The actual French-Luxembourg tax treaty is an old treaty which contains a favourable capital gain taxation article. As a result most French real estate acquisitions are structured in the way whereby the French real estate is acquired by a French company which is owned by a Luxembourg holding company. The disposal of the French real estate entity by the Luxembourg holding company is exempt from French and Luxembourg capital gain tax.
The French and Luxembourg governments have signed a new amendment to the tax treaty that will significantly impact the investment structures involving Luxembourg vehicles holding French real estate assets. The new provisions will apply at the earliest from 1 January 2016.
The amendment adds a new paragraph 4 to Article 3...
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