How do I actually, officially, become a French resident ?

[cassie]

We are curently renovating a property in Brittany with the intention of retiring there in Jan. 2013. We will NOT be of retirement age and plan to live off money made from sale of U.K.. home until pensions kick in .

What bureaucracy do we have to go through on/before arrival to become official tax residents in France?

Do we need to prove (to whom ?) a certain level of income ?

Assuming we are allowed, how do we join the French "N.H.S" ?

A friend has said that we should sell our U.K. principal home before we move or we may have to declare it on French tax documents when it is finally sold and pay tax on its increase in value since we bought it.....is this correct?

Any advice or links to previous threads would be much appreciated.

[andyh4]

[quote user="cassie"]We are curently renovating a property in Brittany with the intention of retiring there in Jan. 2013. We will NOT be of retirement age and plan to live off money made from sale of U.K.. home until pensions kick in .

What bureaucracy do we have to go through on/before arrival to become official tax residents in France?

Just go to the tax office and ask them to send you a tax form in the May following the year of your arrival.  It also makes sense to inform the mairie so that (with luck) property tax bills come to your French address and to to your UK one.

Do we need to prove (to whom ?) a certain level of income ?

Much talked about but at presnt there is no requirement to prove anything - you just cannot become a financial burden on the French state

 

Assuming we are allowed, how do we join the French "N.H.S" ?

Not allowed in the first 5 years.  Apply to the UK for an s1 form which will cover 70% for about 2 years - can be a bit more or a bit less.  You will then need to fund mediacl care yourself - best done through insurance (mutuel) unless you are filthy rich.  Also best t get top up insurance for the first 2 years as well.  After 5 years you can apply to join the French system but the rules have only been in place 4 years so we do not know how yet.

A friend has said that we should sell our U.K. principal home before we move or we may have to declare it on French tax documents when it is finally sold and pay tax on its increase in value since we bought it.....is this correct?

Since it looks like this will be your prime source of income I would look to sell before moving.  In principle you do have an overlap period between moving to a new property and selling the old one where you will not be subject to CGT.

Any advice or links to previous threads would be much appreciated.[/quote]

[idun]

If nothing is done about it, then after three months you should be able to prove that you can support yourself. There are official textes about this and you could be asked. If Marine Le Pen gets in, I would think you would be asked!

Learn french. Best advice I can give and then you can ask french officials about what you need to do and when and also read what you need to do.

 

[cooperlola]

Andy has nutshelled this one but there is more info' on the French health system in my www link below.  Some of it is a little out of date but nothing funamental.

Free and voluntary and not tied to any commercial organisation. 

Whilst Andy is essentially correct about the minimum income, you must - in theory at least - earn the equivalent of the French national minimum wage.  After five years, when you want to join the French health system, you may well be called upon to provide proof that you have been in compliance (via the tax form you'll have submitted covering all your income from the date you move).

[Sprogster]

cassie, to become legally resident in France as an early retiree who will live off investment income, you will be required to take out comprehensive private medical insurance until you have been resident in France 5 years, or reach UK State retirement age, at which point the UK government reimburse the French for your health care. Unfortunately, the required comprehensive private health insurance is expensive and this can be problematic to even obtain if you or your partner have any chronic or previous serious health conditiuon such as high blood pressure.

The French government have not been keen on foreign early retirees moving to France in recent years, as they are seen as a potential burden on the health system to which they will not have contributed during their working life.

Your question as to selling your UK house as a second home after moving to France is very pertinent, as the French CGT rules have just changed for the worse WEF from 1st February. Under the old rules, if you had owned your UK house more than 15 years you would have avoided French CGT on its sale even as a second home. However, from 1st February 2012 you will have had to owned a second home for 30 years to avoid CGT and I am sure this will catch a lot of Brits who have moved to France, but kept their UK house.

[cooperlola]

Some people are getting back into the French Health system but it's patchy.  The best summary of the current situation that I've found to date is here:

http://www.french-property.com/news/french_health/early_retirees_cmu/

All being discussed around this forum but most recently in this thread:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/2567158/ShowPost.aspx

[Sprogster]

It would be interesting to hear from someone who has succeeded recently, as I cannot recall a post from someone who has.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Sprogster"]It would be interesting to hear from someone who has succeeded recently, as I cannot recall a post from someone who has.[/quote]I did post elsewhere that my contact within the insurance industry did tell me that some people had managed it.  But my evidence is anecdotal only, I'm afraid, since I personally, was one of the lucky ones who was here before the cut-off date.

EDIT : You'll see from this

http://www.french-property.com/news/french_health/early_retirees_cmu_carte_de_sejour/

that some have got in, but others have really struggled so if I were unable to get full private health insurance I still would not come to live here until the matter is clearer.  If you can get insurance, fine, but if you have an uninsurable condition then keep well away unless you can get guaranteed work here.

[Mikep]

If you're married, only one (in our case the wife) needs to have reached UK state pension age for both of you to qualify for French healtth service without paying substantial CMU contributions. It's still a good idea to have top-up insutance which in our case costs 95 euros per month - premiums are age related. French NHS only pays up to 70% of costs, and some prescriptions can be very expensive, particularly if regular.

[cassie]

Thanks for all advice so far!

Can I "join the health service " by registering as an A.E. and renting out my property as a gite for a few weeks per annum ?

How do I find out the cost of French prescriptions , e. g. for Lipitor ( statins....taken for high cholesterol).

Will the fact of having high cholesterol make the top-up insurance significantly higher than not having cholesterol problems ??

[Quillan]

[quote user="cassie"]Thanks for all advice so far! Can I "join the health service " by registering as an A.E. and renting out my property as a gite for a few weeks per annum ? How do I find out the cost of French prescriptions , e. g. for Lipitor ( statins....taken for high cholesterol). Will the fact of having high cholesterol make the top-up insurance significantly higher than not having cholesterol problems ??[/quote]

Liptor or its equivalent is 89 Euros a packet for 30 days. All drugs, regardless of if they are by prescription or not have the price on them. France uses a lot of 'generic' drugs rather than branded drugs but if you want branded then you ask the doctor.

If you have a heart disease for example its covered 100% by the state. So if you have been stented or by-passed the state pays for everything to do with your heart. My top-up went down because they don't have to pay their percentage on anything to do with my heart. There is a negative, if I don't do what I am told, like get a blood test and see the cardiologist every year for a stress test etc then I loose my 100%.

[cooperlola]

If you operate as an AE you get into the health system as the rules stand at present.  Whether a gite can register as an AE I do not know - not my area of knowledge, sorry.  But there's a gite board you could post on or with luck somebody will pop up who knows.[:)]

Top up providers cannot, legally, penalise you for a pre-existing condition and in fact, as Quillan says, shop around and you may find one which discounts for those which qualify 100% (known as ALDs).

[Alex H]

[quote user="Sprogster"]

Your question as to selling your UK house as a second home after moving to France is very pertinent, as the French CGT rules have just changed for the worse WEF from 1st February. Under the old rules, if you had owned your UK house more than 15 years you would have avoided French CGT on its sale even as a second home. However, from 1st February 2012 you will have had to owned a second home for 30 years to avoid CGT [/quote]

Have you got a link to something more 'official' for that ?

EDIT - It's OK I found this

http://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/taxation/capital-gains-tax/

and this

http://www.frenchpropertylinks.com/essential/capital-gains-tax-in-france.html

[cassie]

Thanks for the info on the terrifying price for Lipitor.

I believe that the health service re-imbursement % varies from drug to drug.....assuming one is affiliated, what % will the health service re-imburse for Lipitor ?

How can one find out what it is for other drugs ?

[idun]

Cassie, would be a good idea if you went right through the health board and read all the threads about health care.

I cannot work out why you want the prices of the prescriptions. When you are a resident, you will either have an S1 and a mutualist or private health care and so for all you may end up paying  the pharmacist, you will get refunded with all or most of what you have spent.

 

 

 

[Sprogster]

I don't believe running a Gites is a qualifying business for the AE scheme, but might be wrong.

If you have high cholesterol, obtaining fully comprehensive private medical insurance could be difficult, as you have a pre-existing medical condition.

[Claude]

I get Simvastatine 40mg and the cost with the CV is about 6€ per month.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Sprogster"]I don't believe running a Gites is a qualifying business for the AE scheme, but might be wrong. If you have high cholesterol, obtaining fully comprehensive private medical insurance could be difficult, as you have a pre-existing medical condition.[/quote]One of the other founders of FHI added bicycle hire to her gite in order to run an AE, iirc.  Thus I do think there are ways around this if you plan well.  Whatever, pre-existing conditions can be a problem when applying for full PHI and you're illegal without any cover at all so think very seriously and be 100% sure you've got this sorted before you sell up and move here.  I have read somewhere (although this may just be the equivalent of pub talk as I can't remember where!) that those who don't comply can now be deported so watch your step.

[Renaud]

I missread the title of this thread and thought it was 'How do I actually, officially, become a French president'.

I might be able to suggest answers to this whereas I have no idea of how to answer the actual OP's question.

[cassie]

What is a CV?

How does one go about trying to find out if ANY particular "pre-existing condition" (e.g. high cholesterol ) is enough of a potential problem to prevent re-location to France

[cooperlola]

[quote user="cassie"]What is a CV? How does one go about trying to find out if ANY particular "pre-existing condition" (e.g. high cholesterol ) is enough of a potential problem to prevent re-location to France[/quote]A CV is a Carte Vitale. In and of itself it is irrelevant as it's actually just an admistrative tool to make repayment easier.  The critical things is acceptance into the health system.  The card comes later but, if/when you get one, can act as proof that you belong to the system.

The only way to find out if a private insurer will cover you for your condition is to ask them.  Your insurance must, by law, cover the same things the French health system does.

http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/F12017.xhtml 

"confermement aux dispositions de l'article R.121-4 du CESEDA vous apprecierez la nature de la couverture maladie en vous assurant que le panier de soins est comparable aux prestastions en nature offertes par l'assurance maladie maternite francaise.  Le critere essentiel a examiner est qu'il ne doit pas y avoir de categories de soins, de produits ou d'interventions exclues de la couverture alors que l'assurance maladie francaise les couvre."

 

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