Question: What investments should be advised to an expatriate in Belgium considering the purchase of a house in France?

Question: What investments should be advised to an expatriate in Belgium considering the purchase of a house in France?

Answer

On both sides of the border, investment returns are more or less the same. So which investments to choose?

Expatriate or not, when you have the possibility to buy, to have abundant savings, it is always more judicious to put everything flat in order to determine from which envelope to draw. It all depends on taxation and investment returns in the event of a withdrawal. In particular, it is necessary to draw on products such as regulated savings, funds in euros for life insurance contracts. Their yield is likely to remain low in the years to come.

As far as taxation is concerned, escaping social security contributions on earnings is possible as a non-resident. For this, it is necessary to liquidate financial investments held in France such as a PEL or an unregulated bank book. Note that the tax varies according to the nature of the investment and the tax treaty between the two countries. In case of withdrawal from a life insurance contract of more than eight years, it will be necessary to pay a tax of 8% on the gains according to the French law. In Belgium, the insured will be exempt.