Retirement to France

[Whale]

I am due to retire early (54) before the end of 2005.

My wife and I would like to settle in France ie become resident for tax (183days+).

Our income will consist of my pension + a small amount of investment income.

Can anybody point us in the right direction re:- taxes and healthcare ?

[LesLauriers]

Buy the book "Taxation In France 2004" from www.pkfguernsey.com the best £25 you could spend in your situation!

[Ex Forum Admin]

...or you could buy it from the Living France online shop!

http://shop.livingfrance.com/lvfra/product.asp?&dept%5Fid=11&pf%5Fid=F%2FR14

[Ron Avery]

Whale

Have a look at the FAQ section of this forum and the health and finance forums, you will learn much about the basics from these areas.  A lot depends on who you get your pension from and how much it will be.  Look also at the UK Dept of Work and Pensions website for details about  health cover for residents in France under the E 106 scheme.

[IAN_S]

We were in roughly the same postion as you. We are still finding things out but this is how we see it now.

Taxes

You are expected to complete a French tax return for all worldwide income. If this is all from the UK as ours is then any tax taken here that has already been paid in the UK should be refunded from the UK, quite how I'm yet to find out! I do not know about income from other areas in the world, I think it would depend on whether that country(s) has a double taxation agreement with France or not.

Health

I assume you are coming with an E106 each which will entitle you to be in the French system for up to two years depending on NI payments that have been made by you or your spouse in the last 2(I think) years before leaving the UK. If one of you has not made the required payments then there will be only one E106 which will be in the name of the person who has and will cover both spouses.( the other spouses name should be on it)

This allows a rebate of up to 70% of fees, drugs etc and the balance can be insured for with a mutuel if needed.

After the E106 has run out you will be still in the system but will not get a repayment until you have declared your income and have been assessed for any payment. We are at this stage now and do not know what this will be.

I have seen other postings that state that the amount is based on 8% of any income over about €6-7000 unless that amount is so low that the payment threshold has not been reached .

This is broadly what we believe to be the case, if there are others who are aware of other specific details I'm sure we would all appreciate them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ron Avery]

Ian said  "You are expected to complete a French tax return for all worldwide income. If this is all from the UK as ours is then any tax taken here that has already been paid in the UK should be refunded from the UK, quite how I'm yet to find out!"

To get your tax in the UK back You need to contact the Centre for Non Residents in Nottingham to get your pension paid gross to you

They told me " In order to receive payments of your UK pension without deduction of UK tax, please complete form France/Individual (available from: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/cnr/form_france.htm) and send it to your local tax office for certification and forwarding to this office."

It is not quite as simple as that, as the French Tax office will certify your UK form AFTER you have completed a French Tax return, this will of course also have to agree with the amount of income and tax claimed as paid in the UK.  Once this has been done, it takes time to get through to the UK,  to Bootle where the actual non residents tax office is, (Nottingham does the admin stuff) you should then get your UK income paid tax free and a refund of the tax paid since you became resident in France. 

You will however be liable to tax in France, however you may find that if you are married, this is significantly less than in the UK.

[Hereford]

"You may find you pay less tax than in the UK"...

You may also find that with "social contributions" on all interest income you pay more overall - we do!

H.

[chirpy]

I am resident and 1year ago decided to pay tax here.i received 2yrs bakk tax starting from day i arrived paid into uk bank.

i then told french office and filled in 2yrs previous forms and after another 6 months started paying tax owed .final payment nov.2004. for year 2004 i will declare income next month.

meanwhile tax office have estimated tax for this year which can be paid monthly or in 3 tiers /payments.

i took translater first time into local  and they were very helpful 2hours later i finished and know a little bit of their complex calculations.

p.s. uk government /forces /teachers have to pay tax in uk but company and retirement pensions can be paid tax free into french bank.

you can arrange for payment direct to france if you wish.

it depends on your total income and family whether it is cheaper to be taxed locally

for lower income .,married couple it should be beneficial.

[Whale]

thanks to those of you who have replied - now have good starting point for taxes - but still a bit lost on health care - what is an E106?

[Teamedup]

You need to contact the DWP at Newcastle and find out what sort of E form you are entitled to as the  E111 is only for holiday use. If you move here you will need to bring a different sort of E form and hand that into the health care people in France.

[IAN_S]

Whale

The E106 is a form provided by DWP at Newcastle for those who have not yet reached the UK retirement age but need to be covered by the French system in the meantime. As previously mentioned, it is only available to those who have made the required NI payments in the UK in the last two years of residency but that if only one spouse has made these payments the the other should be covered on the same form.

As you are *only* 54 this is the form you need. It can take some time for this to be sent by DWP so it pays to start applying early.

When you or your spouse reach UK retirement age an E 121 comes into effect and I'm not 100% sure what this entails as I'm not there yet either!