Michael Archer it’s useful to have this informed prediction on pound-euro parity, because it’s been my own ‘gut feeling’ since the referendum. If/when it does reach parity at least I shan’t need to do the sums in my head. My wife and I only have our pensions to live on but we know from a long lifetime’s experience that it is possible to live on very little, so long as one is reasonably fit and has a dry shelter to live in: water ingress is a potential killer.
Edith, my UK state pension is liable for tax in UK but it comes within my personal allowance so is not taxed at source. It is paid directly into my bank account here in France. I understood that it would not be taxed here. My Teacher’s pension is taxed at source in UK and is paid into my UK account where I draw on it to meet UK commitments. Very little of it ‘comes to France’.
I made my first tax declaration here in France in May this year. I don’t know if or when I shall get a tax demand here, or how much tax I may have to pay or to what deadline. Any ideas? I’ve asked this before on SF and had replies but I’m still rather unsure what to believe.
Well without knowing all the figures, we can’t predict your tax bill! but there are simulators online where you put in the figures and it tells you the answer. You will in any case receive an avis d’imposition. It will detail your income and the calculation and if you have no tax to pay it will say 0 on it. I received mine about a month ago.
We are all suffering with the drop in the value of the £. It is only now hitting the UK as the summer fresh food has helped. However here in France I am sure we are all adjusting our budgets
Hi Peter
I would have a word with the UK tax authority to make sure your situation is as it should be. I was confused when we first came to live in France 13 years ago and I was paying tax on my teacher’s pension. But I had done a lot of research and understood the UK should only be concerned with the pensions taxed at source not my state pension which is taxed in France. Since my UK earnings were well under the personal allowance I should not pay tax there at all. I rang them and they changed my tax code.
Peter, your UK State Retirement Pension is taxable in France not the UK and it is never taxed at source in any situation, it should be declared on your French tax return. Your teachers pension is taxed in the UK and taxed at source, your tax code may be adjusted on that to take into account your state pension if you have not notified HMRC . You will benefit from two tax allowances, one in France and one in UK. I think you should speak to a professional to make sure you have completed everything correctly as you don’t seem to understand the tax system in UK or France.
As Poppy says. If you live in France, UK state pensions are liable for tax in France not the UK.
It’s the source of the income that decides where it’s taxed, not where you spend it.
Depending on the exchange rate, a full UK state pension might just nudge you into the “imposable” bracket in France.
Are you taking account of the extra 10% pensions income allowance Anna?
We both get state pensions and Govt pensions of about equal proportion and haven’t yet had to pay tax on them in France… even less likely now the exchange rate is almost at parity… and I have just checked on the impot sur le revenue site for 2017 (with pension expectation for 2018 reporting) and it confirms no tax to pay on c£25k pension income [29.5k euro] (for both parts) at an exchange rate of 1.14. Add to that the fact that a zero tax bill also means nothing to pay for TdH and I really do believe that we are far better off in France.
I’m not really taking account of anything to be honest. I don’t know if Peter is a single person household or a two person household or what, and I don’t know what a full UK pension amounts to, nor what a teacher’s pension amounts to. I’m just going by what seems to happen - I know a single lady who is probably in an approximately similar position with a state pension and a career pension, and sometimes she has to pay a bit of tax and sometimes she doesn’t.
Yes exactly, why is the fact that the Italian banking industry is in a parlous state not affecting the exchange rate?
The Bank of England and the Treasury wanted the pound to fall to aid exports, now the supermarkets are saying we will not absorb these extra costs anymore and prices are rising.
I agree, Tony. We retired here knowing how the exchange rate fluctuates, and accepting that risk. We were incredibly lucky as we did most of the really expensive building jobs with 1.5€ per £1. When the £ sank we did cheaper jobs. Now the work is almost finished (there’s always something more to be done) we have an exchange rate similar to a few years ago and we will live through that. If it stays low for years or sinks much further I’d question whether to run the flat in England, my first choice will be to live in France and travel less. It’s a bit like when our sons bought houses and we asked them if they could afford the mortgage if the rates went up to 16%, we keep an eye on the bills and are currently still comfortable, if not as flush as we have been at times in the past, without spending our savings. The UK press blame Brexit for everything, but the exchange rates fluctuate for many reasons beside Brexit and always have done. To be honest, I think the most important thing about retirement is to make the most of opportunities as they arise and not postpone good experiences. If we enjoy life and the balcony doesn’t get repaired, never mind, There are acro-props in the barn.
You say “is there a problem with that?” and I would say there isn’t, but we have a very good pension income. I can understand that many people living abroad may have a relatively smaller income and higher outgoings, and a sustained low exchange rate would be a problem in their case. I would hate it if my choices were dictated by political meanderings and gambling on international markets, and we all feel scared if life threatens to become less affordable.
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Prices are rising everywhere, surely. Here in France, we can shop at “best prices” and take advantage of the seasonal stuff.
I’m also looking at how best to heat our home this winter, staying comfortable while reducing those costs. OH needs it warmer than I do, so it is a balancing act…but I am working on that.
Some costs we can do nothing about and the budget takes a battering…(takes me back to the early days of marriage-on-a-shoestring) …but I am confident.we will come through this… and France is definitely the best place to be, no matter what 
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But are prices really rising more than wages and if they are is this down to Brexit? Many items included in the RPI and CPI measures of inflation simply don’t affect the majority of people (trade union subscriptions for example) so IMO they don’t reflect the real picture.
Unemployment is still falling in the UK and will continue to fall unless something drastic happens especially if 0000’s of EU migrants steadily return home which has already started to happen. Contrast that with France where unemployment is on the rise again and Mr Macron is about to face some real opposition to his reforms.
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Prices in the U.K.? If so, the evidence is clear; they are rising faster than wages, the rises are in many cases directly linked to the exchange rate and that has been knocked by Brexit. How straightforward do you want it to be? Finding fault in other economies does not make Britain’s better.
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It depends what your main concern is doesn’t it - is your lifestyle more influenced by the state of the national economy, or by the national culture? Do you take more pleasure in seeing good statistics or do you take more pleasure in what you actually experience? Yes, on paper the UK’s statistics look good and France’s statistics look pretty dire, and this has been the case for ages. So why do so many people leave the UK to live in France?
Being self-employed the employment statistics in France are of no great interest to me and the statistics for the UK even less so, but if they were I would look beyond the figure trotted out by the government to see what is included in that and what’s excluded, how many zero hour contracts are included, etc. Personally I think the UK is a bit too obsessed by ticking all the right boxes on paper, to exclusion of having a genuine social conscience. You could argue that France errs in the other direction, it’s all social conscience and it doesn’t care enough about meeting economic targets.
David is correct.
Britexit has caused Sterling to slump, which is importing in inflation and wages are not catching up, which is causing households to be getting poorer.
Plus this situ will get worse. But hey, people who voted to Leave, already know this and are prepared to make us all suffer, for the greater good… 
We cannot say it’s anything else, apart from Britexit.
Cheers
Martin
Affecting just about everyone, but still prefer here.
I have never thought that the "English"should have joined the E.U. Nor the EEC that was. I voted for Brexit just for that reason. My wife voted to stay in.
It is unfortunate that tax is levied on certain incomes in the U.K. But unavoidable.
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I based my comments on articles such as these -
Brexit has obviously had an effect on inflation via the fall in the value of the pound but I can’t be the only that thinks the media seems to blame every negative economic stat on Brexit?
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Most of the British press would blame problems on anything but Brexit, in their opinion that is having as much cake as you can eat. I get several weekly updates from FX companies explaining international exchange rates and effects on the countries concerned. They are factual and unbiased. They all put the fall of the pound down to Brexit and the financial problems that it is causing. It might also be because you as a businessman see life differently from the tens of thousands of public employed professionals who have suffered real terms pay cuts for too many years.
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You know, I’m a French living in London since 97, and the French media is only interested in the French leaving the UK…