We’re selling our house with a view to move to France before December if possible, moving into a long term rental until we can buy.
My wife is telling me moving this year means a huge job filling in a French tax return. Could someone please clarify the situation as I do not think anyone is going to want to move into our house in January/February.
The French tax year is the same as the calendar year.
If you move to France in 2024 then theoretically you need to complete a French tax return for 2024 to be submitted in/by May 2025.
In reality I suspect that if you move very late in the year then you might be able to leave it until 2026.
There are others on this forum who have greater knowledge than I. All I know is that filling in a French tax return is not a…
Onerous, but not huge.
As Badger says, if you move to France in 2024 you can expect to have to file a French tax return for 2024 in May 2025.
You would only have to declare income received since moving to France, though.
Income received before that would be declared in your UK return next Spring.
It is generally simpler, administratively, to move at the beginning of a tax year. But that is not the only factor in deciding when is the best time to make your move. And if you are retired it matters less.
If you are coming to live here then you will have to get to grips with French admin, so a practice run on a little bit of a year is no bad thing.
You only need to declare things from the date you arrived, and the declaration period doesn’t open until June ‘25. Plenty of time to understand the details and get registered an so on.
At first sight it can look horrendous, but unless your finances are hugely complicated most will be irrelevant. So don’t let a tax return stand in the way.
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Just a reminder in case you don’t know, that unless you have an EU passport, you will need to get a visa to move permanently to France.
When we moved and OH started the business in the October, he had to declare those months up to the end of that year when the forms arrived in the following May/June. Obviously he had nothing to pay but it was demanded by the Impôts and I doubt they have changed that.
I appreciate the reminder but fortunately, my wife has dual UK and EU member citizenship.
Jane - I, myself am completely unfazed by the tax return as we are retired and have plenty of time.
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Thank you for your responses.
Being your first year filing as a French tax resident, they will in all likelihood insist you do a paper tax return, meaning either a trip to the Impots office to collect blank forms or simply print off the ones you need from the Impôts website… Typically they only make them available a short while before the accelerated filing deadline for paper returns, the latter being sometime in April. Impôts will help you complete it if you make an rdv, and/or may insist on meeting you to review it (depends on the office concerned).
.And it’s true you only report worldwide income and gains from the date you move to France. I arrived in July and had precisely 54€ of income from then till December and duly reported it…The Impôts lady did look a little sceptical and asked if that was all my income for the year (!). I said it is all my reportable income since becoming a French resident (all lump sums, bonuses from work etc had been taken beforehand in the UK).
My only piece of advice would be to close all unnecessary UK (or other foreign) bank accounts before you move, as you must list them on your tax return with opening dates.
It just simplifies matters slightly, and any simplification is a bonus when dealing with French bureaucracy.
edit oops, sorry, I’ve just seen this thread is from last year.