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France reveals first measures to combat climate change

The French government this week laid out the first package of 146 citizen-created measures that will be put in place in a bid to reduce the country's carbon emissions. Here's a look at what's changing and how it will impact daily life.

Published: 28 July 2020 12:50 CEST
France reveals first measures to combat climate change
Mont Ventoux in the southeast will become a regional park. Photo:AFP

What is happening?

To do France’s part in the global fight to tackle climate change – and in response to the 'yellow vest' protesters' calls for more direct democracy – President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 set up a Citizen's Convention on Climate (CCC) of 150 randomly picked members of the public who, after months of discussions, came up with dozens of proposals to reduce France’s carbon emissions.

When the Council presented their proposals in June, Macron promised to retain 146 of the total 149.

This week the government has presented some of the first steps to be taken, including a controversial nationwide ban on heating terraces for the country’s bars and restaurants.

“People now understand that we are at risk and that, if we don't do anything, we'll have an ecological crisis after this health crisis,” Macron's new Environment Minister Barbara Pompili told French daily Le Monde on Monday when she presented the first batch of measures.

What will change?

Heating terraces will be banned as of 2021. This is a controversial step that comes amid a national economic downturn caused by the coronavirus health crisis, which hit the restaurant sector especially hard.

READ ALSO 'Energy monsters' – Can Paris cafés survive a ban on heated terraces?

 

Two new regional natural parks will be constructed in Mont-Ventoux in the southeast and in Somme-Picardy in the north. Alsatians will also get a national reservoir in the Robertsau forest. 

France has committed to protect 30 percent of its land surface from development, and this will be a step to keep with that commitment.

Housing 'decency' will become a legal criteria as of January 1st 2023.

In practice that means that from that date any tenant in a house consuming more than 500 kilowatt of energy per square meter per year can ask the landlord to renovate the building. Heating of buildings currently represents 20 percent of France's greenhouse gases.

Coal and oil heaters will be banned in 2022.
 
As of January 1st 2022, anyone building a new home will have to choose different means of heating, and anyone whose oil or coal boiler breaks down will have to replace it with a different kind of heater.

New limits on development will also be rolled out to limit the “concreting” of natural areas, though the government held back on an outright ban of new shopping malls outside cities, long demanded by green activists.

The measures were adopted by government decree to speed up the legal process, and parliament will receive a bill to vote over “in September-October,” according to Marc Fesnau, Deputy Minister in charge of relations with parliament and citizen participation.

“The bill should be examined in the beginning of 2021,” Fesnau told Le Monde.

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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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