[NewMexicanMove]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a company/tax lawyer able to help in filing our French and US tax returns, and able to give good advice as to how to position our US investments to minimize our French tax liability?

We're dual US/UK citizens, who've just taken up residence in France. All our assets are in the US, bar our residence here.

Thanks!

 

[Bevdeforges]

If you have already joined AARO, you should ask around among the other members. Several of the AARO members (and officers) are tax attorneys and other dual qualified professionals. AARO also offers a really good tax seminar each year (usually in February) that discusses both US and French taxes and how they affect Americans living in France.

But investments in the US are going to be taxed by the US (under the Franco-American tax treaty). It's basically a matter of learning how to report the US investment income on the French tax forms so that you get the appropriate credit for the US taxability of the income.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[NewMexicanMove]

We are members of AARO, and I see their taxation position papers and other documentation, but I don't see a forum or similar on their site which would allow me to pose this sort of question. Am I not spotting a link?

My concern isn't simply that of reporting investment income. It's of how to position investments to minimize the tax liability of that income. (Happy to pay the tax I owe, just don't want to inadvertently make that bill higher than it needs to be.) I take professional advice for that in the US, but that person obviously doesn't know the French system. So I'm looking for a parallel service in France.



K

 

[Bevdeforges]

There is no forum (that I'm aware of) on the AARO website. The seminar I refer to is an event held in Paris in February each year. Obviously, you've missed the one for 2012.

French taxes are a bit more straight-forward than US taxes are. In fact, most French investment funds send you a form at the end of the year telling you precisely what to declare on your French forms and where. Since the French forms are declarations (i.e. where you just declare your various elements of income and expense and don't do the calculations yourself) there is considerably less room for "creative accounting."

Besides, as the US is virtually the only country that taxes its citizens living outside the country (on worldwide income, no less), any investments you have in the US should probably be structured to US tax standards. The French side consists primarily of what you need to report, and how to report it so that they are properly classified to receive either the tax credit or the exoneration from tax that they are due. It's only really when you start investing in French (or other "foreign") investments that you have to consider the tax angle to avoid complications between how you're taxed in France and how you're taxed in the US.

Under the US-France tax treaty most investments in the US are either exonerated from taxes in France (but must be declared as such) or (more likely) are figured into your tax calculation and then you receive a tax credit based on the amount of French tax that was imposed on the income.

But you may want to take a look at the lists of attorneys and tax accountants put out by the US Consulate in Paris: France A - Z | Embassy of the United States Paris, France (many of the people listed are AARO members).
Cheers,
Bev

 

[NewMexicanMove]

Thanks, Bev. That US Consulate list is new to me, and useful.

Cheers,

K