New queries, issue 4358

Farewell France

I have just had an initial meeting with a potential client who has been resident in France for over 20 years but is intending to return to the UK shortly for health reasons.

He is going through the process of selling the house in France which is owned by a French company. (I believe this is standard practice because of French succession rules.)

The company will sell the property and I am led to believe that there will be no French tax arising out of the sale. My client and his wife will then need to extract the funds from the company to purchase a new home in the UK.

While the French property would have qualified for only or main residence (OMR) relief as my client’s only residence throughout ownership with the French company interposed I cannot see that OMR relief...