Hi, my wife and I are planning a move to France with our two young daughters. We both have a Ltd Co. My wife is essentially a contractor for the company she previously worked for and is paid into that. I on the other hand am setting up a new company that will provide pre purchase survey advice for UK buyers of French property. Now my questions are as follows: with both of us having UK Ltd Co’s but being resident in France do we just pay Tax and NI in Uk? Or do we become liable for NI or Tax in France? Does this depend on what we draw from the UK Ltd Co’s and if we then get hit by the French top up under the double tax agreement? My business which will be UK based and paid in Sterling but relates to inspecting properties in France leaves me with more questions because even though it is a UK business I am effectively working in France. Any help or pointers for good advisor will be gratefully received!
Welcome to Survive France.
If you will be resident in France then you will need to be registered in the French system and pay taxes, cotisations etc in France on your total income.
And it would be worth going into the technicalities of whether your UK qualifications would allow you to offer your services in France - the answer is frequently ‘non’.
Just to add to this. The fact that you would be selling your services in the UK would be irrelevant. If you’re pursuing a controlled occupation while physically in France then you would need to meet French requirements on qualifications.
Ditto.
First question is always what nationality you are? If you are european it makes a lot of things much easier.
If not this is quite complex. Doable, but several hurdles to jump.
For non-european you need a visa that allows you to do what you want. In your case to work whilst physically here. And for a visa that does that you need to take several steps.
But remote working not matter what your nationality is a no here. Only passive income possible.
If you say your nationality we can explain further.
Both British.
Thanks. My wife would be working as a contractor as a consultant for her old employer. Would that be classed as working remotely? For me I would be offering my services via a UK business for property in France. I understand for RICS members there are way that this Global Qualification can be recognised as it was pre Brexit.
As far as I am aware, it is possible to have the RICS qualification recognised in France… It is the global qualification and professional body for all chartered surveyors globally so despite the post brexit nonsense this does seem a much mis understood area.
This comment from french-property.com maybe out of date, but worth taking seriously and investigating further from the French perspective and not assume all is well.
"There are also professional building surveyors from the UK working in France, whom you can find by visiting RICS.
Many of the RICS building surveyors operating in France are expats from the UK. A small number of French building professionals are also members of the RICS.
No doubt they are experienced and competent in this role, but there is a question mark about their legal status in France. This is because, at the present time, the RICS qualification is not recognised by the French regulatory authorities.
In the event of professional negligence, it is possible you would not be able to successfully sue them in the French courts.
Accordingly, to minimise any risk, you should make sure that the RICS surveyor is registered as a business in France, and that they carry professional indemnity insurance (PII) for building surveys in France.
Due to the lack of qualification recognition, UK surveyors find it difficult to obtain professional indemnity insurance, so make sure you ask to see their PII certificate (not be be confused with general public liability insurance).
We would also recommend that you ensure the RICS surveyor is actually a specialist and qualified building surveyor, and not a general surveyor from one of the other divisions of the RICS."
I’m not saying that it is not possible and I was merely flagging a risk. I’m sure you’ll find out for definite when you submit your business plan to obtain your visa.
Hello and welcome to the site 
If you’ve not already done so, I’d suggest looking at the info about applying for a visa on the French Embassy in the UK’s website:
There’s a visa wizard where you can submit your details and it’ll tell you what’s needed.
It’s nowhere near as straightforward as it was pre-Brexit sadly
« My wife would be working as a contractor as a consultant for her old employer. «
If you are physically in France when you are working then it is classed as remote working if the company is not established in France.
There are options:
You set up a business in France, paying tax and social charges here, and operate as a contractor. With a single client one has to be very careful that you have a truly independent relationship or it will be seem as travail dissimulé -ie the company trying to get round employment laws. And depends on how much you earn as to the simplicity of it.
You can stay as salaried and set up portage salarial, which is legal but takes a big chunk of your earnings. Here’s a link (the service public automatic translation produces gobbledegook sometimes so given french link) Portage salarial | Entreprendre.Service-Public.fr
Your employer can set up in France via a « relatively « simple service to pay contributions. Firmes étrangères - Urssaf.fr
You start here
Note that you can continue to have your business in the UK, but you would not get a visa that allows you to work here.
Whether you could post yourself to France as the business owner, rather than employee, I don’t know. But you still have to get prior authorisation.
https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/salaried-employment
So much simplet just to set up a business here!
If you or your wife are on Facebook there are a couple of groups that can advise, and their admins have a wealth of knowledge:
Applying for a French CDS/Visa - Redirecting...
Strictly Fiscal France - Redirecting...
There is also the right to work issue. Brits do not have the automatic right to work in France. If you sucessfully apply for an entrepreneur visa, this will give you the right to set up a business as detailed in the business plan you submitted. But to apply for a visa as an employee, then unless it’s some kind of inter company transfer your employer needs to have first obtained work authorisation to allow them to employ you (a non EU citizen) in France. It’s unlikely a uk employer could obtain this.
Something no one has mentioned - capacity to speak and write fluently in French if you are dealing with the public. In any litigation case, only french is accepted for paperwork. The OP says dealing with brits buying in France but they still have to know the language and give the right information.
I thought HMRC’s IR35 legislation had turned that arrangement into a minefield! In France it would not pass scrutiny.
Probably a lot of not entirely welcome, but nevertheless valuable and accurate info. My advice is get used to the term “C’est compliqué”. Not impossible but vachement compliqué.
I wish you all the best with your plans, but gird your loins 
Yes a good point that I’m not sure OP has got his head round. The idea of issuing contracts from his UK company, in English, to people here for professional services here would leave his clients vulnerable. Even if it were legal.
Of course major firms issue international contracts but they are far more complex that the average British house buyer would be prepared to contemplate.
It would be interesting to know whether he has done market research about the viability of this idea. With laws on vice-caché how many people would be prepared to pay for full on RICS survey. We certainly have never thought of this in both our purchases here. Alt hough of course we did with UK purchases.
I sort of agree as have/do dip my toe into these, and if one gets an individuel response they are good. However far too often they snap back at innocent questions saying « it’s in the guides’ which are horribly difficult to navigate and often long and incomprehensible google translate versions of government guidance. So can be easier to do your own search.
Unlike here of course! 
The guides are easy to find on a computer, not so easy to find on phones etc.
However, the OP has quite a complex situation and I doubt that those guides will be enough, so I reckon the OP will get good advice there, if the OP writes his question clearly.