Buying property through a Professional SCI. A Société Civile immobilière Professionnelle – Professional SCI is essentially a fully incorporated company, with at least 2 shareholders and a registered office in France. The registered office can be the property itself. The SCI owns the property in question. The SCI, a company, is itself owned by shareholders. The shareholders can be resident or non-resident in France and there is no restriction as to nationality.
Advantages of a Professional SCI
This formation aids individuals with small budgets to pool their funds and buy a property that they would not be able to buy individually. It is also easier to dispose of the shares without the aid of a notaire, thereby making the SCI more flexible than direct ownership of a property.
Advantages of a Professional SCI
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Where foreign residents are concerned, the use of an SCI can be a great advantage for people whose home inheritance laws are more flexible than French laws. Upon death, the applicable law is normally the one of the country where the property is located. However, if the property is owned through an SCI, then the applicable law will be the one of the last country of residence of the deceased, as the deceased holds shares in the SCI company which in turn owns the property, rather than the deceased owning the property direct – Owning a home in France via a Société Civile immobilière –SCI – means that the French property becomes part of the estate of their country, as opposed to direct ownership of immovable property, which is subject to estate law in France. This is important to bear in mind in terms of inheritance.
The terms of an SCI can be changed at anytime – but it is always advisable to utilise the Variable SCI which in general terms is a more flexible entity.
As tax regimes are very individual it is important to take individual advice from your tax expert and to realise that the tax consequences of the purchase through a Professional SCI should be analysed according to French law and the tax treaty between France and the home country before going ahead with any purchase.
Choose SCI Incorporation, make substantial monetary savings in taxes.
SCI Incorporation
Choose SCI Incorporations to minimise inheritance taxes and death duties on French property.
Family SCI Incorporation
Choose SCI Incorporations to purchase a French property as a group of friends, business colleagues to achieve high multiple mortgage funding for your French property purchase and for multiple tax benefits
Professional SCI Incorporation
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