Hello all
We moved to Montpellier in August this year but my husband still works from here for his Uk company. And as Brexit looms, we just need to get advice regarding our tax affairs and liabilities in both France and the Uk. If someone can point us in the direction of anyone capable to help, t’would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Mary.
Hi Mary,
This doesn’t address Brexit or recommend anyone but please be quick as you already have August-November as a situation to address.
When I was in UK working for my own UK company contracted to a French customer, both I and my company were UK tax jurisdiction and payers.
When I moved to France, I took some holidays and returned to work as a direct ‘PAYE type’ employee of my French customer.
From the advice I was able to gather, being a working resident of France made me a French tax-payer. It would have also made my company an employer of a French resident and therefore responsible for French Social Security Employer contributions so we stopped that on arrival.
The view is generally about ‘bums on seats’ i.e. if you are resident in France, working in France, then there are French taxes and charges to be paid by employee and employer.
Yes, you need to get quality professional guidance quickly.
He needs to register via URSAFF (think - there are links on other threads) as a “posted” worker - basically become PAYE in France via the UK company. I assume from your wording he runs a small Ltd company. Word of warning - minimum wages apply so no I pay 200 salary and take the rest in dividendswhen it comes to registering
Or shut the UK ltd and set up as Autoentrepeneur in France - or mix and match if he’s enough clients and some work is done in France and some outside France - if he WORKS in France its one or the other - if he physically returns to the UK to work then he can stay as Ltd - pay UK tax as always and declare wages/dividends in France - with additional social charges to pay.
Give Brexit isn’t finalised its hard to know - tax won’t change but cross border business may be interesting.
French employment law is a complicated subject and it is recommend that you seek professional advice regarding your situation. The general premise is that if you are living and working IN France then you need to be in the French system and paying your social contributions and taxes here. Here are some links to help you understand your options:
Here is a link to a quite comprehensive article regarding setting up a business in France which has links to the various web-sites you’ll need to look at:
As others have said you need to get your skates on as your husband’s employer needs to register him and pay his social contributions here.
France’s labour laws are strict and penalties heavy, and your husband’s employer is already more than a trimestre in arrears.
The URSSAF guide Tory linked is the one to start with.
To the best of my knowledge you cannot backdate an employment start date, or at least not wthout penalty.
Embauche has to be declared in advance and before the employer csn do that they need to register the company as an employer in France.
As said get your skates on because I suspect Frsnce will take your start date as a legal employee in France as the start date of your residence so this needs to happen before new year.
PS @chrisell not a posted worker, that is a different status and gives you no residency rights in France.
Agree, this is not a posted worker situation unless his company wants to set up a French branch.
Posted workers are uk based employees sent to France on a short posting. They remain legally uk resident and continue paying uk tax and nics. At the end of their posting they go home to the uk. The uk is out of this scheme soon which is a great shame for uk youngsters.