Gordon Brown, costing pension funds billions in tax.
It is therefore difficult to quantify how much extra a QROPS costs, if anything at all. What we can say with a fair degree of certainty is ‘not as much as you might think’. In Steve’s case it probably cost about £9,000 over the ten years in trustee costs, but £8,000 of this was recovered immediately when he invested his pension money into the QROPS bond. That doesn’t happen with all QROPS, but it can currently with Spectrum.
As far as insurance goes, and I regard this as an insurance policy for while you are abroad, the cost/savings ratio looks pretty impressive. I always practice what I preach; my own pension fund is safely housed in two separate QROPS, well away from the UK tax–grabbers.
With regard to the changes that have erupted on the UK pensions scene this year – Pension Freedom – as the chancellor likes to call it; I think my views are well documented. I see this as a tax raising scheme, nothing more and nothing less. It may be that in the future QROPS schemes will be forced to fall in line with the new UK stance, but that has little to do with the many compelling reasons to look at a QROPS transfer.
QROPS is one of the topics that we will be featuring at our next ‘Le Tour de Finance’ seminar. Our industry experts will be presenting updates and outlooks on a broad range of subjects, including:
- Financial Markets
- Assurance Vie
- Pensions/QROPS
- Structured Investments
- Currency Exchange
The date for the seminar is Friday, 9th October 2015 at the Domaine Gayda, Brugairolles. Places are limited and must be reserved, in advance. This venue is always very popular and so early booking is recommended. Please complete the reservation form here
Le Tour de Finance 2015 in France
By Spectrum IFA
This article is published on: 8th June 2015
Le Tour de Finance has just completed its final stage of the spring 2015 events, after travelling through France, Italy and Spain. For those who are not familiar with these events, this is a series of seminars, where we bring ‘experts to expats’. Now in its sixth year and due to the popularity of ‘Le Tour’, the events take place in both spring and autumn. For the local events, we had some ‘’old and new faces’ presenting.
SEB Life International and Prudential International presented on the topic of assurance vie, explaining the tax-efficiency of this type of investment, both personal and for inheritance planning. Each of the companies outlined the unique features of their own products and it could be seen that the products complement each other, one or the other being more suited to a client, for example, depending upon attitude to investment risk.
Momentum Pensions, which is a multi-jurisdictional pension provider based in the UK, Malta, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar, presented on the highly topical subject of the UK pension reform that has taken place. The presentation outlined the ‘freedom and choice’ options now open to people, but also covered the UK tax consequences for those who decide to flexibly access their pension funds. The alternative of transferring benefits to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) and the advantages that this can provide for expatriates was outlined.
Currencies Direct presented on the various options open to clients who wish to exchange currency, whether this is for regular payments or for ad-hoc exchanges, for example for property purchase. It was very interesting to see how much could be saved by using Currencies Direct, rather than a retail bank, particularly in the light of the current strength of Sterling against the Euro.
There was a presentation on French succession planning from Heslop & Platt, which is a firm of UK solicitors that are specialists in French law. Various possibilities that already exist under French law to put in place successful inheritance planning were outlined. In addition, the forthcoming EU rules on succession were covered and the fact that if a French resident elects the succession laws of their country of nationality to apply, the estate would be administered by a French notaire trying to apply that country’s rules. What seems clear now is that this is likely to cause complications, delays, additional expenses and uncertainty, whilst French inheritance taxes will still apply. As such, the opinion was that if there is a ‘tried and tested French solution’ that achieves the objective that someone is seeking, then this should be the first choice to use, rather than relying on the EU Regulations.
New to Le Tour this year was Leonetti Business Services, a firm that can help you with some of the French bureaucratic issues that we are all faced with from time to time, which undoubtedly can help to get rid of the frustration that these things can create.
Martignole Huzé Associés, a firm of chartered accountants based in Carcassonne, presented on the services that they can provide in English, including the completion of French tax returns, having regard to the conditions of Double Taxation Treaties.
Also new to Le Tour this year was Tilney Bestinvest, which presented on the range of investment management services that this company can provide. The choices range from Mulit-Asset Portfolios, where clients pick the one most suited to their objectives and leave the company to take care of the investment management, through to the more actively managed full Discretionary Fund Management services for larger portfolios.
For The Spectrum IFA Group, we presented on our processes and the products and services that we provide to clients, as well as highlighting the importance of our independence and how we are regulated in France by the French authorities. We also outlined client concerns, for example, tax-efficiency, inheritance tax planning, securing pensions and protection of capital. In addition, in view of the topical issues that we are facing this year, we presented the French tax and social charges consequence of cashing-in UK pensions and for inheritance planning, we used assurance vie to demonstrate the potential inheritance tax savings, providing examples of two scenarios – the ‘French Way’ and the ‘EU Way’. Assurance vie was also used to demonstrate personal tax-efficiency.
As always, the feedback from many people attending these events has been very positive and if you were not able to make it this time to Le Tour de Finance, keep in mind the next local events which will take place in October. On the other hand, if any of these subjects are of interest to you now and you would like to have a confidential discussion about your financial situation, please contact me directly or by using the form below.