CSG & social levies
on non-residents: a pioneering expertise

The De Ruyter ruling (CJEU, 26 February 2015, case C-623/13) is the founding decision holding that the CSG, the CRDS and the social levy applicable to investment and asset income fall within the scope of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 (applicable to the facts, which predated 2010), succeeded by Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security schemes. The consequence: a taxpayer affiliated to a social security scheme of another EU/EEA Member State or Switzerland cannot be subject to these levies in France, under the principle that only one social security legislation may apply. The Conseil d'État drew the consequences of this decision in its ruling of 27 July 2015 (No 334551).

You are potentially eligible if you are a tax resident outside France, you are affiliated to a social security scheme of another EU or EEA Member State or Switzerland, and social levies (CSG, CRDS, solidarity levy) have been applied to your French investment or asset income (rents, dividends, real-estate capital gains, interest). The LFSS 2019 reform replaced the CSG/CRDS with a 7.5% solidarity levy for this population, but marginal situations and the earlier arrears remain contestable. A personalised analysis is necessary.

For Switzerland, Regulation 883/2004 applies through the agreement on the free movement of persons: you are treated as if you were in a Member State. For the post-Brexit United Kingdom (since 1 January 2021), the EU-UK coordination agreement takes over, with some nuances. For other third countries (United States, United Arab Emirates, Canada outside Quebec), the scope of De Ruyter is more disputed, but the firm raises arguments based on bilateral social security agreements where they exist. Case-by-case strategy.

The general time limit under article R*196-1 of the French Tax Procedure Code applies: for levies assessed through a tax roll, until 31 December of the second year following the year the tax became collectible; for levies withheld at source or by deduction (dividends, real-estate capital gains under French Tax Code art. 244 bis A), from the date of payment. A late claim is inadmissible. Taxpayers identifying a situation to regularise over several years must act quickly to preserve the years not yet time-barred.

Yes. Since the De Ruyter ruling of February 2015, the firm has handled more than 7,000 claims on behalf of non-resident taxpayers, at various stages (formal claim, hierarchical appeal, litigation before the administrative court, then the administrative court of appeal and, where relevant, the Conseil d'État). This early involvement explains the depth of the firm's command of both procedural arguments (deadlines, admissibility, calculation of late-payment interest) and substantive arguments (characterisation of the affiliation, interaction with the applicable bilateral treaty).

The report by Anne Genetet, member of the French Parliament representing French nationals abroad, submitted to the Prime Minister on 11 June 2018, is entitled "International mobility of French nationals: towards a strategy of attractiveness and support". It documents the scale of the litigation over social levies on non-residents and makes recommendations that partly fed into the social security financing law for 2019 (replacement of the CSG/CRDS with a 7.5% solidarity levy for EU/EEA/Swiss non-residents not affiliated to the French scheme).

Surrenders of Luxembourg life insurance policies held by non-residents raise specific questions of interaction between French taxation (flat-rate withholding or taxation at progressive rates, social levies), Luxembourg taxation and the bilateral treaty of 1 April 1958. The social levies applied to the proceeds are frequently contestable for taxpayers affiliated to a foreign social security scheme, in the continuation of De Ruyter. This is one of the firm's active fronts today.