Liffy99

Perhaps the dream of retiring to France is fading - Brexit, cost of living, access to healthcare etc all seems to be getting worse form my early retiree point of view. But I did want to try and establish what potential liabilities I may face before deciding to take the plunge. This is not about avoiding / evading taxes, but trying to get a picture of what costs I may face which will greatly influence any decision to move to the country. After all, I've built up my life savings, paid tax and NI all my life, own a house etc and I do not want to, unnecessarily, sacrifice thousands, or even tens of thousands of my retirement funds without proper cause. So I thought I would start by asking questions about; 1) Wealth Tax As I understand it there is a threshold of €1.3m (although tax then starts at €800k) per household, which I think would exempt me straight away. But what is assessed as wealth ? Am I right in thinking that, for French residents, this is all real estate worldwide but not other assets. Even then there seems to be a 30% discount applied to the main residence. For non-Residents it is only real estate in France that is counted and the same discount applies. As an example; French Resident couple House in Dordogne at €270k House in UK  at €300k Savings and other assets €700k Pension pots €350k State pension ? Only the properties are assessed at €300k + €183k (270 less 30% discount) so no wealth tax payable. As non residents the only liability would be 70% of the house in the Dordogne. Again, no wealth tax. One thing worries me though and that is possible capital gains tax on sale of a UK property. If we became French residents, owned a French house, and then decided to sell out UK house might we face a large capital gains tax bill on it sale as it has doubled in value over the 17 years we have owned it ? Comments welcome (and then I will move onto income tax !)

Well, here we are on the Barfleur back to Poole and the UK after seeing 10 houses and driving 2000 miles. Shattered ! To clarify previous posts I am an ‘early retiree’ (61 and 5 years from state retirement) but my wife is 64 and qualifies for her state pension. Clearly, I need to do more research. I have looked at the French tax return but my language is not good enough to fully understand it. I know noone can rewrite an interactive English version but has anyone translated the form to act as a crib sheet. Even then I assume I would have already decided what to do with certain assets such as tax free ISAs etc (can I leave them in the UK and ignore them for instance ?). Somwill try and get my head around income tax, cotisasations, social security etc as they seem so interlinked. And especially how to access healthcare due to prior conditions and dont want to abandon help with. As for the weather being the same everywhere - well I certainly didn’t notice any olive groves up here in Normandy, nor saw any struggling fields of barley in Languedoc ! There is a reason for going south of the Loire. May not be Spanish levels of heat and sunshine but thats not what we want - just something a bit milder with a longer growing season. The one thing I really noriced on our drive back north from the Dordogne was the gradual disappearance of wildflower meadows and verges. The Loire and Mayenne were lovely and green, like parts of England, but the colour had gone. Thanks especially to Mrs KG, a stab at some factual info. i crave and I will go add up all my UK bills to compare. Ah well, will probably get home to a speeding fine (a camera took me by surprise on the way down - one of those quick 90 to 70 changes methinks . . . )

Allotment = personal use. You may be thinking of a smallholding. Some great, and very varied replies in this thread so many thanks, but as expected, giving very different opinions, except that there is no doubt things have changed significantly over the past few years. As for the S1, which I assumed would have meant no cotisisations payable for healthcare, just the mutuelle top up costs - is this now a non starter and is being removed ? I think what I need is a spreadsheet so I can work out; A) what is classed as income B) what are classed as assets C) what is taxable (income and capital gains) D) what is subject to social security payments E) even if not taxable, what is counted for SS liabilities F) thresholds and limits and tax and SS percentages G) what is taxed in France or the UK H) anything else I’ve not thought of Does such a thing exist ? I can start making one if its possible to post it on this form. Would then welcome any comments and suggestions etc. As for regions / weather etc well, there must be something about the SW otherwise why would it be the region of choice for so many. My twopennorth; Brittany, Normandy, Picardie, Vosges - not much diff. To UK Eastern France, the Jura and Alps, Auvergne - too cold in winter Loire, Burgundy and Centre - things start to change, warmer all round SW - nice balance of shorter winters and warm summers Provence, Languedoc etc - too hot in summer Weve been to most of these areas ( exc. Alps and Alsace) but never in winter (March in the Auvergne closest we have got to that, and still snow on the ground). Cycled from St Malo to Bergerac, up and down the Lot and Tarn, all around Brittany and Creuse. Liked it all. As for house sizes, we have viewed 10 over past two weeks, most bigger than we expected (a couple just far too big, especially barns) for €200 - €300k but the usual story of right house / wrong location etc. Now looking at reducing the budget a bit to find something a bit smaller perhaps. Probably back later in the year to fine tune our search . . .

I think the renting first approach would be sensible. By the way we do not want lots of land and a huge house, just something better than the UK - about 1500m plot probably. Wife insists on growing veggies as we have an allotment in UK. I will need to work out what is classed as income though for tax purposes. But 8% towards health care (and I believe that would only cover 70% of costs) seems steep after having paid NI contributions for 40 years and no longer pay NI in the UK. Has all the agreement about reciprocal cover between France and UK gone ? Would anything change when I reach 66 (state retirement age ) ? Perhaps a holiday home would end up being better and we spend less than 6 months en France. As for other areas - sure. We really like the Vosges, but not its cold wet winters. What about east - Jura perhaps. We have been there in spring but assume winters are cold. As for current weather, it has been up to 30 when we arrived over a week ag and down to 16 with thunderstorms. Always felt comfortable in any of this. Just how cold does Acquitaine get in the winter (i assume winter season is shorter in any case). Thanks

Thanks for all of your replies and I hope I can clarify a few points. Reason for moving to France include a better climate (but not too much summer heat), a chance to explore beautiful countryside (we like cycling, walking, want a dog), the chance to buy a larger home we would not afford in the UK and above all, to have an adventure, learn a new language, be part of a different culture etc. Why France and not, say, Spain ? Just a comfort zone thing really - our grasp of the language (though still poor) is better, weve been over many times before and not had good experiences in Spain. Certainly not trying to avoid taxation, but need to know what the potential financial impact might be as it would partly determine whether we could retire to France or not. Nor do we expect to try and ‘change’ the French system (who could ?) but it seems so incredibly complex its all but impossible to quantify liabilities in the same way I could much more easily do in the UK. As an ‘early retiree several years away from a state pension, how do i get affordable access to healthcare (pre existing conditions would make a mutuelle very expensive) . As far as i know I would no longer qualify for an S1, nor can i piggy back on my state pension aged wife. Would running a very small B&B business qualify me to get in by way of being a. Micro entrepreneur .? What social charges or income tax might we face on total NHS and local gov. Pensions of £30k ? What may change when we add state pensions of half that again ? What charges might apply on residual assets in the UK ( house if rented out, savings and investment interest etc). I fel I should be able to work all this out but my technical French is nowhere near good enough and it looks like a minefield anyway. As I started, some real life case studies would be so helpful (ie with figures) although I guess that might be similar to asking people how much they earn !

Well, here we are, house hunting in Aquitaine. But that seems to be the easy bit ! Things were complex enough before Macron, Brexit etc. but I get the feeling noone knows where things will go from here. I think I understand the buying process, and once bought, I would sort payment of taxes fonciere, d’habitation and water and energy bills etc. But is it worth it ? What is best to do with current assets and income in the UK and where would I be domiciled / resident . Sure, we all have individual circumstances but, before rushing off to find a financial adviser, a few case studies would be SO helpful (and not the usual - moved here 10 years ago, set up a donkey sanctuary, raised 7 children and lived on a vegan diet happily ever after sort of thing). For example, whats best to do with; ISAs (cash and shates) State pensions Work pensions (local gov. And NHS - does the latter count as public sector ?). Personal pensions (SIPP) Bank savings and accounts Peer to peer investments The UK house We have all of these (not rich, mostly modest amounts in many pies) and it starts to feel like it may be best to liquidate everything we can and then just transfer cash to France. Although pensions may be more beneficially treated. What taxation are we likely to face on pension income, interest income, investment growth etc. Guess I am looking for some initially free financial advice before plunging in with an IFA, just to get a feeling if its all worth it. Cheers