2025 Tax Return - What am I doing wrong ?!

[Nomoss]

I have been making returns here for 22 years, never had a serious problem, but all that just changed.

Our only income since we moved here has been from our UK and Spanish OAP’s, and a small amount of interest from UK accounts, so nothing complicated.

I completed Form 2047 for our UK and Spanish pensions, and a Form 3916 for each of our foreign accounts.

Moving on to the Main return, Form 2042 etc., after all the preamble about changes of address, dependents, etc. I arrived at the actual money bit.

For our sources of income, as usual, I ticked “Pensions, retraites, rentes, rentes viagères à titre onéreux”, and “Revenus de capitaux mobiliers”
When I went to the next page, where the actual declaration begins, I was able to enter amounts only in boxes 1AT and 1BT “Pensions de retraite en capital taxables à 7,5 %”, whereas they should go in boxes 1AS and 1BS.

When I reach the end, this results in a large tax bill without the usual “Special deductions” of 10%, and reductions for age.
I have gone back through the whole procedure about 3 or 4 times, but can’t see my mistake.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong, please?

[exile]

I would have thought your pensions should go into 1AM and 1BM unless they are exempt from French taxation and are taxed at source but OAPs from the UK do not fall into that and I would guess that applies to the Spanish OAP as well.

It suggests to me that there is an error in the 2047 posting but I would certainly not consider myself an expert having taken 2 hours to get my 4 numbers into the system.

[Nomoss]

Thank you so much!
I was so busy looking at the only boxes on my screen which were not greyed out that I didn't look at 1AM and 1BM further down.
I put the figures into those boxes and everything worked out to the result I expected.

As the years advance, the brain-fade gains on me

[exile]

I have a feeling that you originally put your income into the box requesting a flat rate 7.5% tax - with no allowances. I used this or its equivalent when I got my lump sum from the company pension. It only really works for very large sums- either one off or if you are very lucky and have enormous income every year.

[Hotrodder]

I can never get my head around the ever changing forms and boxes so I normally request a RDV at the tax office to get help with the declaration. 5 days ago I requested this by secure messagerie on their site but have had no response apart from an automated accuse reception (?). I tried again today and sent another. I also found a different way to get a RDV by ticking different boxes on the site and got a bit closer. It offered me dates and times for a RDV. The earliest was June 10th. Do we have that long before we are penalised for a late declaration?

We went into the office last year (August I think it was) and requested a RDV for help. We are still waiting.

[elsie]

As far as I am aware, there are no significant changes to the 2042 form from 2023 to 2024. The only changes are in the lines 7YG, 7YH, 7ZQ, 7ZR, 7ZS, 7ZT and 7X*.
You should be able to use your submission for the previous year as a model for this year.

[Hotrodder]

This year we have something different to deal with. My wife has had a back payment of pension that she has been shorted from previous years. This lump sum may expose her/us to taxation so we need help to deal with it on the forms.

[exile]

I would definitely consult with the tax office. My experience with my lump sum was that they are helpful and ready to minimise your tax demand.

[Nomoss]

I can't find the exact process, but when I received a one time cash sum in 2018, in lieu of a commuted small monthly pension, I reduced the tax on this by claiming it as a "Revenu exceptionel ou differé", which calculated the tax by the "système de quotient", which taxed it as several small payments over 3 or 4 years.
Sorry I can't be more specific, but the brain is getting a bit lazy.