Easy their fifties are the most concerned

Preferred placement of the French, life will be called upon to repay the debt of social security. Whether if the tax on savings were threatened, François Fillon thus confirmed yesterday on France Inter "a number of measures," life, pointing to "anomalies" and "taxation differences" between contracts. This savings plan, to be officially submitted tomorrow by FrançoisBaroin, to feed the Fund for amortization of the social debt (Cades) in the amount of EUR 3.2 billion per year on average. It is to close as what was announced mid-June to finance the pension reform. But this plan may cause even more excitement: designed as a means to prepare his retirement and as essential to the business financing, life insurance seduced not less than 14.5 million French and represents 41 of their financial heritage.

Two life insurance levies. As we indicated ("Les Echos" from August 20), the CSG and the DRES will be taken over water, and to the outcome of the contracts, non-risky parts (in euros) of life insurance contracts. This is already the case of contracts exclusively in euros, but not contracts combining euros and shares (Office) or 17 of the contracts. Therefore, Bercy, a "logic" principle, which consists in tax revenue permanently acquired, sparing those to vary with stock market prices. The measure does not constitute a real tax increase, because these are taxes which were levied to the outcome of the contracts. But it provides an advance of 1.6 billion for the State Treasury. The measure is not retroactive: it strikes so not the interest earned in previous years. But it applies to the contracts already concluded.

The Government also wants to widen the benefits that the insurers are required to place in the capital reserve to cushion fluctuations in interest rates. It is a legal obligation, thus does not tax incentive considers Bercy. Insurers will have to pay outstanding tax of 10 between 2011 and 2012, that is, a gain of 1.4 billion euros for the State, to catch up with the loss of profits tax on the past. Future gains will be taken into account in the calculation of the tax, to agree the State budget.

A levy on mutual. The Government will reduce the tax benefit of the "responsible for contracts. Created in 2005, they were intended to encourage the complementary health (mutual, insurance, provident societies) to not pay the penalties put in place to limit health spending. For example respect for the course of care or deductibles on boxes of medicines. However, responsible for contracts today are almost all of the contracts of supplementary health insurance (95). They are so widespread that there is really rather than maintain the exemption from the tax on insurance agreements (7), argued the Executive. The Government nevertheless decided to maintain a difference with the "not responsible" contracts, establishing an intermediate rate of 3.5. The gain for the State is EUR 1.1 billion. Tax on insurance, normally assigned to the departments, conventions will be therefore in part led to the Cades. "The additional likely to pass this tax increase, at least partially, in the prices of contracts" regret Jean-Pierre Davant, President of the French mutuality. A perverse effect on the portfolio of the insured that the Government retains much of the moment.

Easy their fifties are the most concerned. The detention of life insurance is relatively low at the beginning of active life, retirement is still far away horizon and the needs of households instead focused on the acquisition of housing and family needs. It increases with age and peaks between 50 and 60 years, before the transition to retirement, according to the Court of Auditors. 1 Of the richest French (more than EUR 1 million heritage) hold, alone, 40 of the outstanding.

Why link life and social debt "Insurers and mutual societies are intimately linked to the social protection system." "It is not inconsistent to seek to pay the social debt", says Christine Lagarde entourage. However, the link is not clear: in fact, the Government has sought to collect the money where "contributory capacity are the most important", says a Government Advisor. Holders of life insurance are, in fact, among the only ones to have escaped "retreats" taxes (higher slice recovery of tax on income and on capital gains tax increase). "It is the legitimate complement to the savings plan announced in June," it indicates the Government.

Insurers try to negotiate counterparties. The French Federation of insurance companies (FFSA), the importance of finance companies, attempts to extract counterparties, and in particular relief from taxation for contracts of insurance-lives of over 8 years. It requests that tax of 7.5 (read here) be revised down, or even deleted. Parliamentarians are not necessarily hostile, because the measure would have the advantage to encourage long savings, without totally absorb the expected the CSG-Dres tax gain. But Bercy is fiercely opposed.