Can a concubine constitute a household within the meaning of article B of the General Tax Code?
The concept of home within the meaning ofarticle 4B of the General Code of Taxes is essential in determining the place of tax residence of a taxpayer.
This notion of home is sometimes, wrongly, confused with the notion of tax home.
Reminder of the criteria linked to the determination of tax residence
As we wrote in our article entitled “how to become a French tax non-resident”, article 4B of the General Tax Code provides what are French tax residents:
- who have their "home" or their main place of stay in France
- OR who carry out a professional activity in France, whether salaried or not, unless they can justify that this activity is carried out there accessory title;
- OR who have the center of their economic interests in France
According to case law, home means the place where the taxpayer normally lives and has the center of his family interests, without taking into account temporary stays elsewhere due to the needs of the profession or exceptional circumstances, and that the place of the taxpayer's main residence can only determine his tax domicile in the event that he does not have a home.
The notion of home is not the same as the tax home
The notion of household is distinct from the notion of tax household.
Thus, a taxpayer and his partner can very well constitute a household within the meaning of article 4 B of the General Tax Code even if they do not belong to the same tax home.
It is in this sense that the Council of State decided on January 27, 2010, n°319897.
In this case, the taxpayer carried out his professional activity in Guinea but he regularly made stays in France to join his partner and his son there. He was then subject to a tax audit then to automatic taxation.
The Council of State ruled that this taxpayer did indeed have his home in France on the grounds that he joined his concubine there even though these two people did not belong to the same tax household.
Me Rozenbaum, tax lawyer in Paris, and lecturer in international taxation, is at your disposal in the event of a tax audit.
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