Good afternoon & thank you for accepting me into the group. I will be moving to France from Spain as soon as my house sale is complete, probably early 2015 but hopefully before. I’m obviously doing a lot of ‘homework’ in preparation & am currently trying to unravel the French tax system ! My wife & I are early retirees with a joint gross income of ca €29000 p.a. derived entirely from occupational pensions. I understand that there is a 10% allowance for income such as this & am endeavouring to calculate our tax liability per annum but after several attempts I keep coming up with the same answer, that our tax liability will be negligible. Can anyone confirm or otherwise that this is right / wrong ? Thanks in advance…
That’s a relief - thanks for the info, Michael. I had been wondering about the Tax d’Habitation, as in the UK there’s a reduction in Council Tax of 25% for sole occupancy. I’ll look into that further 
The good news cindy is that you will not have to pay any income tax and it is possible that you will get a reduction on your TAXE D'HABITATION.
I am almost certain that the payment does not guarantee you health care, this is why we all call it a stealth tax on expats.
Ouch! Thank you for the info, Michael. Good to know for sure what I’ll have to budget for. Will I also have income tax to pay on it? And does the Special Social Charge then entitle me to any state health care?
Cindy you will have to pay 7.1% special social charge on your £7000 occupational pension only people with a S1 are exempt from paying it.
I’m totally confused by this. I’m moving to France this autumn as an early retiree and my only income will be about £7,000 pa occupational pension. Until I get my UK state pension in 7 years, I will be drawing from my savings capital and interest. I understand, because on 1 July this year, the UK Government rather sneakily removed entitlement to an S1 for early retirees emigrating to Europe I must have private health insurance. I’d assumed that I wouldn’t be liable for any form of income tax. Am I wrong in that assumption?
Thought as much, you beat the system in your own way by not working until you drop so they change the system ! As I said earlier Michael ‘plus ca change, plus c’est le meme chose’ - especially where politicians are concerned…
You can call this so called social charge a kind of stealth tax which was introduced by the current government .
It is aimed at early retirees who have decided to take their pension early, the government decided that we have to make a contribution to the health care system even though most people have taken out private insurance and in my case contributing over 5000 euros a year into the system via the MSA because i am working here.
This also applies to french people who also take a early private pension to top up their wages.
Thanks Michael,
Plus ca change, the French government ‘social charge’ is obviously an indirect form of income tax unless I have misunderstood - much the same as NI in the UK ? Is this in addition to the private health insurance that seems to be obligatory ?
That is the good news Andy now the bad news because you are early retirees and not in receipt of the S1 certificate for health cover funded by the UK you will have to pay 7.1% social charge on your private pension income also if you have any income from any saving accounts you will be liable to 15.5% social charges, welcome to the land of social charges.
Thanks Andrew, I’m already resigned to the fact that I will have to pay for private health insurance…
Tax or impôts is actually quite low in France, what hits all of us who are working, especially self-employed in one of the mainstream regimes, are the charges sociales which for me run at almost 66% of income (18K€/12K€) then I pay tax on the rest. As early retirees you'll have to look into the health side of things as I think you slip through the net as france doesn't cater for early retirement but others with first hand experience can help you far better than me on that one ;-)
Thanks Debra, I based my calculations on these figures adding in an extra €2900 allowance but had difficulty getting my head round the fact that the French system actually works to our advantage !