CMU-B part-time work for UK companies

[Markgalliott]

I have tried searching the CMU website and other sites for information with no success, so I wonder if anyone could shed some light on the following problem? We would appreciate any suggestions or comments.

Since we arrived here in France in Dec 2002, we have been paying for our health care via CMU-B by declaring all of our annual revenue (consisting of some interest, a private company pension and a few weeks freelance work for a couple of UK companies) to the impots.

Last year though, this work totally dried up, leaving only the interest and the pension for us to live on. We then applied and successfully obtained CMU-C status. Fortunately this year we have again managed to find some more temporary work, which could if we wish perhaps increase in the coming years.

In September, I naturally informed the local CPAM that we could once again rejoin CMU-B as our revenue had now increased again through finding more freelance work. The response from the lady there though was rather worrying, in that she told us that we would have to contact URSSAF at Strasbourg to set in motion the procedure to get an S form for our health cover from the companies in the UK.

I am not sure that, even if one worked full time for a UK company as a French resident whether this is correct, but surely a few weeks freelance work here and there does not warrant us doing anything different than when we first arrived. We were accepted into the system under CMU-B then, so what has changed? Has there been a new law passed, or is this another example of a functionnaire being less than helpful to UK French residents?

I must add that we are at the moment in the ‘tiers payant’ period until October 2011, which is granted the next year after CMU-C, so thankfully we do have some time to sort this out!

Thanking you in advance Mark

[AnOther]

I don't know about new rules but there is certainly apocryphal evidence of a tightening up of existing ones.

Generally it is the case that if you perform any work in France for a UK employer then that employer should establish a French entity to employ you and pay the necessary cotisations etc., which will include your health care, and I think it will be this which CPAM are pointing you toward.

Clearly for the sort of part time work you envisage this is unlikely to happen and one option to get around the problem might be to set yourself up as AE.

[cooperlola]

I agree with ANO in that if you work then the CPAM is correct. Like him I get the impression that they are doing things correctly now much more than they used to before the new rules and that those who slipped through the net and got CMU in the past, now do not.

It also surprised me a little that you say you "applied" for CMU-C because I had always assumed (wrongly?) that it was automatic once your RFR dropped below the required level, given that all the residential criteria are met.  Not that that's important really, just a point of interest!

People who work here know better than I but certainly AE seems the best route.  The costs to the UK company of paying all your cotis (the correct way to do this if you are an employee) are prohibitive unless they already have a French based subsidiary and even then they are astronomical. in comparison to paying somebody based in the UK.  Using a portage company is another way but it is also very expensive.

[Will]

What you were told is almost entirely correct. Any work done in France has to be undertaken as an employee of a French registered company (in which I include self-employment) unless it is covered by a S1 or A1 form from another EU country, or the company has made arrangements with URSSAF to pay employer's and deduct employee's social security contributions. If you are resident in France then probably the easiest and cheapest solution for you would be to get your employer to provide you with the appropriate S1 form (formerly the 'worker's' E106) - the A1 would be the correct form if you are temporarily resident. Note that 'resident' can mean your habitual abode, or the place where your family and/or dependents live; in this context you don't necessarily even need to set foot in France to be considered 'resident'.

However, you use the term 'freelance' which implies you are working on a self-employed basis rather than salaried with a contract of employment. This means, if you are resident in France, that you need to register as self-employed in France - if your turnover is comparatively low then the autoentrepreneur regime, as AnO says, is attractive. Alternatively - as Coops says - you could use a portage ('umbrella') company such as this.

(Written from personal experience)

[Markgalliott]

Thanks very much ANOther, Cooperlola and Will for your help and comments, you have certainly given us plenty to think about.

This year I only did 5 weeks work as a nature tour guide here in France (bringing in much needed revenue to the area) and my wife 11 weeks working for an agency in the UK providing health care for the aged, both of us with no contracts. The companies concerned specifically state that it is up to us to declare the income ourselves to the tax authorities, which we have done since we became resident in France. There is no way, of course that they would want to be involved in any contribution to our health care.

The strange thing is that both the impots and the CPAM advised us to go down this route and which forms to fill in etc when we first arrived. It seemed such a simple and logical system to pay a % of our revenue for our health cover!

Still, obviously if they are interpreting things differently now, then we have no option but to take a different path. Of the two suggestions mentioned, the portage company is totally out of the question as it seems they take 50% of any salary. In reference to the AE option, is this easy and much less expensive to implement, bearing in mind the minimal amount of work at stake? As I am never likely to get more than about 6 weeks work, would it be worthwhile for me to subscribe alone, or could we do it jointly?

As I mentioned in the original post, we were really pleased to find work again this year after being on CMU-C for a year, but now it almost seems that perhaps it might be easier for us to stop working and go back to ‘sponging off the state’ to coin a phrase often used in some UK papers, whilst waiting for our UK state pensions to start in 5 years time..

Mark

Ps. Cooperlola, I actually pre-empted things by downloading the CMU-C forms and sending them completed to the CPAM. There does seem to be an anomaly though, whereby CMU-B is based on the previous year’s tax revenue form, while CMU-C is based on the previous 12 months revenue!

[Will]

I'm not at all surprised that you got dodgy information from CPAM/impôts. That seems to be par for the course, and in line with my own experience. There seems to be an unwritten rule among officials (not just French ones, it's much the same in any country) that if they don't know the answer they will offer the simplest solution involving the least work for them. Particularly if it's nearly lunchtime. [;-)] Having had only contradictory guesswork from the tax people we asked an accountant at the bureau de gestion who initially advised much the same as you had been doing - he then contacted us a week or two later to say that was wrong and I would have to register as a business.

Registering under the autoentrepreneur regime is actually quite easy, as long as you read French and have a reasonable understanding of the language. It should not cost you anything. The simplest way is to do it on line at www.lautoentrepreneur.fr. The bit most people have the most difficulty with is choosing a primary health assurance provider - this is merely the organisation to which your AE cotisations go and which may issue a carte vitale. You can safely choose one at random from whatever list you may be presented with.

AE is only available for sole traders, so you would each need to register. The amount you earn is irrelevant as long as you are below the relevant turnover threshold (obviously you both are) and the registration remains valid as long as you make at least one declaration in three years under the current rules. It's a comparatively new system and is constantly evolving, so the rules may change.