French self employed state pension scheme

[Yvonne]

Hi,

We are currently paying into the self emplyed french pension scheme.

It costs us around 200€ per month which seems very expensive.

Being only late 30's we have no idea if we will still be in France at retirement age.

Does anyone know if a) we HAVE to contribute to this scheme and b) what happens if we are not here to claim our pension at 65 ?

 I would hate to think that our contributions simply fell into a black hole....

We still pay into the UK scheme (minimum, self employed contributions).

Thanks!

Abi

 

[Will]

Yes, it is compulsory (though I think a few professions get away with it because they are not affiliated to any particular caisse). And it is very expensive (speaking as somebody who had a demand for nearly 15,000€ for a year's micro-bnc trading, though the accountant did, thankfully get it reduced).

It's not really a state scheme, it works more like the health insurance where you pay into a different caisse according to what you do.

In theory, what you pay in should be transferable to the UK pension scheme if that is where you intend to draw your pension. But I think it all depends on how much entitlement you manage to build up, as what you pay in now goes to fund those currently in receipt of pensions, rather than building up a personal fund for you - the idea is that when you retire, you will be funded by those currently working. But like many of the British schemes, the French pension system is near-bankrupt now and will be in real difficulties when fewer workers are paying for a greater number of retired people.