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Living in France working in the UK


jerrycan
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My wife and I are looking at moving to France hopefully sometime this year. In fact the OH is currently in the Dordogne looking at properties.

I work in the Offshore Oil and Gas industry and usually work a 2 weeks on 2 weeks off rotation. This means in any 28 day period that the maximum time I would spend in France would be 13 days with 15 days spent in the UK.

My question is would I be able to work and pay my taxes in the UK as I presently do and for my wife to be a French resident as she would be spending all her time in France?

Any information or advise would be welcome.

Max

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AnOther, a regular poster, does just this so yes it's possible.  He'll no doubt be able to give you specific advice.

You would need to contact HM Revenue to get an S1 form (formerly the Workers' E106)  for your healthcare entitlements - very important over here for non-French nationals.  Even though you will probably still pay UK tax you will also need to fill in a French tax form, regardless, even though you may have no liability here.  Then apart from re-registering your car(s) and all the house buying stuff, you'll be away![:)]

Welcome to the forum.

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My wife goes back to the UK to work as a supply teacher. Although we live here in France and pay our gite Taxes here, she has to pay tax in England on her teaching money and just declare here,and show proof too, that the tax has been paid in the UK.

No problem.

Happy house hunting.
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Hi jerrycan, welcome to the forum.

Coops has summed it up and although I work 2 on & 3 off my situation is exactly as she has stated. Assuming you have an adequate NI record then HMRC will issue you with a workers S1 (ex E106) which will be renewable annually on it's anniversary for as long as you continue working, I am into my 4th year of this now and the only problem has been the sheer incompetence and inefficiency of HMRC which meant that this year it took me a record 5 months to get the renewal !

If your home is in France then forget all about about counting days in either as they are irrelevant.

The French tax return is a doddle and essentially all you put down is gross salary, tax paid, and net income and you are rewarded with a devis for €0.00 a few months later [:D]

If you need further advice feel free to ask.

Were do you work out of interest, I'm off Aberdeen in the Chevron Alba field.

Bonne chance.

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Hi thanks for the reply's, it sounds pretty straight foreward.

I'm presently working in the BP SGA (Southern Gas Asset) out of Humberside.

I'm on standby at the minute waiting for a weather window for the Seafox 1 to move alongside West Sole Alpha, then I hope to fly out to Limoges to look at a couple of properties the OH has got all revved up about!!!

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As long as you have no French income it is indeed just as straightforward as AnO says.

If you do earn income in France, for example your spouse may be employed and/or run a small business, then this will be taxable in France, and probably liable for payment of social security cotisations rather than piggy-backing onto your entitlement to the S1/E106. For the purpose of French taxation, your French and UK incomes are combined to determine your joint tax band - France taxes you as a couple - and, in effect, the tax you have paid in GB is credited against your French liability. It's actually rather more complicated than that, but that's more or less how it works. This can result in a somewhat larger tax bill in France than if you and your wife were taxed individually.

Just something to be aware of, that people don't always take into account.

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Hi,

         Only your UK salary will be non-taxable in France. You will have to declare any bank interest ,dividends or other world-wide income here, but the final tax bill will not be much more than in the UK and may well be less. When the time comes to make your french declaration (spring 2012) you can get help here.

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We have no reason to think that the OP's OH will be seeking work in France of course however there is an aspect to that situation which has crossed my mind but I am unsure of it's validity, quite possibly none but here goes anyway:

If she did take up employment then it would disqualify her from inclusion on the S1, fair enough. If she became entitled to health care by virtue of employment it would, as I understand it, also cover her OH in which case an argument could be made by HMRC that the S1 was no longer required and consequently a renewal refused.

This would not necessarily matter if the French job were secure and long term however if it fizzled out prematurely they could both be left without cover and I don't know how easy it would be to persuade HMRC to reissue an S1.

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Will and AnO are of course right - I didn't post for any possible future changes to your situation which of course I should have done.  However, after 5 years of tenure here you would both have rights within the French system so bearing in mind what AnO says above, if she did not get too bored and stir crazy, and any work were just a case of having something to do, in an ideal world it's  probably best to steer clear of the employment minefield until you've both lived here long enough, Jerrycan.
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[quote user="AnOther"]We have no reason to think that the OP's OH will be seeking work in France of course however there is an aspect to that situation which has crossed my mind but I am unsure of it's validity, quite possibly none but here goes anyway:

If she did take up employment then it would disqualify her from inclusion on the S1, fair enough. If she became entitled to health care by virtue of employment it would, as I understand it, also cover her OH in which case an argument could be made by HMRC that the S1 was no longer required and consequently a renewal refused.

This would not necessarily matter if the French job were secure and long term however if it fizzled out prematurely they could both be left without cover and I don't know how easy it would be to persuade HMRC to reissue an S1.

[/quote]

If you are entitled to health care in France in your own right, such as, for example, via an S1 or A1 (formerly known as worker's E106 or E101) then you would, officially at least, not be enttled to piggy-back on to your spouse's French cover (I know, we've been there). You are only entitled to be included in your OH's French health cover if you are truly inactive.

I totally agree with AnO that we don't know whether or not the OP's OH (all these acronyms - sounds like we're talking abot France) plans to work or not, and the chances are that won't be the case because of the difficulties involved in finding work in France. But people do move to France with finding a job featuring in their plans, so it's a situation that can't be dismissed because it has a considerable bearing on your position regarding tax and social security.

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