My wife and I are settling in but need to start drawing on our UK sip soon.
We need to register for tax, medical care, the lot.
Can anyone recommend an English speaking professional who can guide us through this please? Willing to pay a fair price for the service.
We are based in the Prayssac, Cahors area of the Lot department.
Many thanks in advance.
I don’t know about SIPs, but all the basic things you shouldn’t need to pay someone to help you. The information you need and lots of guidance is available on line in both languages. So once you’ve been here three months you can get it all started by a simple trip to your nearest CPAM having filled in the form and got the documents together. There is also a form online to declare your GP (a necessary step) which you then take along to your chosen GP (some will print it out for you).
Form here…
I’m presuming you arrived after 1st January 2019? So tax is not an issue until next year.
And if you have bought your house you will probably already have sorted out the taxe d’habitation and taxe foncière?
Have confidence! If you are going to live here then the best way is to jump straight in, clutching a translator app on your phone if need be. It really is all quite manageable.
(Again I know nothing about SIPs so that maybe more complex!)
As Jane says. Registering with the French authorities tends to be a personal thing that depends on your specific individual circumstances, you don’t know in advance what questions or paperwork they are going to ask you for so you need to have that dialogue with them yourself. If you’re not confident with the language you could find an interpreter who will go with you, and that will make the dialogue easier and also help you get familiar with the terms used. Interpreters typically charge around 40€ - 60€ per hour, some charge more and some charge less.
For healthcare you need to go to your CPAM, then you will probably want to take out a top up insurance policy.
For tax you need to need to go to the tax office, but, again as Jane has said, if you weren’t in France during the calendar year 2018 then you won’t need to submit a declaration this year and the tax office doesn’t need to know about you until the 2020 tax exercise.
If you will need a residence permit after Brexit you will need to go to your Préfecture.
For specific taxation advice, there are companies like Blevin Franks who specialise in international tax consultancy, so depending on the sums involved it might be worth talking to one of them.
Hand-holding services for expats do exist but the problem is knowing whether they are giving you correct advice or not - it’s not a recognised profession so there are no qualifications you can check as such, and I doubt anybody could be fully conversant with all the up to date regulations on every aspect of becoming resident in France. Or at least if they had amassed all that expertise, they’d likely be working for an expensive consultancy not offering an on-the-ground hand-holding service for an affordable price.
Enjoy the adventure.
Hi Mark and welcome to the Forum…
What nationality are you… and which country have you arrived from ?
I am rather intrigued that you consider paying someone to guide you through the “system” and am simply wondering how complicated your own situation can be …
(it might be simpler than you think)
Most government offices will do their best to understand your (even very basic) French… and if you scan through the Forum there is a lot of advice and help available on how to go about things… from those who have already been-there-done-that… 
Also, there are various experts on the forum…
@Brian_Furzer (Pensions)
@fabien (Insurance)
@Graham_Keysell (Life Insurance)
Step by step… is the key…
Hi Mark,
I see that your other topics seem to be well covered. With regard to the SIPP you should, in the first instance, contact your SIPP administrator who will give you all the guidance you need. If not I will be glad to help.