Dual residency is definitely possible -
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dual-residents-hs302-self-assessment-helpsheet/erfgg
Getting the taxation, healthcare and actual residency sorted I would guess requires a lot of planning and plenty of advice, not something for the fainthearted.
Apparently he works 10 or so days a month in emergency medicine so not retired as such
Yes I have read up on this until my head spins.
I spent many years resident in France when I was working age and I jointly owned ad ran a business there for a few years. Since retiring from the business over 5 years ago I have done occasional freelance work in both countries but based in the uk and posting myself to France as appropriate however I know that time spent working in France as a posted worker does not count towards residence.
Quite - because all the stuff about vital interests / habitual abode and nationality would weed out almost everyone as very, very few people really do split their work and leisure time between two countries entirely equally, have an equal number of elderly French and British aunts, belong to clubs and associations in both countries, and see medical specialists in two places. Etc etc etc.
@vero Thank you for your reply. What I wrote was not directed at you more a general comment on the thread.
Your response was informative as always. 
This explanation is perhaps relevant.
Thank you for that link Fleur Capaldi as it pinpoints the contradiction that has been troubling me. It says “Selon la convention fiscale, une personne physique ou morale est résident fiscal du pays au sein duquel il possède son lieu de résidence permanent”. If that is true how can a person be a permanent resident of one and a fiscal resident of the other. And if you are not a permanent resident of France how are you covered by the WA.
I’m having trouble figuring it out. Good question, put clearly.
I’m not so sure about that Chris, I think your optimism is ill founded. IMO it falls into the same category as Liam Fox’s “(the) EU trade deal after Brexit should be the ‘easiest in history’”.
Nothing pro Brexit that I’ve heard any British minister say has actually happened. While “Project Fear” has morphed into reality.
Brexit was based on lies and the UK hasn’t taken the negotiations seriosly from the start. Sending second rate spoofers like Davis, Raab, Barclay and now Frost to deal with serious people. Only poor old Olly Robbins did a good job for the UK.
Now the chief liars, Johnson, Gove and Cummins, are in charge and unassailable with their majority. The realities of “cake and eat it” and 'the EU needs us more that we need them" are coming home to roost and poor old British citizens are caught in the crossfire. It’s a tragedy and we need to just recognise it as such.
I suspect the confusion is about residency for visa purposes and tax residency. Both have conditions and rules, but necessarily the same (but not conflicting) ones. That’s why my old firm had a whole department to deal with employees on assignment. I think it’s hard for a poor old punter hacking away at Google to come up with a definitive answer and the repercussions of getting it wrong could be a tad embarrassing.
I’d see a big opportunity for some legal firm to offer a cheap and cheerful service in this area. Because the queries are only going to accelerate as the year progresses and the Brexit negotiations don’t.
Interesting stuff Tim… from the UK gov’s point of view…
but we are talking about France… and the French gov’s point of view… on Residency for CdS WA 
or have I lost the plot… 
Like I said it’s not easy to understand. 
I think I’ll crawl back into my fridge…
Or should we be looking at neither uk nor french definitions but eu definitions. I am trying to read this eu
You need to read the UK-France Double Taxation Convention in particular Article 4 on Residence
“© if he has an habitual abode in both Contracting States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State of which he is a national;”
ARTICLE 4 RESIDENCE
For the purposes of this Convention, the term “resident of a Contracting State” means any person who, under the laws of that State, is liable to tax therein by reason of his domicile, residence, place of management, place of incorporation or any other criterion of a similar nature, and also includes that State and any political subdivision or local authority thereof, and any statutory body of that State, subdivision or authority. This term does not include any person who is liable to tax in that State in respect only of income or capital gains from sources in that State.
Where by reason of the provisions of paragraph 1 an individual is a resident of both Contracting States, then his status shall be determined in accordance with the following rules:
(a) he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the Contracting State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests);
(b) if the Contracting State in which he has his centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he does not have a permanent home available to him in either State, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State in which he has an habitual abode;
© if he has an habitual abode in both Contracting States or in neither of them, he shall be deemed to be a resident only of the State of which he is a national;
(d) if he is a national of both Contracting States or of neither of them, the competent authorities of the States shall settle the question by mutual agreement.
That’s a bit old? But there is a distinction between being able to be a dual tax resident, which rich people seem to manage (not even including non doms) and your country of principal resident for things like social security. As far as I know you can only be attached to the social security system in one country for example.
You can indeed only be attached to the social security system in one country known as your competent state but that is not necessarily the state where you are resident. A UK pensioner who has never worked in France will have the UK as their competent state even though they live in France. A UK worker resident in the UK will have the UK as their competent state but if they have dependants resident in France then the UK will be their competent state & pay for their healthcare.
Residence as per EU FOM Directive & WA is unrelated to tax residence. They are considered separately. You cannot be refused a CdS in France because the HMRC & le fisc & the UK-France Double Taxation Convention decrees that you are tax resident in the UK.
And where does one declare one’s principal home? Or does one class both as one’s main residence and not bother to pay the surcharges on second home ownership avoiding another contribution to society.
So much simpler just to make the choice and do everything related to the country one spends 183 days in. And often financially advantageous if that is France.
Unfortunately you cannot simply elect the country where you spend 183 days as the country where you would like to pay tax. You have to obey the tax rules & laws that have been decided between the UK & France. We would be better off tax-wise paying tax in France as my wife has given up work & I am a higher rate tax payer. Unfortunately it’s not a choice that I can make. I could only become tax resident in France by spending less than 90 days a year at my house in the UK.
