Only my second post so dont be too harsh! You seem such a friendly bunch compared with many forums that I thought I would seek some views.
It seems that there are quite a few people who live in France but work in the Uk and I wondered how it works out for you? It is something we are considering/ working towards this year.
We have a house in 87 that I will call a maison secondaire, although it is in fact the only property that we own - we rent in UK. The ultimate plan is for us both too retire out to france full time, not sure when as official retirement still some years away. However my husband is in fact retired and in receipt of occupational pension. Last year he spent a lot of time at the house but never managed to keep on top of all the jobs and the garden........he is keen to move out virtually full time.
I work still but quite "flexibly" and have a further plan to become freelance in the next couple of years. Getting down to the house by good old Ryanair is quite easy and cheap and I've already got a few flights booked for early spring visits. If we scaled down our Uk rental to just me then there would be savings, but possibly countered by the extra flights, but what I am really trying to find out is how other people manage with the official things like residence, health etc. Husband is obviously my dependant and I pay NI and tax in UK, I read somewhere that on this basis he could access the french system with some type of 'S' form. Anyway, I would be interested in how others tackle this.
Thanks for replying, it does help actually. Your situation is not dissimilar to ours except that we do not own the house here in UK.....and it will be me going out on the monthly/ three weekly trips to france rather than the other way round.
we are also married and I realised that the tax thing would be done separately. I dont think I would even have to fill in french tax return as not there for enough days to be domiciled. Still cant find our about the health side of things though. Seems it may be easier to fall into that half and half grey area that a lot of people seem to and remain on paper UK based.
I would never be bored in france though and certainly don't WAnt to work but needs must. It was actually suggested to me yesterday that I could do most of my job remotely from france but for a UK employer I think that opens up a whole new can of worms..........
You'll see that you have got a couple of replies now! I have noticed however that the members without photos often struggle to get replies - I think people just like to see who they are chatting to. It's one of the things that makes SFN so friendly. So upload a photo! xx
this isnt going to help...but we also have an interesting situation...my husband is retired... our main residence is a large house in the Dordogne...but we also own a UK flat. Husband lives in France full time...with monthly trips back to UK to see me...as I am still living and working in the UK. I was in France for a year and got bored...wanted to work and couldnt find anything shall I say, suitable there....so came back. ...I basically fall within the UK system and he falls within the French system...but we are married....he pays French tax I pay UK tax....am sure we will get in a truly awful mess at some point...but at the moment its ok....and obviously very clear cut in our case....
Can't really give you any information but as in similar position of main residence being in France but working more than half the year in the uk I feel as though I am neither here nor there I was watching for any replies that you might have had.
