Moving to France in November

Moving to or from France
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Hi Everyone, I am Ben. I am a British Citizen moving to France on 28/11/20. I will be working remotely or seeking remote work while in France. My questions are as follows:

  1. Will I be entitled to benefits while job seeking?
  2. How do I pay tax while working remotely?
  3. Can I access health care?
  4. How can I open a bank account before getting to France?
  5. How do I become legally resident before 31/12/20?
  6. I have a start up here in the UK. Would I need to pay tax on it in France? I do apologise if I am repeating questions already asked. I appreciate any guidance.

Kind regards, Ben

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  1. If on benefits here (i.e. UK) some were transferable in some circumstances - never having needed to explore this I don’t know the details but definitely will not continue past 31.12.20 unless there is an extension to the transition period (unlikely).

  1. Not clear what you mean - but you do need to register with the French tax authority “le fisc”

  2. Yes, you will need to register and self-fund this through insurance until you are earning and paying cotisations.

  3. Contact a bank and open an account. CA Britline probably easiest as they have English speaking advisors and are used to providing service for Brits.

  4. By arriving and setting in motion the necessary bits. Register for healthcare, if you own property in France contact the local Impôts and tell them your French address is now a maison primaire, start the process of registering your car in France etc.

  5. I assume you will be running this remotely or will your business move to France with you? Yes, if you earn money while residing on French soil the French will tax you on it, you might also be liable for UK tax since the two country’s tax years are not aligned. Get a good accountant (but you should not have to pay tax on the same income twice).

3

Read the withdrawal agreement.
Figure out what yourstatus will be. Economically active?
Then read the freedom of movement conditons thst apply to thst status.
You will then know what to do.
Most of your questions are non questions because if you do things correctly they will not arise.

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This is possibly the most useful thing to you right now as it sets out what you will need to prove that you are a French resident and entitled to a resident’s card.

France doesn’t accept the concept of being a digital nomad, so if you are in France when working remotely you must pay tax and social charges here. You have to tell the UK tax authorities that you have left the UK.

The thing to be aware of is that France does expect that people who move here are able to be self supporting for the first 5 years. So your income is important. You can register with the Pole Emploi, but you still need to have an income of 540€/month to be eligible to stay here.

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The legal status of your start-up in the UK could be important unless you have other sources of income. Is it a company or other body that employs you? Or are you self-employed?

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  1. Unlikely. To get unemployment benefit, you need to have worked and contributed to the French social security system. I don’t think that you would be eligible for the RSA allowance (minimum social revenue) either, but you’d need to have a chat with your local CAF (Caisse des Allocations Familiales), wherever it is you decide to locate to. You might also need to enquire about registering with the local Pole Emploi (job centre) to see whether they would be able to help you in your search (unlikely, but you never know).

  2. Others have answered about taxation. Any income earned worldwide and any bank accounts held (controlled) outside of France by French residents have to be declared to the French tax authorities.

  3. Not without some kind of private health insurance, until you become eligible to be enrolled in the French health system (3 months residency? )

  4. Don’t know, and was under the assumption you couldn’t.

  5. As others have already mentioned, this is EU law and recalled in the withdrawal agreement.

  6. Your revenue from the UK startup will be taxable differently depending on how you draw money from it. Dividends from foreign shares see a flat tax plus social charges totalling 30% of the drawn revenue payable to the French tax system, and additionally any withholding tax levvied by HMRC.

7

A Britline account can definitely be opened from the UK, or you could use one of the newer multi-currency accounts from eg Transferwise or Revolut.

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Welcome Ben and good luck :+1:

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Learned something new, thanks!

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Thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions. I have ordered an EHIC card. Will that cover any health arrangements till I attain 3 months residency?

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Yes, I am opening an account with BritLine.

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If you are resident in France an EHIC card doesn’t help you.

For our 1st year healthcare we took out an insurance policy with @fabien.

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Thanks. Can I ask why you took it for 1 year when u could have accessed French health care after 3 months residency?

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Thanks a lot!

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Even if it did, it would only provide cover in December for someone arriving at the end of November.

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You can apply to join health service after 3 months, but it can take several months for the application to be processed and for you to receive the ‘attestation’ that shows you have been accepted.

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Ben until we know what your status will be nobody can give you correct advice.
If you are economically active in any country you cannot join the health system as a self supporting inactive.
If you are a jobseekrr there are very specific conditions. You must be receiving benefits in the uk at the time you move. The uk then krrps paying benefits for 6 months and also covers your healthcar e for those 6 months. If you have no job after6 months you may not be able to stay.
You cannot earn an income in the uk, claim jobseekers in France and register for heslthcare as an inacive. You have to meet the full set of conditions for one status.

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Thanks. Your response is very helpful.

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Don’t be discouraged, Ben. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! But I reckon you already know that.

You will like France, I think, and will do well here when you find a way to settle.

BTW How’s your French?

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Hi, Thanks for the encouragement. I am quite positive about the move and determined to succeed. I did French at school but have been writing, reading and studying intensely for the last three weeks. Not much opportunity to practice speaking a lot of listening.

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