It is difficult for me to wish to consider talking when people start to become a little insulting ad question my sanity. I do understand your point, and you’re right to cite that line from the circular — « Vous écarterez également, sauf exception, les demandes de demandeurs dont les revenus proviennent majoritairement de l’étranger. »
The key issue, though, is how “provenir” is interpreted. The circular doesn’t define it in purely geographical terms; it links it to revenus stables, suffisants et fiscalisés en France.
That’s why I’m not trying to disguise my pensions — they’ll continue to be declared exactly as before. What I’m doing is creating a new, regular income stream that is taxed and paid in France through a fully declared and regulated Assurance Vie.
This isn’t an attempt to “wash” money — it’s precisely the opposite: it’s about transparency and integration. The insurer applies all anti-fraud controls, the withdrawals are taxed in France, and everything appears openly on my déclaration de revenus.
I may or may not succeed — I can’t know how Niort will interpret this — but I think it’s reasonable to show that my main income is now French-taxed and French-based, which is surely the intention of the Retailleau reform.
Anyway, if everyone wishes to simply give up; that’s fine .
Yes there’s a Canadian girl who makes quite amusing YouTube videos (AdventuresandNaps) who has just got indefinite-leave-to-remain status after being in the UK for almost 10 years, but is considering citizenship as the next step, since who knows what a future (possibly Farage-led) government might do?
One of our friends is now French as, because of her accent, is identified as anglaise. she says “Je suis française mais d’origine britannique”.
None of us, (myself included) can completely rid ourselves of our foreign accent but that is OK. i can live with that
Interesting way to go about it. I look forward to seeing if the French government sees paying yourself in France counts as income in France or still foreign.
I am not paying myself per se. I am using an investment fund (my AV) to provide income in retirement. The key (I believe) is that the funds do not directly come from abroad but from a French regulated Assurance Vie.
Personally, I believe that my key “sticking point” will be that I cannot demonstrate 5 years’ income in this manner. However, the Retailleau circular only came out in May 25 and its implication only known in mid-late summer hence it I will have responded as soon as reasonably possible.
But yes, I do not wear rose tinted glasses and already have my appeal prepared if I need it.
Bon dimanche
I was neither offensive or negative. Merely pointing out that working through the tax declaration process may throw up new issues that you have to resolve.
Just realistic. And any new approach is worth testing in as many ways as possible.
That’s a fair comment, and I completely agree — any new approach should indeed be tested from every angle.
I’ve discussed the tax side in detail with my French advisers, and we’ll be making sure that everything is declared and taxed correctly as revenus de capitaux mobiliers.
The whole purpose of this setup is transparency and compliance, not avoidance — to ensure that my principal income is now clearly French-taxed and visible on my declaration.
It may well raise questions at first, but that’s exactly why I want to document it fully and approach the préfecture in complete good faith.
This presumably means that you will not be reporting withdrawals of capital from your AV (eg originally invested from your pension) as income/revenus de capitaux mobiliers?
From the Retailleau circular’s standpoint, what matters is the provenance and regularity of the funds, not their technical composition.
My Assurance Vie withdrawals are paid monthly from a French investment contract , into a French bank account , and declared and fiscalised in France .
So while only the gain portion is taxable under French law, the Préfecture assesses the full monthly amount SMIC + 50% as legitimate French-source income — regular, stable, and compliant with the requirements of the circulaire Retailleau du 5 mai 2025.
From a tax perspective, only the gain portion of each withdrawal from the Assurance Vie is taxable as revenus de capitaux mobiliers under French law.
The capital portion, which represents funds I originally invested and already declared, is not taxed again — it is simply a return of my own assets.
As an aside; I have calculated that, since we started living in France in late 2015, almost 90% of our income has been French sourced but we did have a few years of much lower due to a number of reasons. I shall provide a detailed table showing this to the Préfecture.
My UK pensions are declared each year as foreign income , then reported in boxes 1AM / 1BM on the main French tax form.
My Assurance Vie income is completely different — it’s declared in France as investment income, not as a pension.
Only the gain part of each withdrawal is taxable, and it appears automatically on my tax return under “revenus de capitaux mobiliers”, usually in boxes 2TR or 2CG.
So the pensions are foreign income;
the Assurance Vie withdrawals are French investment income, taxed in France.
Just as a small aside. Since we arrived in France we met many Brits who “overlooked” their gîte income and were “economical with the truth” in many similar ways e.g. not charging or paying taxe de séjour. We arrived and immediately became auto-entrepreneur and hence I have been doing monthly revenue returns to URSSAF every since.
We have always been scrupulously honest and will continue to be so and that includes every aspect of income no matter how small.
After all, I wish to be honoured with French citizenship !
