Capital Gains Tax
We are 3 partners who own shares in a property (SCI) and a business (SARL). We have owned this for 12 years - it is a fishery and we have fishermen for weekly holidays. The business rents the property from the SCI. We have now found a buyer for this, and are concerned about the Capital Gains Tax aspects of it. I have asked my accountant to give me some options and figures, but after 3 weeks, I can never get hold of her and she just does not seem to want to help. I really need to know what exemptions or reductions we are entitled to. If I give you a list of what I have found out on the Internet, could you please say yes or no to whether we can use this against our Tax.
- We are Fish Farmers, and as such can we claim tax breaks for farmers.
- We are retiring age, and 2 of us are in receipt of a meagre state pension.
- When a property has been owned more than 5 years, a default deduction amounting to 15% of the principal price may be applied when actual capital works fall short of this or cannot be justified satisfactorily. Often works carried out far exceed this 15%.
- Gains on shares are exempt if held for 8 years (to qualify, they must be held in a company which carried Commercial/Agricultural status).
- We have never had a salary or any money from the business.
- The tax rate may be reduced to 10% if the property qualifies as a business asset (eg it qualifies for furnished holiday lettings).
- Can we use the cost of buying a minibus as a debt which was purchased privately, but is included in the sale?
- Can you tell me the rate of tax for Capital Gains please. (I have read that the rate of tax applied to a gain is 16% for eu members plus 12.1% social charges if you are a French resident = 28.1%. There is an allowance of 10% per full year of ownership beyond the fifth. There is also a fixed allowance of 1.000 euros per sale per seller).
Please can you clarify all of these for me as I don’t think some of these are widely known and I do not want to be paying more CGT than I should.