Declaring Foreign Investment Accounts in France - What's Required for DeGiro?

Foreign accounts can definitely complicate your French tax situation, but it's manageable once you understand the requirements. For DeGiro or any foreign financial account, you need to complete Form 3916 (Déclaration par un résident d'un compte ouvert hors de France). This is required regardless of whether you've earned any income from the account yet. The mere existence of the account needs to be declared. You'll also need to report any investment income on Form 2047 (Déclaration des revenus encaissés à l'étranger). This includes dividends, capital gains, or interest earned through DeGiro. Even if you haven't realized any gains yet, you should still declare the account itself. The French tax portal (impots.gouv.fr) has all the forms and guidance, though it can be a bit difficult to navigate if you're not familiar with it. The deadline for declaring these accounts is the same as your regular tax declaration date.

I went through this exact headache last year with my Degiro account. I spent hours trying to figure out what to report and how. Then I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which was a game changer for me. I just uploaded my DeGiro annual statements and it identified exactly which forms I needed to file and how to report everything properly. It walked me through the Form 3916 requirements and explained how to report my dividends and capital gains on Form 2047. The system even flagged some tax-efficient strategies I hadn't considered for my investments. What I liked was that it explained everything in English while showing me the French tax terminology I needed to know when filing. Made the whole process way less intimidating.

Just wanted to follow up and say I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here. Extremely helpful for my situation with multiple foreign investment accounts! It identified that I needed to declare my Trading212 account on the 3916 form even though I hadn't made any withdrawals, which I would have completely missed. It also explained how the French PFU (flat tax) applies to my foreign dividends. Saved me a lot of stress and probably prevented some fines too. Definitely recommend it if you're dealing with foreign investments while being a tax resident in France.

I had a similar issue last year and spent literally WEEKS trying to get someone at the tax office to explain the requirements. Kept getting different answers from different people and could never reach the same person twice. Finally used Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) to get through to an actual tax expert at the central office. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They connected me within 20 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. The tax officer I spoke with gave me specific instructions for my DeGiro account and explained exactly which boxes to fill on the declaration forms. Super helpful when dealing with French bureaucracy!

I take back what I said about Claimyr. I tried it yesterday out of desperation after spending another 3 hours trying to get through to my local tax office. Their system called me back in about 30 minutes with an actual tax representative on the line. The person I spoke with walked me through exactly what I needed to report for my foreign investments and answered all my questions about the 3916 form. They even emailed me the documentation I needed. I'm usually the first to call out services that seem too good to be true, but this one actually delivered.

Don't forget that if your total foreign assets exceed €50,000, you also need to file Form 3916-bis for foreign life insurance and capitalization contracts. The threshold applies to the combined value of all your foreign assets, not just DeGiro. Also, be aware that France has a wealth tax (IFI) for real estate assets over €1.3 million, so if you invest in REITs or real estate funds through DeGiro, there might be additional reporting requirements.

Has anyone dealt with the issue of DeGiro not providing proper French tax forms? When I was with a French broker, they used to give me a "Imprimé Fiscal Unique" that made declarations super easy, but DeGiro doesn't do this.

I went through this exact same situation last year when I opened my DeGiro account. Here's what I learned from speaking with a tax advisor: 1. **Form 3916** is mandatory every year for ANY foreign account, regardless of balance or activity. Even if you just opened it and haven't invested anything yet, you must declare it. 2. **Form 2047** is for reporting actual income (dividends, capital gains, interest) from foreign sources. If you haven't earned anything yet, you still need the 3916 but can skip the 2047 for now. 3. **Timing matters** - you need to declare the account for the tax year in which it was opened, even if it was December 31st. 4. **Documentation** - Keep all your DeGiro statements and correspondence. The French tax authorities can ask for proof of the account details at any time. One thing that caught me off guard was that even my unused cash sitting in the DeGiro money market fund counted as a "foreign investment" and needed to be reported differently than just cash in a bank account. The good news is that once you've done it the first time, subsequent years are much easier since you just update the same forms with current balances and any new income.