Gone Native Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 This is my first message so I hope you will all bear with me.Husband 65+, self employed, ( receives some private UK pensions but no state pension) pays cotisations.Wife 65+, pensioner (UK state and private pensions), currently gets healthcare as "ayant droit" of husband.So couple pay social charges on all income.Can the wife switch to S1 for healthcare and thus save social charges on pension income?If the husband ceases self employment and does not draw his French pension, can he also switch to S1 & save social charges on pension income? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 I don't see how it could affect the cotisations paid by the husband if the wife asks for and gets an S1 from the UK. The cotisations are surely based on earnings/profits or however it works for self employed people and you didn't say that the wife was self employed too, so has no earnings to pay cotisations on.No idea what would happen if he just stopped work and asked to piggy back onto his wife's S1 as both of your are over retirement age. Maybe there would be a query about this, I don't know, you can always ask the proper authorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 By not drawing his French pension do you mean not claiming it in the first place, or trying to stop it? I am not sure that either is an option.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone Native Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 Hi, I mean not claiming it. I believe that you can defer claiming your pension here in France in the same way as in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone Native Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 idun, self employment income may drop shortly to a level where it is not really worthwhile continuing to work. Wife is retired, has never been self employed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 How I read your first post was that your cotisations were in some way based on you both; that was all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinabee Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Wife should definitely switch to her S1 (should have really done it when claiming state pension) as in France each individual should only claim benefits as an "ayant droit" if they have no other healthcare insurance in their own right. Secondly, if the husband ceases self employment and claims state pension directly from the UK, and requests his own S1 then neither of you should be liable to social charges on any pensions.There is a special claim form for UK pensions when claiming from abroadhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-claiming-a-state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 [quote user="tinabee"]Wife should definitely switch to her S1 (should have really done it when claiming state pension) as in France each individual should only claim benefits as an "ayant droit" if they have no other healthcare insurance in their own right. Secondly, if the husband ceases self employment and claims state pension directly from the UK, and requests his own S1 then neither of you should be liable to social charges on any pensions.There is a special claim form for UK pensions when claiming from abroadhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-claiming-a-state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad[/quote]TB, I don't wish to split hairs with you because you are always au courant with this kind of information.However, I think that you do play contributions sociales for annuities (which in our case is exactly like a pension because we were self-employed) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinabee Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 mint - I honestly don't know about annuities that do not have an employer contribution element, since I haven't had any experience of these (yet!), but I suspect you are right. I am sure I have seen information indicating that pensions/annuities that are as a result of solely personal contributions are treated differently under French tax law than pensions/annuities that have had employer contributions.As is normally the case, when a generalisation made there is always an exception for a specific case. Thanks for clarifying.I suspect that declaring UK pensions after the relaxation of annuity rules in the UK from next year is going to get a whole lot more complicated [:'(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone Native Posted July 13, 2014 Author Share Posted July 13, 2014 Tinabee, thanks for your input. Was not aware of the "ayant droit" requirement; at time of moving to France UK only covered healthcare for 12? months, so being "ayant droit" of working husband was appropriate.French taxation/healthcare/pension arrangements are so complicated, they make the UK's look like a model of clarity! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 I don't think you have a choice here. You said that you didn't want to claim yourfrench pension, so that would imply that you had a right to a frenchpension. As far as I am aware, if you claim a french pension thenthat would be classed as the one that counts, even if it is minimal,as you live in France and you would pay the usual cotisationson your french pension like everyone else.This iscomplicated and at over 65 questions may be asked if it isn't claimed. Why would the UK pay for your health care when France is supposeto?http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/health/when-living-abroad/health-insurance-cover/index_en.htmHealthcare coverage in the country where you liveIf you receive a pension from the country where you live,you and your family are covered by that country's healthcareinsurance system — whether or not you are also receiving pensionsfrom other countries.I have no idea what that margin thingy is at the top is about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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