# Reporting charge patronales retraite as income on US taxes?



## Janlouise (1 mo ago)

Hello,
I am a US citizen, permanent resident of France, salaried employé in a bakery in France. A tax advisor said I must report my employer contributions to Retraite as income for my US taxes. She spoke of 2nd and 3rd pillar contributions being taxable. I don't know what this means. I have three line items for Retraite on my french pay stub and I simply want to know which to report. 

Also, for my FBAR I need to report my AG2R Agirc-Arrco account but my account statements are in points accumulated, not euro amounts. 

Does anyone have experience with this very specific issue?

Just to be clear I am not retired, I am not receiving from a pension fund. I am talking about reporting to the US government mandatory retirement contributions paid by my french employeur.

Thank you for your insight.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

No, you don't need to report the employer's "contribution" since it is actually a payroll tax paid by the employer. It's not at all like the matching funds a US employer might pay toward your IRA or 401K plan in the US. You declare your gross salary from France just like you do your gross salary in the US. Plus any bonuses or additional amounts paid to you - but the employer portion of your social insurances does NOT get reported - and neither should you be reporting your AGIRC-ARRCO pension "account" balance. Your tax advisor is flat-ass wrong here.

Take a look at the US-France tax treaty - article 18 on Pensions. Cutting through all the jargon, any amounts paid (by you or on your behalf) for a State mandated "social security" plan are taxable (and by extension, reportable) only in the State that is running the program. (OK, there are some details that you hit once you start drawing your pension - but you're not there yet.)

As far as experience is concerned, I worked and paid taxes and cotisations here in France for a good 15 years and started drawing my French pension a few years back. The employer's portion of your cotisation is NOT payable nor reportable on your US tax returns. And to be honest, most folks don't bother reporting their French pension payments on their US returns, either. Have never heard of anyone getting any sort of audit or even question from the IRS on this approach.


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