Live in U.S., Paid French Social Tax? You Might Get Refund

Residents in the U.S., not just France, can claim refunds for social contribution taxes they paid on a wide range of French-sourced income—passive as well as active—according to tax professionals.

The refunds became possible after the agency said it would stop denying foreign tax credits for two French social taxes, known as CSG and CRDS, that U.S. taxpayers paid on French-sourced income. The change, described in a June 13 court filing and announced in a June 26 statement, reversed the IRS’s decade-long opposition to offsetting such taxes.

The original U.S. Tax Court case, Eshel v. Commissioner, dealt with taxes ...