HMRC’s SRT establishes whether you are UK tax resident or not. Most people try & escape the clutches of HMRC but it’s not so easy as it’s designed to catch the likes of the wealthy allegedly resident in a tax haven like Monaco spending all their time at their multi-million pound residence in London.
If you have homes in UK & France & divide your time between them you will be UK tax resident. It’s in any case not a choice that you make but is decided between HMRC & le fisc. The only way you can become tax resident in France is to severely curtail your visits to the UK to below 90 days although in certain circumstance with even as few as 16 days in the UK you can still be UK tax resident.
As a resident of France you must submit a tax return declaring your worldwide income. As per my previous reply ordinary residence as per EU FOM & tax residence are separate & unconnected. You can be tax resident but not resident & resident but not tax resident.
If you are receiving a state pension from the UK then the UK will pay for you to enrol in the French healthcare scheme with an S1 form. If below pension age then you enrol in PUMA after 3 months residence & pay your cotisations. In my case as I worked in France for 15 years I have a French pension so France is my competent state for healthcare when I live in France so I will just reactivate my Carte Vitale & pay cotisations on my pensions.
So I assume as a French resident Nigel will have a French registered vehicle, French driving licence (when required) and inform his UK bank etc that he’s moved to France.
There is no need to inform the UK bank but I will inform HMRC. I’m already in the process of registering one my vehicles in France while the other will be left in the UK with UK registration. I will e buying a small runaround in France on French plates. I previously had a French licence but changed it back to a UK one when I returned to the UK in 2012. At present I’m not even able to exchange my UK licence for a French one bar committing a motoring offence.
I thought that there was legislation covering this in both the UK and France
We certainly get regular requests from our UK bank to confirm our continuing presence in France…
Perhaps @anon30081639 has some special status
If Nigel can legally sort out dual residency so he gets to live his life as he wants then good luck to him, sounds way too complicated for a duffer like me as the older I get the simpler I want things to become.
It will be interesting to see if it works. I doubt it will, I think France will regard you as a uk resident visiting France, but it would be good if it does work
Can a UK non-resident Register a car in UK, and get MOT, and insurance for more than 6 months.
This all strikes me as trying to game the system just for the sake of it, or perhaps to show off superior status, and the question I’m left with is why bother? We spent 15 years in France spending around 5 months a year here so know how that works. But life is so much simpler now and because we “moved” permanently before the referendum have 10 year cards. We no longer have to have testy conversations with tax people or stress about administration in any way.
Even with social charges we pay less tax here than we did in UK. Much tho’ I love the NHS my healthcare here is much, much better. We have sorted out banks, wills, succession etc and no longer have to bother about whether post has got to us . We go back to the UK whenever we want (we have a room available whenever we want) and if we need a car we hire one or borrow one.
And I am comfortable that I am now contributing fairly to the society that I live in. I didn’t like feeling I was a parasite.
Tightening up after the end of the year when Brits are TCNs perhaps but at present the rules are as per the WA which is EU FOM. The rues for residence are simple & straightforward. Tick the boxes on minimum 6 months residence, comprehensive healthcare & sufficient resources & you cannot be refused except on grounds of criminality or the like.
Yes a someone who is not UK resident can register a car & get MOT & insurance but I’m dual resident.
It’s not a question of gaming the system. I have two houses & want to spend my time between them. Why should I opt just for UK or just for France?
I would much prefer to be tax resident in France as my wife has given up work & I am a higher rate tax payer so we would pay much less tax in France. Unfortunately we spend too long in the UK where I still work about 10 days a month so there is no way we can escape being UK tax resident.
Why on earth would you be a parasite divining your time between two countries? If you are a British pensioner the UK may tax you but it also reimburses France for your healthcare. In my case I paid a lot of tax & social charges which is why I’ve earned good pension will pay my cotisations although I would be much happier if the UK paid via an SI. Finally income tax is only one tax. We all pay VAT, tax d’habitation/fonciere/council tax. fuel duty etc etc
If you tick the boxes to qualify for residence under the WA ie EU FOM rules on minimum 6 months residence, comprehensive healthcare & sufficient resources then you cannot be refused except on grounds of criminality or the like. As a French resident you need to submit a tax return declaring your worldwide income but whether you pay tax in France or not is not something you choose but is just how the rules are applied.
Do you have a link to an official source stating that France must consider you resident if you spend 6 months here even if you remain permanently resident in another country? As I always understood that résider régulièrement meant having your principal residence in France and a person can only have one principal residence therefore you have to .‘leave’ the other country.
I hope you are right as if it works this is what I will do. I would like to retain the option of continuing to offer occasional services in both countries (I am a semi retired outdoor activities instructor and I have a place in the mountains… But as I have more opportunities in the uk I had decided to remain here and give up France because informing hmrc and dwp that I was moving abroad would have complicated thigs but you are saying I would not need to inform them,?
You can presumably choose to use loopholes and reside in a grey area, but it could be complicated. I suppose if you have no children at school, have some sort of nebulous self-employed job and stay healthy, ie don’t participate in society in the way most people do - as well as never being checked up on - it is easy enough. I don’t know how comfortable it would be to live like that.
What loopholes? What grey area? There is none. I can exercise my rights to settle in France under the protection of the Withdrawal Agreement before the end of the year. I can choose to spend 6 months at my home in France & 6 months at my home in the UK. I don’t get a choice on where I am tax resident. I pay all my taxes declaring my income & submitting tax returns in both countries.
You seem to think that I’m proposing living under the radar & working on the black when that is absolutely not the case. I will apply for a CdS when the website goes live in October. I satisfy all the requirements for residence. My French pensions alone satisfy the income requirements. I am entitled to be enrolled in the healthcare system as I am a French pensioner. I will make a tax return in France. I will also continue to work about 7-10 days a month in the UK because it’s easier for me to work in the UK.
Why this antipathy to someone who wants to live in both France & the UK? Why do you have to choose one over the other? I’ve lived & worked full time in the UK & lived & worked full time in France. Now that I am semi-retired as I have the time & the money I would like to have the best of both worlds & divide my time between the two countries.
Ok but I simply don’t understand how you can be resident in both countries? Because if you are a UK resident you will only be allowed to spend 90 days in France unless you are a permanent French resident? If people could be totally legally resident in both countries, surely lots of people would be doing this and we would have heard about it before now?
How would benefits be allocated for instance if someone spent six months in each country given that the actual amounts are different, let alone the criteria? Surely you wouldn’t just be able to access 50% of what you were entitled to in each country? #confused
This is one of the bits of law about french residence. It is more about where your centre of interests are. There are other articles about the amount of time you spend here.
I am just a confused French person. Your proposed set-up sounds a bit dodgy to me but chacun son truc. As you are retired etc etc maybe it works for you, it wouldn’t be possible for someone like me with a ‘normal’ job and children going through education.
