Do I need private health insurance?

[claire]

My husband and I are UK citizens (and paid taxes in UK for many years) but have been living (and paying taxes) in the Netherlands for the last two years. We are moving to France where I will be self employed so will not benefit from employers health care benefits. My income can be sporadic and though I will be looking for an accountant and paying taxes in France it may not be immediate. Can anyone advise of what options, if any we have for health insurance? Are we entitled to anything as EU citizens? Thanks

[cooperlola]

 You need to register your business and pay cotisations (health and welfare contributions) which will then give you your "in" to the French health service.  Your accountant should be able to advise the most beneficial and suitable scheme for you (autoentrepreneur/micro bic etc). As you've been away from the UK for two years and have thus not paid NI for that time to the UK, then you won't get help from the UK.  Once you work here and join the French system, then it is the French state which is responsible for you.

There's a lot more to it than that of course and others who know more about the implications of working over here will no doubt be along to help further.[:)]

[Will]

I don't know much about the Dutch health and social security arrangements, but if you have been paying into a state scheme there you should be entitled to at least some coverage under the S1(E106) form. In Britain, how long such cover lasts depends your record of full (class 1) contributions over the previous two full calendar years; self-employed contributions count for less. The Dutch system is probably different.

But as Cooperlola says, as soon as you begin to work in France, either for a French employer or by registering as self-employed, your S1(E106) becomes invalid, and you are responsible for contributions to the French system, in return for which you receive French residents' benefits. Thus private insurance doesn't enter into the equations, other than a 'top-up' insurance to plug the gap between what you pay for health care and what the state system reimburses.

The autoentrepreneur regime for the self-employed is in many ways the least onerous and potentially least expensive, but it, like the other micro business regimes, limits you to quite low levels of turnover, and, because you pay contributions based on turnover rather than profit, you can still end up paying out even if you make a loss in your first years of business. If you do not wish to have your ability to earn money capped, if your allowable costs are a reasonably high percentage of turnover, or you wish to benefit from being TVA-registered, you would be better off under a normal business regime. You would need professional advice to decide what is best for you.

[claire]

Thanks very much for the information. I think I need to arrange to see an accountant as soon as possible.

One further question, my husband isn't going to be working (lucky him!) will my contributions allow him to claim as my dependant or not?

Thanks again

Claire

[Sunday Driver]

Your husband can be included in your assurance maladie as a dependent under the principle of 'ayant droit'.

Details of conditions HERE.

 

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

[quote user="claire"]We are moving to France where I will be self employed so will not benefit from employers health care benefits. My income can be sporadic and though I will be looking for an accountant and paying taxes in France it may not be immediate.[/quote]

As others have said, there are different options depending on things like your cost/turnover ratios. You might find these videos useful as an introduction to French business regimes:

http://thenakedaccountant.wordpress.com/

They won't replace having an accountant, but at least you'll know some questions to ask. Actually, depending on what you'll be doing you might not need an accountant anyway. Some regimes are too simple to justify one, assuming your other financial affairs are not too complex.

Whatever happens, your first tax return (for this year's income) will be due early-ish next year. Even if you have earned nothing by then you should fill in a return so that you are 'in the system'.

As far as health care goes, I don't know if Holland provides any cover for people in your situation. If not then the sooner you register and start paying cotisations (social security contributions) the better. Assuming that your work is not in an excluded occupation then it might be worth registering as an auto-entrepreneur to start with and then converting to a different regime if you fnd it more beneficial.

If you give us an idea of what you'll be doing we can give you some more detailed pointers.

[claire]

Thanks for all the information, your help is much appreciated.

I will be working as a freelance writer with multiple clients. Is that enough information or do you need more?

We have private health care here in the Netherlands which is compulsory and as far as I know they don't offer any assistance to EU citizens.

Thanks again

Claire

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

As a freelance writer you come under the heading of 'Profession liberale', one of the categories that France shoehorns trades and professions into. If you were to register as an autoentrepreneur (AE) you would be able to have a turnover up to about €32,000 per year with highly simplified (by French standards) reporting and payment. The chances are that your overheads will be fairly low (unless you need to travel a lot for client meetings or research) and the turnover-based method will be advantageous because it assumes a certain level of costs/expenses and if yours are lower then you win on the tax & cotisation front. I've been operating as a freelance programmer for the last 18 months and it's worked for me.

Turnover is defined as your total sales income, with no deductions for any kind of real costs. If your turnover is likely to be more than the limit you'll need to go for one of the 'réel' regimes, either as an individual or by setting up a limited company (SARL, EURL ... in French terms). This is a whole different ball game and you'll need an accountant, which is likely to cost you something like €2,000 per year.

For all you need to know to start with about AE read this:

http://www.pbss-uk.com/AEGuide_March2009_EN.pdf

It's a professional translation of the government guide to AE. One or two minor items are now out of date, but nothing that would affect your immediate decision.

By the way, I registered as an AE almost immediately after moving to France and it has covered all my health costs including several weeks in hospital. 'Covered' means 70% refund for most things and 100% for treatment related to registered long-term illnesses.  The remaining 30% is normally covered by private 'top-up' insurance.

 

[claire]

Thanks for taking the time to leave such detailed practical answers. Your help is much appreciated

Claire

[AnOther]

Could be total BS but I seem to recall reading somewhere quite recently that freelance writers or journalists were an unknown breed in France and that such folk were normally afilliated to a specific publication and hence not eligible for AE or other self employed regimes?

 

[Will]

Not total BS - they do exist, but in rather different form. I recall the tax people and URSSAF having great difficulty finding a pigeonhole into which to fit me.

Incidentally, because I needed to go to London to see clients on an approximately monthly basis and go to the occasional overseas exhibition, it took my allowable costs way above the micro/AE percentage. Although my first year was under the micro regime, in second and subsequent years the turnover was a bit above the threshold, but cotisations etc were calculated on a far lower figure, so were significantly less, and with TVA taken into account the savings more than covered the cost of using an accountant.