Hi all. Moved over here permanently in June this year. Should I fill in a late tax return and submit it now to get into the system or not? If so, do I declare by UK earnings and how do I tell them I have already paid tax on that at source?
Thanking you in advance
No, you file next year for the 2018 tax year (disclaimer - I don’t live in France)
Helen…
Are you retired or working ?? In other words, do have a Pension or a Salary ??
HI Stella. Early retirees, currently living on savings until 2020 when we can draw my husband’s private (final salary, guaranteed for life) pension.
Hi Helen
Next Spring, you will be needing to make a declaration in person at your local Tax Office. You have plenty of time to find out where that is …
That will get you onto their books, so to speak… even if all you have to declare is interest on your savings…
Helen… remind me… have you received your Taxe Foncière bill yet ??
Surely the first TF bill would be next year, this year’s being handled by the Notaire?
Nope… I should have asked if Helen has received both Tf and Taxe d’habitation… as she told us ages ago that they bought the property in 2016… and I am just checking that the bills are not lost in a postbox in UK…
Put us out of our misery, please, @Nelli
Ah, right, yes - didn’t pick up that this was a move into what had previously been a holiday home.
You are completely correct, of course - if Helen hasn’t updated the tax office as to her residency status they could well have been sent to the UK - and, of course, letting the tax office know will be important in establishing residency for a CdS application.
I have indeed. Merry xmas from the Impots! 
I told them I had moved here permanently so guess where they sent the bill…
Bahrain?
I’m guessing not your French address 
The tax year in France is the calendar year, ie 1st Jan to 31 Dec. Income for the calendar year is declared the following April/May. The tax forms are different each year so it’s no good asking for them before next March at the earliest, they won’t have been printed.
There’s a box on the form where you give the date you moved to France, ie became tax resident here, and you declare your income starting from that date up to 31 Dec. You don’t declare anything you earned in the UK while you were still tax resident in the UK.
You also need to notify that same date to HMRC as the date you left the UK, to avoid any confusion.
Bingo! my old address in Speyside, despite me having told them I’d moved.
We discovered early on, Nelli, that telling a fonctionnaire that there is any kind of change in one’s status does not automatically proceed any further than his/her ears. It’s not the way French bureaucracy works, you have to effect the change on your records by completing or amending them yourself. The fonctionnaire will guide you in doing that but s/he does not expect to do it for you. Theirs is a much more adult service, and may appear a bit stern, but is intended to encourage self-reliance and civic responsibility, or that’s how I interpret it.
But I do hope all goes smoothly for you here in France, because we find that people are extraordinarily welcoming to foreigners, and tolerant of our unusual ways 
I emailed as a friend of mine did the same (same office too) and he got a reply and his address changed straight away. It’s no biggie. I will wobble off to the office and present myself in person to do it.
I too have found almost everyone very helpful and friendly. There have been exceptions, but that’s the same everywhere you go. I work on the 80/20 rule: 80% of people are great, 20% won’t give you the time of day.
Sorry Peter - how do you amend the Tresor’s record of whether you are resident or a 2nd home owner yourself - nip in and hack the computer?
I take your point Paul, and I was relating my own experience of the same issue in response to Nelli’s comment about “telling them I had moved”, later learning that she had sent an email.
Apologies for getting that wrong. I have found that emails are often if not usually disregarded, and that face-to-face business is by far the best way to get things done, making allowances always for language misunderstandings on either part. Letters accusé with avis de reception are also better than emails too, which are easily deleted by the distracted or overworked recipient.
Whether you are a resident or a second home owner is determined by whether you were a taxpayer on 1st Jan of the year in question. If the tax office has received an income declaration giving that address as your primary residence, then you will automatically be recorded as resident and that property will automatically be recorded as a principle residence. If no tax return has been received from that address, then it’ll be recorded as a second home. It’s not something that an individual can ask to have amended. Normally, your status is set in stone for the calendar year as per your situation on 1st Jan, so if it changes mid year, the change won’t actually be taken into account until the next calendar year.
Regarding changes of address and contact details during the year, rather than changes of status, the government has set up an online service that residents can use
Just a question… what happens I& your second home is in France?