Structure & Links Report
Article: forfeited-deposit-buyer-withdraws-tax-france.md Date: 2026-08-05 Status: CHANGES APPLIED
Rewrite note (6 August 2026)
Rewritten as a general "keeping a buyer's deposit" guide per user request, no longer built around the original two-buyer scenario. Cross-links updated: now points to the French-property-specific capital gains article and the new UK-property companion article separately (both published 5 August, after this article's original publish date), rather than the single combined article referenced at original writing. New FAQ entry added covering the "what if this happens more than once" question directly, since that's now handled as a general note in the body rather than as the article's framing device.
Summary
- Recommended category: strategies-and-pitfalls — a narrow, situational declaration question, matching the pattern of other "here's the non-obvious tax category this falls into" articles already in this category (e.g. Wise interest/cashback, Solar Panel Income)
- Internal links added: 2 (1 pre-existing in draft, 1 added this pass)
- Future links: 0
- Category page link: ✅ added
- External links checked: 2 (both specific notaire/specialist pages, no impots.gouv.fr/BOFiP direct link available for this niche topic — flagged, not a blocker)
- Taxpert CTAs: 0 (deliberately — see note below)
- Structure: ✅ Good
Category Recommendation
strategies-and-pitfalls — confirmed correct, matches frontmatter already set.
Internal Links to Add
| Location | Anchor Text | URL | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opener paragraph | "How the French Tax System Works: A Plain-English Overview" | /blog/how-french-tax-system-works-uk-expats | ✅ Live |
| "Why It's Not a Capital Gain" section | "Selling Your Primary Residence in France: Is the Money Taxable?" | /blog/primary-residence-sale-tax-free-france | ✅ Live |
| "Why It's Not a Capital Gain" section | "Capital Gains on a French Property Sale: How It's Calculated and Declared" | /blog/property-capital-gains-tax-france-calculated | ✅ Live (updated 6 Aug — this article did not exist at original publication) |
| "Why It's Not a Capital Gain" section | "Capital Gains on a UK Property Sale as a French Resident" | /blog/uk-property-capital-gains-french-resident | ✅ Live (new link, 6 Aug — flags the forfeited-deposit BNC treatment is specific to French transactions) |
All links applied directly to the article file.
Category Page Link
❌ Missing in original draft — added: a link to /blog/strategies-and-pitfalls in the "What to Do Now" section area, phrased naturally.
External Links
- paris.notaires.fr — Chambre des Notaires de Paris, a specific article page (not homepage). ✅ Good, permitted as it's an official notarial body, not a blog/forum.
- Resolved: the original draft cited svp.com (specialist commentary, not on the permitted-source list) for the BNC/Article 92 classification. Fetched the primary Conseil d'État ruling directly from Légifrance (CE 19 February 2014, n°354380) and swapped the Sources line to cite it instead — the primary court text confirms the same holding (retained indemnity = BNC income, compensating "a service rendered"). No remaining source-permissibility issue.
Taxpert CTAs
0 present. Deliberate: none of the four real tools apply to a one-off BNC declaration question — no currency conversion, no rate comparison, no treaty lookup. Correct per template guidance to omit rather than force one.
Structure Notes
- Key takeaways block: present, 4 bullets, self-contained. ✅
- H2 sections: 4 (What This Payment Actually Is; Why It's Not a Capital Gain; Why the Type of Pre-Contract Matters; How to Declare It). ✅
- Common Mistakes: present, numbered, 5 items. ✅
- FAQ: present, 5 questions, each H3 + direct-answer-first paragraph. ✅ FAQ schema shape correct.
- Sources line: present, correctly formatted. ✅ (see external-links note above re: source permissibility)
- No H1/breadcrumb/date/category label in body. ✅
Recommended Next Step
[x] Applied suggested link directly to the article file [x] Category confirmed: strategies-and-pitfalls [x] Source permissibility issue resolved — primary Légifrance citation now used, svp.com removed [x] File already lives in content/blog/ — ready for tracker update (Skill 3 equivalent)