Last year, you recorded gains or losses by selling your shares. You must now declare these amounts to the tax authorities. And the task can be tedious…
To declare the gains and losses generated by the sale of securities (shares, UCITS and other bonds), you must log on to your personal space on impots.gouv (or use the paper form(s), etc.), get out your single tax (IFU) this summary of income sent by your bank, and take your box of painkillers…. Because the declarative methods and the calculation of the resulting tax depend on multiple parameters, including the distribution of income between gains and losses, the length of time you hold the securities or any allowances you may be entitled to. The complexity also comes from the fact that according to these different situations, the documents to be completed are different.
But before filling in the boxes, and to understand what you are doing, a little review of the taxation of investment income is in order. By default, the capital gains generated by the sale of the lines of your securities account are subject to the single flat-rate deduction (PFU) of 30% (12.8% for income tax and 17.2% for social charges). However, you have the option of waiving it by opting for the progressive scale of income tax, which then applies to all of your financial income. This second option allows you to benefit, under certain conditions, from the reduction for the duration of detention of at least 50%, inapplicable in the event of taxation at the PFU. We will come back to this a little later.
General case: you declare your gains and losses for the year in boxes 3VG and following
One of the benefits of investing in the stock market is the ability to deduct losses, which occur when you sell an asset for less than its purchase price. It is thus possible to deduct your capital losses in the 10 years following them.
First scenario: your tax household has no no prior loss deductand you opted for the single lump sum levy. This is the simplest scenario. The declarative task then consists of verifying or reporting the amounts entered on the single tax form in the form 2042.
Concretely, in case 3VG are mentioned the net capital gains for the year 2021, that is to say subtracted from any assets sold in 2021 at a lower price than purchased. If after this calculation, it turns out that the saver is in a deadweight loss (the capital losses for the year exceed the capital gains), this figure is entered in the box 3VH. Normally, again, the bank has to do the work for you in the IFU.
If the saver does not have a securities account but a PEA, the gains are exempt from tax 5 years after having opened it. On the other hand, if he makes a redemption or a withdrawal before 5 years, the capital gain is then indicated line 3VT. The same applies in the context of a PEA-PME.
Bank charges : up €259 savings thanks to our comparator
a gets complicated (a little) in the event of tax on the scale
If the taxpayer opts for taxation at the scale, other boxes are to be completed. You must first check the 2OP box. It is this which indicates to the tax authorities the wish to renounce the flat tax to put in a common pot all its income which will be taxed according to the progressive scale (from 0% to 45%). In the case of stock market gains, this choice confers tax advantages, namely a allowance for length of detention of common law. The objective of this allowance is simple: to encourage investors to hold on to their securities over the long term. Because the longer the period of detention, the greater the deduction.
In detail, capital gains realized on securities held for 2 to 8 years benefit from a 50% deduction. Clearly, the tax is calculated only on half of the gain. Beyond 8 years, this reduction climbs to 65%: the tax only covers 35% of the gain. The sheet 2074-CMV is used to calculate this allowance, the result of which is reported in box 3SG of the main tax return. This sheet can also be used to impute losses from previous years for persons exempted from filing the statement 2074. That is to say essentially when the financial establishments have calculated all the capital gains or losses for their clients or when the tax households do not have access to the enhanced allowance (see below).
Stock market: the tops and flops of the CAC 40 in 2021
To deduct previous losses, first complete declaration 2074
As mentioned above, it is possible to deduct past losses from income in 2021 if these have not been charged during previous tax campaigns. This scenario requires the capital gains to be reported in box 3VG (or 3VT for the PEA) to be calculated beforehand. And this happens on document 2074, attach. It is accompanied by a specific notice.
This is particularly useful, in the event of taxation at the scale, in order to apply the deduction for the period of detention, which applies to net earnings, after the deduction of capital losses from past years. same for me the reinforced reduction. This applies to the sale of securities of SMEs that have been in business for less than 10 years (at the time of the acquisition). It can climb up to 85% of earnings after 8 years of ownership. On the main tax return, it is reported in box 3SL instead of 3SG.
In summary:
- If your bank is able to calculate your net capital gains or losses, simply report the amounts indicated in box 3VG and following, depending on your situation.
- To benefit from deductions for the standard or reinforced period of detention, you must opt for actual taxation (tick box 2OP), and report the amount of the deduction in box 3SG or 3SL. Depending on the case, sheet 2074 or 2074-CMV must be attached.
- To deduct capital losses from previous years, preliminary calculations must be made using the 2074 form.