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French opposition leader tied to money scandal

The head of France’s opposition party was pushing back hard on Thursday against charges of financial irregularities regarding €8 million in party spending during the 2012 election.

Published: 27 February 2014 16:13 CET
French opposition leader tied to money scandal
French conservative party leader Jean-François Copé faces questions over spending irregularities. Photo: Philippe Huguen/AFP

A report from French magazine Le Point alleges two former underlings of conservative UMP party leader Jean-François Copé, grossly overcharged the party for setting up rallies and other services.

It raises questions over whether Copé steered over €8 million in communications contracts to the close associates and their agency Event & Cie during former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s failed bid to hold onto the presidency in 2012.

Copé then turned around and raised €11 million from faithful conservative supporters to replenish the party’s depleted coffers.

On Thursday Copé promised to file a defamation lawsuit against the magazine and the two reporters who penned the exposé.

“It’s appalling,” Copé told i-Télé Thursday. “It’s a total set up of the most ignoble sort. There is only one way to respond, and it’s in the court.”

The agency at the center of the controversy allegedly double charged the party for services like catering, video projection or lighting at certain events it organized. Le Point says experts it spoke to believed the bills presented to the UMP were about 20 over standard rates.

The agency’s parent company Bygmalion was founded in 2008 by two former Copé aides. One, Bastien Millot, was Copé's chief of staff while serving as mayor in the Parisian suburb of Meaux. The second is Guy Alves also a former chief of staff, though he worked for Copé when he was Finance Minister.

Le Point notes that the upstart communication agency embarked on a period of lightening growth after its founding. Between 2010 and 2012 it had €4.5 million in the bank will the UMP was €40 million in debt.

The article also raised questions about a third person behind Bygmalion who has also allegedly benefited from ties to Copé. The man, Emmanuel Limido, apparently served as the intermediary for a sale of some prime French government real estate.  

Copé was recently at the heart of another scandal, though that one was more closely tied to the conservative values of his party. During an interview earlier this month he railed against a children's book that sought to help kids overcome the stigma of accepting their bodies. 

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TAXES

Explained: France’s exit tax

Planning on leaving France? You may, depending on your circumstances, be charged the 'exit tax'.

Published: 11 April 2024 11:28 CEST
Explained: France's exit tax

Like some other European countries, France does have an exit tax for those (French or foreign) who are leaving the country. It’s known by the English name l’Exit tax.

However, it won’t affect most people.

Only those who have been tax resident for a minimum six years of the 10 years immediately before they permanently move out of the country are liable to pay an exit tax – if, that is, they own property, titles or rights worth a minimum of €800,000, or that represent 50 percent of a company’s social profits.

If that affects you, the best advice is to seek expert individual financial advice before moving out of France for good. The relevant page on the French government’s impot.gouv.fr website says it is possible to defer payments, and some relief is available.

Because of the relatively high figures involved, this tax is irrelevant for most people. That said, however, you will still have to inform tax authorities that you are moving out of the country because you may still have income, property and capital gains taxes to pay.

Income tax

You must inform the tax office that you are moving and give them your new address so that your tax declarations can be transferred to your new address.

You are liable for tax on everything you earned in France prior to your departure as well as on any French earnings that are taxable in France under international tax treaties that you earned after your departure.

The year of your departure, you declare your previous year’s earnings as normal – declarations in spring 2024 are for earnings in 2023.

A year later, you will have to declare any earnings taxable in France from January 1st up to the date of your departure, and any French-sourced income taxable source until December 31st of the year of your departure.

If you continue to have any French-sourced income – such as from renting out a French property – you will have to declare that income annually, using the non-residents declaration form.

Property taxes

You will have property taxes to pay if you own a French property on January 1st of any given year – whether it is occupied or not. 

Property tax bills come out in the autumn, but they refer to the situation on January 1st of that year, so even if you sell your property you will usually have the pay a final property tax bill the following year.

Moreover, if you receive income from property in France or have rights related to that property (such as shared ownership or stock in property companies), as well as any additional revenue connected to the property, during the year you leave France, you will be required to pay taxes on these earnings.

If any property assets in France exceed €1.3 million on January 1st of a given year, you may also have to pay the wealth tax (IFI).

READ ALSO What is France’s wealth tax and who pays it?

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Capital gains tax 

If you sell your French property or share of a French property, you may be liable for capital gains tax at a rate of 19 percent. It will also be subject to social security contributions at the overall rate of 17.2 percent.

Capital gains tax varies depending on how long you have owned the property and whether it was a second home or your main residence.

READ ALSO How much capital gains tax will I have to pay if I sell my French property?

The good news is, if you move to another EU country, or any country that has a specific tax agreement with France, you may be exempt from capital gains tax for non-resident sellers on the sale of a property that was your principal residence in France.

If you move elsewhere, you may be able to claim exemption on capital gains tax up to €150,000. As always, you should seek expert financial advice.

Tell Social Security

Inform social security that you are leaving France permanently – and return your carte vitale if you have one. If you do not, you may be liable for any benefits you receive to which you are no longer entitled.

More mundane tasks involve informing utility and water companies, your internet provider, if you have one, the phone company, your insurance companies, banks – and La Poste, who will be able to forward your mail for up to 12 months, for a fee…

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