How to withdraw life insurance from a French bank

Life insurance is a contract concluded between the bank and the insured person, on the basis of which money is transferred to strictly designated persons (called beneficiaries) at the time of the insured person’s death.

Despite its name, life insurance is independent of the will and inheritance procedure after the deceased person.

What should the beneficiary do to obtain the money?

Below I present the steps that a person entitled to funds from a life insurance policy must take:

• after receiving information about the insured person’s death, the beneficiary should go to the bank in person, via a proxy or by correspondence,

• if the life insurance contract was concluded in a French bank and the entitled person lives in Poland, it is still possible to withdraw such funds remotely, without having to go to France. Some banks, such as Société Générale Assurances, offer the possibility of creating an online Client Profile and submitting all documents online,

• after contacting the bank, it will be necessary to present an identity document (possibly a passport). It is important to check whether the documents are valid,

• the bank will send the beneficiary documentation to complete,

• in the case of French banks, one of these documents will be a tax residency self-assessment form. Based on this document, the French bank obtains information about the beneficiary’s tax residency, their identification number (PESEL, NIP), registered address, which allows determining whether (or not) tax should be deducted from the life insurance amount,

• another document to be completed will be a sworn statement regarding the lack (or existence) of receiving other life insurance policies,

• the French bank will also make available to the beneficiary a special form N 2705-A-SD, which consists of three pages. This form must be correctly completed by the beneficiary and then sent by traditional mail to France, because the French tax authorities will issue a special certificate, which will be the last document needed by the bank to release the funds from the policy. In the case of non-French residents, the competent institution will be the Direction des impôts des non résidents based in Paris (Noisy-le-Grand),
  Below is a model cover letter to the French Authorities:

  • „DIRECTION DES SERVICES FISCAUX DES NON RÉSIDENTS
    10 RUE DU CENTRE
    93465 NOISY-LE-GRAND CEDEX
    FRANCE
    Objet : Dépôt des documents pour la succession de ma grand-mère
    Lettre de présentation
    FORMULAIRE 2705-A-SD
    Madame, Monsieur,
    Le soussigné, XY, date de naissance : 0.0.0000, adresse de résidence : ABC, par la présente, je vous transmets en pièce jointe deux exemplaires du formulaire 2705-A-SD ainsi qu’une copie de ma pièce d’identité.
    Je vous prie de bien vouloir enregistrer ces documents et de procéder à l’émission du certificat correspondant, nécessaire pour finaliser les démarches liées à la succession que j’ai héritée de ma grand-mère.
    Je joins également une lettre de la banque Société Générale, par laquelle j’ai appris que je suis le bénéficiaire de la police d’assurance-vie.
    Restant à votre disposition pour toute information complémentaire ou document requis, je vous remercie par avance de bien vouloir me tenir informé de la suite donnée à ma demande.
    Signature
    Annexes :

  • deux exemplaires du formulaire 2705-A-SD,

  • une copie de ma pièce d’identité,

  • une lettre de la banque Société Générale.”

• in accordance with practice before French authorities, each letter sent by the beneficiary must include a copy of their ID (or passport) as an attachment. Otherwise, the letter will have a formal defect.
  It is also worth remembering that the bank must obtain information from the beneficiary about the bank account to which the funds paid out from the life insurance policy are to be transferred. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the PLN or foreign currency account number along with the bank’s name and official logo, Swift/BIC code and IBAN. As a rule, the bank account holder should be only the beneficiary.

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

Dr Joanna Suslo, Attorney-at-law

E-mail: [email protected]

Mobile WhatsApp 24/7: + 48 668 841 990

SOS-Legal-Law-Firm

Lawyer in Poland

life insurance withdrawal France, how to withdraw life insurance from French bank, life insurance French bank, life insurance beneficiary, Société Générale Assurances documents, form 2705-A-SD, Direction des impôts des non résidents, life insurance without will, tax residency France, life insurance taxation France, inheritance procedure France, non-resident life insurance France, tax certificate life insurance France, IBAN Swift French bank, letter to French tax authority, online client profile Société Générale, remote life insurance withdrawal, life insurance France Poland, succession documents France, bank account for life insurance payment

What are the steps to take regarding an inheritance in Poland?

How many years after death can an inheritance be claimed in Poland?