Hi all, we have sold out Irish home and are Irish citizens and looking to move into our french holiday home full time. We are 8 years from our pension so are considering buying a second home to use as a holiday rental in France so as not to spend all of our savings.
Any advice as to what taxes would be paid on an income of around 5000 euro welcome. We are not getting any other income / interest and don’t mind living on our house sale money but a small income would obviously help . Thanks
Even with an Irish passport and freedom of movement you are expected to have an adequate income to support yourself before being allowed to become resident. And also need to sort out your social security cover which may not be automatic. In general you are expected to have an income at SMIC (minimum wage) level around €1400/month per person.
But generally you wouldn’t pay income tax under around €11,000, but can be asked to pay social charges from the first euro.
Below €5000 you also don’t have to pay business tax (cotisations foncière d’entreprises).
But do remember that you will have to pay property taxes on the 2nd property, plus insurances, utility costs, etc etc etc. So an income of €5k hardly sounds worthwhile, unless this is net? In which case your income will most likely be over €11k subject to tax.
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I’d recommend that If you can live comfortably on your savings until your pensions kick in then I would do so. It’s not like Ireland here. The hassle of buying a property then managing and renting it IMO would be a complete pain in the neck. If you’re retiring, then retire I say 
Some folk come here to run a little business and that’s great but if, as in our case, we came to retire, the last thing we wanted was more hassle, there’s enough day to day hassle to manage with just living here. Not that I’m complaining 
I’d recommend a Vhi International Quote We used them to bridge from making the pre retirement move her until our state pension and thus S1s kicked in. It also has the advantage that if you ever return to Ireland you will not be penalised for the years you did not have private cover.
This is slightly off topic but don’t assume that as an EU national you will glide smoothly into the French public health system after 3 months’ residence.
If you’re early retired, you’ll be classed as “inactifs européens” and when you apply to join the health system your application will likely be referred to the “Centre des ressortissants européens inactifs CMU-istes” where it will languish for many months with no way of getting updates. You will also be asked to submit a vast number of supporting documents.
I second what John says about a holiday rental being more trouble than it’s worth. The less you own - and the fewer your income streams - the simpler your life in France will be. That doubtless applies everywhere. But particularly here.
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That’s exactly what happened to my Polish friend. She and her husband assumed EU citizenship would help the process, whereas it added a huge extra layer of complexity.
Yurp!
We’re still waiting. Having applied in February. @JimCable is in the same boat.
I’m going to give them until the end of the year and if there’s still no positive decision, we’re going house hunting in the UK.
Things are getting tougher and tougher all the time in France with new rules being brought in almost weekly that affect us all and what we have to pay in where applicable. If you start a small business you will be subject to social charges most likely and then you have the costs of keeping a second property especially with a saturated market already and folks preferring to take cheaper breaks where they can. As others have said, its not honestly worth the aggro it would incurr if you want an easy life here.
What return on your investment would that represent?
Bear in mind that - apart from a few exceptions - the property market in France is not considered a useful method of investment (unlike the UK, for example; I don’t know if it’s the same in your home country). But even if you found somewhere for 100 000€, including refurbishment, furnishing etc you’d be getting only 5% ROI.
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