We have applied for our Carte Vitale and they have come back for more information.
Just to clarify - we are here on UK Passports as we were born there but lived most of our lives in Australia (we have never worked or have any financial ties to the UK). We are not working in France. We moved here in March 2016. We are early retirees (in actives).
Most of the additional info required is self explanatory (or we have already given it to them).
It asks for a P60/45 - assuming this is only for UK residents and does not apply to us??
Annual Tax Summary - we sent our French one with our initial application for YE December 2016. It is asking for 2015/16 and 2016/17. Our 2015 one would be our Australian one. I am concerned they will base our contribution for the Carte Vitale on our tax return which would be based on amounts while we were working. Can anyone advise on this. Should I tell them we were not living in France then? Will they use this in their calcs or will they just ignore it?
Bank statements for all accounts French and Foreign. This is fine as we lodge our interest earned on our French tax return. I am concerned however that any payments that are not taxable in France will be noted and they will tax us on them. I am owed money from my old employer in Australia that I have paid tax on many years ago. Earned on paper but still being paid out. Would I just advise them of this?
As Stella says, you can discuss it with your CPAM office.
But basically if you want your application to be considered you donāt really have much choice other than to provide the information they require, or the equivalent - presumably Australia has the equivalent to a P60/45 (not sure what this is - is it what your employer gives you when you leave?). If youāve already sent it, double check that what you sent is exactly what they asked for, and if it is - send it again! Who knows why they want all these things, perhaps they paper the walls with them, but itās generally best to humour them.
Under the current system, healthcare contributions are based on your income during the same calendar year, so contributions for healthcare during 2017 would be based on income between 1.1.17 and 31.12.17, contributions for healthcare during 2018 will be based on income between 1.1.18 and 31.12.18, etc. This is how the system works, so I donāt see why it would be different in your case.
CPAM /URSSAF arenāt interested in income tax. Itās not their job, itās the fiscās job and as far as Iām aware CPAM/URSSAF donāt share info with the fisc, although the fisc do share information with them. Youāll only confuse CPAM if you start trying to talk to them about income tax, they wonāt have a clue what youāre telling them or why.
Have to say Iām struggling a little with the Carte Vitaleā¦I moved here in June 2016ā¦(pre-retraitee/inactif) With very little French and only a whole load of optimism openness and determination⦠I single handedly and face to face managed to import my uk car to Brittanyā¦get my controle technique and carte grise and switch to a French insurer (yayā¦! Go meā¦!)ā¦Registered with all utilities which was slightly hair raising as SAUR visited and threatened to cut my water off when I had only been here two daysā¦Next off was the carte Vitale and I have visited my local CPAM three timesā¦provided what I thought was everything under the sun plus the kitchen sinkā¦the lady told me it could take up to 6 months which wasnāt a worry as I canāt even remember the last time I visited a doctor in uk and very unlikely to visit one here eitherā¦Then July 2017 I received the letter asking for more info including an S1 which I know Iām not entitled to as Iām early 50sā¦In the meantime I visited the tax department declared myself tax resident and got my numero fiscaleā¦sorted out and paid on time my taxe dāhabitation and taxe fonciere despite bill going to my motherās house in ukā¦I have to admit when I got the letter in July 2017 asking for more info my heart sank and I kind of gave up the will to live at that point and focused instead on summertime and the much anticipated visits from my son my daughter and my partner in ukā¦Maybe now I have a numero fiscale Iāll be better placed to visit CPAM againā¦I dunnoā¦I spent my last 2 years in the U.K. sofa surfing between my momās and my daughterās whilst waiting for the sale of a commercial property to go throughā¦itās the one outstanding thing on my list of things to do and feels like a lot of jumping through hoops for something Iām unlikely to make much use ofā¦Iāll maybe wait until the weather is a bit better and visit my local CPAM againā¦but it is frustratingā¦not that everyone Iāve met face to face isnāt lovely and helpful just the ādisconnectā is frustratingā¦
Since you started your journey the system has changed, and now there is PUMA. So in theory it should all be simpler (!).
This is the current form to sign up to the health service - as you can see itās pretty straightforward now.
Perhaps you should take that with you to CPAM and ask them what of that list they havenāt got? Presumably you did a tax return last year for the June - December 2016 period so can provide evidence of sufficient funds? What I donāt know is whether the fact that you have been without any health cover for 18 months will be an issue. Others might know this.
On another forum there was a poster who had been here for a while but had never bothered about healthcare, and in December he automatically received a bill for healthcare during 2016 based on his tax return. I think he ended up paying, since the only way to contest it would have been to prove private health insurance or an S1, neither of which he had. So if in future youāre going to have to pay regardless, makes sense to make sure you get what youāre paying for!
Thankyou for the pdf Janeā¦the form does look slightly different from memoryā¦the lady at CPAM printed one off for me as I donāt have a printerā¦I also had to fill out a supplementary questionnaire (?) She has copies of my passport, driving licence, Birth Certificate, EH1C card, 4 months French bank statements, (I circled every incoming and she noted what each was for) everything from the lawyer who completed my house purchase, EDF contract, SAUR contract) 3 months Orange landline and internetā¦(I mistakenly and with hindsight rather naively thought that my weekly trips to the supermarket detailed on my bank statements would have proved my stable and regular residenceā¦lol) I didnāt at the time have anything for my taxe fonciere or taxe dāhabitationā¦
Yes I completed a tax return for the 6 months from June 2016 to Dec 2016ā¦so have that now too (zero to pay)
Hi Stella our local one is only open on certain days and it appears they have sent the paperwork to the bigger one an hour away. The bigger one has sent it to Nimes which is nowhere near us. Thought it would be easier to learn from other peopleās experiences. Our phone connection is rubbish here and the call costs are high. Will see how we go.
One more question please. LāAssurance Maladie have also sent a āQuestionnaire 'Recherche de Droitsā Ressortissants Europeens Inactifs" form for completion. One for each of us. At the end of the form it has a field where you note your amount from Foreign Resources. As our income is joint (interest from joint accounts) - do we put the full amount on each form? Do we put half on one form and half on the other? Do I just put a note that it is the total for both of us? Any help appreciated.
Sorry to hear about MIL. We did similar as although weāve had a home in France for 20 years or so, we stayed in UK to look after our respective parents until about 4/5 years ago. And my partner then moved over formally first while I stayed until my mother died. Itās hard going, and lots of travelling gets tiring tooā¦ācourageā as they say here.
Oh dear⦠it was a few years ago⦠but I accompanied some Brits to our local CPAM⦠and the lady there said that they liked to become involved as they kept copies of the documents they sent onwardsā¦
Seems this was because they had experience of the next Office losing documents or denying they were ever sent by the ordinary folk. āWe send them through our systemā¦so they have no excuseā¦ā Itās probably not like that now, with the influx of work, few can take on extra tasks.
I was given a form to register with a GP and had started making tentative enquiriesā¦our commune is around 1700 people and we are in a tiny hamlet on the outskirtsā¦The GP had just left and the mayor is still trying to attract a new oneā¦Iāve just recently been sent yet another pre filled form and my best translation was
that they were asking for my social security number which I could find on m(not yet acquired) Carte Vitaleā¦best I could answer was that it was āen coursāā¦
My path to Brittany has felt like it was guided by a Guardian Angel and if I were to hazard a guess that Angel is my late fatherā¦and as difficult as leaving my adult kids and my grandkids inevitably wasā¦I Am here with my own Momās blessingā¦I can totally empathiseā¦My partener of 20 years (not the father of my 3 kids) loves it here as much as me (and our two Border Collies) and we have never previous to this been apartā¦I can foresee a time though when I might have to return to the U.K. temporarily to take care of my own Momā¦the moment she (or more likely my daughter as my Mom is not one for giving up and giving in) says she needs help then Iāll be on the next channel crossingā¦x