Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
FRENCH FACE OF THE WEEK

WEALTH

The mixed fortunes of France’s beauty queen

The heiress to the L'Oreal beauty products empire, she was just named the world's richest woman. But mental health woes and a feud with her daughter have tainted her twilight years. Liliane Bettencourt is our French Face of the Week.

Published: 7 March 2013 13:29 CET

Who’s Liliane Bettencourt?

Liliane Bettencourt is the controversial 90-year-old billionaire heiress to the L’Oreal cosmetics empire, as well as a socialite and philanthropist.

Why is she in the news?

Earlier this week Forbes magazine named her the world’s richest woman, with an estimated net worth of $30 billion (€23 billion). Bettencourt – who was at number 9 in the list – is also the oldest person in the top ten, and the richest person in Europe. Her luck has changed in the last 12 months, after a boost in L’Oréal shares pushed her into the top ten for the first time since 1999.

Tell me more.

She was born Liliane Schueller in Paris in 1922 to a mother who died young, and a father, Eugene Schueller, who had founded the l’Oréal beauty products company in 1909. When he died in 1957, Liliane became the group’s main shareholder.

In 1950 she married André Bettencourt, a highly controversial politician and businessman who was both awarded a medal of bravery for his role in the French Resistance, as well as condemned for writing virulently anti-Semitic pamphlets during the Nazi occupation.

Monsieur Bettencourt had also been a member of ‘La Cagoule’ in the 1930s, a fascist-leaning group funded by Eugene Schueller, which had planned to violently overthrow the Third Republic in 1937.

Did that cause trouble for Liliane?

Never. She was 15 years old at the time of the attempted coup, for example, but even throughout her time as the principal shareholder of L’Oréal, Bettencourt has essentially been wrapped in cotton wool by lawyers.

When she does respond to claims about her father and husband’s shady past, she does it through a spokesperson, and almost never gives interviews.

How have things been going for her lately?

Very mixed on that front. In 2011, after years of legal wrangling with her estranged daughter Francoise, Bettencourt was placed under the legal guardianship of her family. A court found that the billionaire was suffering from ‘mixed dementia’ had ‘moderately severe’ Alzheimer’s, and was unfit to manage her fortune.

Bettencourt dismissed the report, claiming her daughter was herself “a bit disturbed”, and should “go and see a psychiatrist,” reported French weekly Le Journal De Dimanche.

On a more positive note for the family, L'Oréal's fortune has increased significantly in the last decade, culminating in Bettencourt’s crowning moment this week when she was the highest ranked woman on the Forbes list.

What else is she known for?

Bettencourt has been a well-connected businesswoman in France for the last half-century, but her name dominated the headlines in 2010, when she was at the centre of a political scandal of the highest order.

The ‘Bettencourt Affair’, as it has become known, started when her former butler leaked tapes featuring Bettencourt and a cabinet minister allegedly organizing illegal payments to the presidential campaign of then candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, back in 2007.

Sarkozy, whose home was raided as part of the “Bettencourt” investigation has denied any wrong-doing but has been made a “witness” in the ongoing criminal investigation.

What do others say about her?

“Liliane Bettencourt is ready for nuclear war,” her lawyer Jean-René Farthouat told ‘Le Journal de Dimanche’, at the height of Bettencourt’s legal struggle with her daughter, in October 2011.

What does she have to say for herself?

One year after Bettencourt and her daughter publicly buried the hatchet in 2010, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers appeared before a judge to request that her mother be placed under the guardianship of a court-appointed lawyer. Bettencourt gave a rare interview to French weekly ‘Le Point’, telling them, in a slow, hoarse voice:

“I’m sickened, and very unhappy, because she’s my daughter…But I will fight, because I won’t accept that I’m not telling the truth…The harder the blows, the more I will fight.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TAXES

What to do if you’re struggling to pay a French tax bill

Income tax bills come due in France from September 26th, while property owners will also be receiving property tax bills in the autumn – but if you’re worried about your ability to pay, options are available.

Published: 12 September 2024 10:30 CEST
What to do if you’re struggling to pay a French tax bill

France is a highly taxed country, so if you live here you probably already accept the fact that you will be paying a lot of tax.

But if you’re struggling to pay the bills, you have options, and in most cases the initial advice is the same – contact your local tax office and ask for help.

Income tax

If you’re registered with the online tax portal and make your declarations online you will have already given your bank details to the tax office and they will take the money out of your account directly (after sending you a bill so you know how much will be going out).

If you owe more than €300, the money will be taken in four instalments – this year the payment dates are September 26th, October 25th, November 25th and December 27th.

Defer payment

If you’re concerned about your financial situation you may request a deferment (a délai de paiement) from tax authorities, giving you more time to pay what you owe. 

If you’re asking for a deferment, you can do so online:

  • Log on to your personal space at impots.gouv.fr, and access “messagerie sécurisée” (secure messaging);
  • Click on “écrire” (write);
  • select “j’ai un problème concernant le paiement de mes impôts” (I have a problem paying my taxes);
  • then “j’ai des difficultés pour payer” (I am having trouble paying);
  • Select the tax concerned and follow the instructions on the form.

If you prefer to deal with the matter face to face, you can visit your nearest tax office.

Whether you are asking online or in-person, you must provide a completed difficultés de paiment form – find that here – plus;

  • your tax demand;
  • a bank statement;
  • supporting documents showing your incomings and outgoings (such as pay slips, rent bills, utility bills, etc).

Be aware that deferment requests are handled on an individual basis.

Write off a bill

In certain cases – if you have recently been made redundant, for example – you may ask for tax relief (known as a remise gracieuse), in which part or all of your bill is written off.

Your request for a remise can be made online, using the secure messaging system mentioned earlier. Alternatively, you can go to your nearest tax office in person.

You should fill out a completed difficultés de paiement (payment difficulties) form, and attach or take along corresponding documents.

  • Tax authorities will take into account, in particular, an unforeseeable loss of income (unemployment, for example);
  • Other exceptional circumstances (such as the death of spouse, separation, disability) or abnormally high expenses (illness);
  • a disproportionate difference between the size of your tax bill and your level of income.

Ability to pay

When you apply for a deferment or relief, your ability to pay is analysed, taking into account, among other things:

  • your assets and the resources of people living with you, whether taxable or not (social benefits, municipal assistance, RSA, etc.);
  • essential household expenses (food, healthcare, insurance, housing, transport to and from work, etc.);
  • whether your expenses match your resources and the composition of your household.

Be aware that, if your expenses exceed your financial capacity solely because of your lifestyle choices, your application will be rejected.

Furthermore, depending on your situation, the granting of tax deferment or relief may be subject to :

  • prior payment of outstanding taxes;
  • the filing of a tax return, if you are not fully up to date with your tax obligations;
  • a waiver of any litigation relating to the taxes concerned by the application.

Usually, requests for deferred payment or tax relief are processed within two months. If you have not received a reply within this period, you should assume your request has been rejected. 

But this period may be extended to four months if your situation is complex. In this case, the administration must inform you of this extension before the initial two-month deadline expires.

Property tax

If you own property in France, autumn is also the time when you will be getting property tax bills (tenants no longer pay property taxes after the phasing out of the taxe d’habitation.

All property owners get a bill for taxe foncière while second-home owners will also get a bill for taxe d’habitation – find a full explanation of the system HERE.

Many people have noticed a steep rise in property tax bills in recent years, due to changes in the tax system. If you think your bill is incorrect, here’s how to challenge it.

If the bill is correct, but you are having difficulty paying you can contact your local tax office as described above to request a deferment of the bill. Property tax can also be paid in monthly instalments, rather than all at once.

There are also some groups who are exempt from paying, or entitled to a reduced rate.

It’s sometimes mentioned that older homeowners in France are exempt from taxe foncière (property owners’ tax). This is wrong, but depending on your situation, assistance in the form of a reduction or an exemption may be possible. 

If you are over 75 years old on January 1st of the tax year, you can benefit from an exemption from property tax for your main residence (not a second home). Two additional conditions must also be met.

Concerning the occupation of the accommodation:

  • you live alone or with your spouse or civil partnership partner;
  • you live with dependents for the calculation of income tax (children, dependent persons).

Concerning your financial resources: 

  • the amount of your reference tax income from the previous year must not exceed a certain ceiling specified by article 1417-I of the General Tax Code, which is set by a decree published each year;
  • The income limits not to be exceeded depend on the number of parts retained for the calculation of income tax;
  • Holders of the solidarity allowance for the elderly (ASPA) or the supplementary disability allowance (ASI) are exempt from the financial resources requirement.

If you are over 65 and under 75 on January 1st of the tax year, you can benefit from an automatic reduction of €100 on property tax on your main residence.

Two additional conditions must also be met:

  • you occupy your accommodation under the conditions listed in the exemption from property tax for persons aged over 75;
  • the amount of your reference tax income from the previous year does not exceed a certain ceiling specified by article 1417-I of the General Tax Code.

Neither of these exemptions can be used for second homes. Since the taxe d’habitation is now only paid by second-home owners the opportunities for a deferment or exemption are very limited, since the tax office assumes that second-home owners are financially stable.

SHOW COMMENTS