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French Residency


Alpinemist
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Hi All

I know there is a lot of questions on this and I have done my research but just want to clarify all is Ok on my side. Just for peace of mind.

We arrived in France 3 weeks ago as a permanent move. My wife and I are both British citizens.

We have taken out private healthcare as we are both in our 40's.

We have notified Tresor Public of our new address in France so they can send both tax bills here.

Notified the local Marie of our new address so they can send the water bill to us and also the post office. Not sure why but they also needed a form filled out.

The important thing as per most is we get on the French healthcare asap after 5 years. We have a monthly income from property in the UK and at present no income in France. Looking into that at the moment (possibly AE but not definite). Also notified UK tax office of our change of address.

As Carte Sejour is now abolished do I need to do anything else to prove we are permantly resident in France. Should I change our driving licences? I'm keeping all receipts of purchases and eurotunnel receipts to show when we came.

Many thanks

Edit - I did look at the residence permit but from what I read as we are British this is not required ?
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Re informing the Tresor Public. Your impot (tax form) will need filling out next spring time and handing in by a specific date, usually late spring / early summer, all on their web site. Do not depend on them sending you this, it is up to you to get hold of the form and fill it in and send it in. I am not saying that they won't send you one, either, but am just warning you. I could always get a copy from my Mairie if I hadn't received one, or I suppose that one could call the Hotel des Impots and ask them to send a form, phone number will be in your annuaire, or on the web.

If you have GB/EU driving licenses you don't need to change them.

 

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Your tax return is the best proof you can have. When you fill your first return in you will put on it the date that you arrived in France. As long as you keep making your déclaration each year after that, there shouldn't be any dispute about when you arrived.

Have you also done everything the other end and told the UK tax office etc you are no longer resident there?
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[quote user="Alpinemist"]Hi All

I know there is a lot of questions on this and I have done my research but just want to clarify all is Ok on my side. Just for peace of mind.

We arrived in France 3 weeks ago as a permanent move. My wife and I are both British citizens.

We have taken out private healthcare as we are both in our 40's.

We have notified Tresor Public of our new address in France so they can send both tax bills here.

Notified the local Marie of our new address so they can send the water bill to us and also the post office. Not sure why but they also needed a form filled out.

The important thing as per most is we get on the French healthcare asap after 5 years. We have a monthly income from property in the UK and at present no income in France. Looking into that at the moment (possibly AE but not definite). Also notified UK tax office of our change of address.

As Carte Sejour is now abolished do I need to do anything else to prove we are permantly resident in France. Should I change our driving licences? I'm keeping all receipts of purchases and eurotunnel receipts to show when we came.

Many thanks

Edit - I did look at the residence permit but from what I read as we are British this is not required ?[/quote]

If you start an AE you can get health cover immediately without the 5 year wait.

The only people with problems are those who neither work or run a business.

They have skewed the issue and make it seem as if it is difficult to get into the system, when in fact it is only  early retired people who choose to be idle who are in that situation.

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You need to look into the income for property thing as the income tax due on it may have to be deducted by your tennants? That sound mad, well there is something like that for non residents who are renting out property.Do a search.

I only know this as we had a property in the UK that we had been thinking about renting out and that is what the non residents tax office in, I think Nottingham told me. In fact they sent me the paperwork for it. No idea as to where it is, or if I kept it though. In fact your tax office will probably change to which ever deals with non residents, perhaps that is still Nottingham.

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[quote user="idun"]

You need to look into the income for property thing as the income tax due on it may have to be deducted by your tennants? That sound mad, well there is something like that for non residents who are renting out property.Do a search.[/quote]

Non-resident Landlords scheme  http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=Ed5BaOnynis&formId=738

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Coming back to the original post, don't expect notifying the Tresor Public to have any effect whatsoever. They are just receivers of cash, and don't generate any tax forms, local or otherwise. You can't even expect them to note a change of address succesfully.

You need to notify (in writing, not e-mail) your hotel des Impots and your local Mairie. Ask them for confirmation of receipt, as you will probably be repeating the exercise. You may find that you need to notify separately for Income Tax, Habitation, Foncieres, and Socialist contributions. As soon as you can, sign up for "prelevement" (direct debit) (on each separately, naturally) to make sure tax bills are paid on time, otherwise the next thing you hear will be a 10% penalty, even if the delay is not your fault. I think you can only do this once you are in the system and have received your first assessment back.

If you ever wonder how the French state manages to employ more than 50% of the population, you might begin to realise why after all this!

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[quote user="Loirette"]

Norman

I may be early retired, but I can assure you that I am not idle!!!!!!

[/quote]

He did not say that you were, he wrote:

'when in fact it is only  early retired people who choose to be idle who are in that situation.'

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My definition of early retired is people who are no longer working for a living although they are under the statuary retirement age, so it's a different age for different nationalities and at different times (eg a 60 year old UK woman would currently be of retirement age, but in future she won't be at age 67).

Whether someone is idle is a different thing.
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[quote user="Alpinemist"]Hi All

I know there is a lot of questions on this and I have done my research but just want to clarify all is Ok on my side. Just for peace of mind.

We arrived in France 3 weeks ago as a permanent move. My wife and I are both British citizens.

We have taken out private healthcare as we are both in our 40's.

We have notified Tresor Public of our new address in France so they can send both tax bills here.

Notified the local Marie of our new address so they can send the water bill to us and also the post office. Not sure why but they also needed a form filled out.

The important thing as per most is we get on the French healthcare asap after 5 years. We have a monthly income from property in the UK and at present no income in France. Looking into that at the moment (possibly AE but not definite). Also notified UK tax office of our change of address.

As Carte Sejour is now abolished do I need to do anything else to prove we are permantly resident in France. Should I change our driving licences? I'm keeping all receipts of purchases and eurotunnel receipts to show when we came.

Many thanks

Edit - I did look at the residence permit but from what I read as we are British this is not required ?[/quote]

Hi Alpinemist,

Your situation might be unique !

monthly income from property in the UK

In your forties,

purhcased  private healthcare that you can afford,

no income in France

The combination of the above begs the questions;

Have you won the lottery?

Did you have a massive inherintance?

You were centre forward for Arsenal .

You once wrote a "number one "

You both have a very large pair of rose tinted specs.

or half of your brain is genuis and the other half ,not so.

In your priveliged  situation I would have arrived in in France , enjoyed myself  and talking/registering with no one whatsoever!

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The "idle" bit really annoys me, it implies a laziness. The French term "inactif" is less insulting but still implies sitting around doing nothing. I sometimes wish I had time to be idle!! All of the early "retireds" I know are VERY occupied, but as BobT says, whose business is it anyway?
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The business of the country whose system these early retired  people wish to enter uninvited.

I think a number of people who have to work well after their 40s would find it insulting to be accused of 'chasing money'.

They may  regard it as survival, but then are not being paid out of the public purse to sit on their backsides.

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I understood the ‘choose to be idle’ bit to mean living off the state and relying on others for support.

I took mandatory retirement at an earlier age than most and haven’t worked since. I just do the usual household jobs etc without working for a living; I survive totally on my pension and not handouts and adjust my lifestyle accordingly to the actual cost of living. In my opinion this is not idleness.

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[quote user="NormanH"]The business of the country whose system these early retired  people wish to enter uninvited.

I think a number of people who have to work well after their 40s would find it insulting to be accused of 'chasing money'.

They may  regard it as survival, but then are not being paid out of the public purse to sit on their backsides.

[/quote]

I never entered any country uninvited, I am a EU citizen so can live anywhere in the EU that I choose.

My RAF pension is paid out of the public purse but that is the only thing that I get. Do you think that I should give it back to the UK after serving 24 years? You could have chosen to join the forces at the age of 17 and then gone and worked on a Harrier in a muddy field for weeks at a time in the middle of the German winter too. You could also have gone to work with your sleeping bag to keep aircraft in the air during the Falklands/Gulf war and not gone home for weeks at a time.

What many people choose instead is a well paid job within reach of family and friends, but that is their choice. Do I sense a hint of jealousy?

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I agree BobT; I worked from age 16, paid NI contributions for 43 years, although apparently now I only need 30 years for entitlement to a full state pension when I reach 65. I am an EU citizen and as such I have the right, no need for an invitation, to live wherever I please in the EU. I don't ask for handouts. but should I wish to work I would find it just as difficult at my age to find a job in the UK as here, in any case! Who employs 60-year-olds? No matter that I have a lifetime's experience in my particular field. In the UK I could probably apply for "job seekers allowance" or whatever it's called these days. No, I'm still self-supporting, gradually nibbling away a our life savings. It's only the State's business if I'm asking them for support.

There, that feels better.

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We retired on my husband's minuscule RAF pension and relied on savings until my pension came through at age 60. We've taken nothing out of France, other than the enjoyment of living here. We spend our money here and pay our taxes. We're not rich but we are time millionaires. And we're never idle! More like idyllic!
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Sorry if I hit a raw nerve with 'idle'.

Perhaps I should have said "not gainfully employed"

In any case the more important point, and more relevant to the OP, is  that you don't need to wait 5 years unless you choose to.

There are ways of getting into the Health system in France straightaway.

If you choose not to that is your right, but that is how the system works for the moment.

When I came here there was no CMU, and you needed to prove that you could support yourself and that you had adequate Insurance until you had earned the right to enter the system.

It was only about 10 years ago that things became more relaxed, and given the moves everywhere in Europe to cut expenditure and increase revenue I would expect there to be  attempts to tighten up.

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Like several other posters, I am in my 40's (just) and have very recently chosen to come here after also serving my country - in my case since I was 16 years old, and received bo**ox back in return but shed loads of grief. Anyway Alpinemist, getting back to your original post, have you applied for a Residual S1 form? Assuming that you have only just stopped work, this gives you 2 years French health care (3 years if you have earned over £5k since 1st April)? PS - what is AE?
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