I have worked for a Spanish company for around one year. I have a permanent contract with them. I am now planning to move to France and will work remotely.
My question is whether it is legal to be employed by a Spanish company (as if I live in Spain) but live in France?
Do I need to register in France and pay tax here? If so, how?
My HR Director has suggested that I register as self-employed in France and change my contract to a freelance arrangement. Are there any downsides to this? How would I do it?
Any advice about the best ways to do this would be much appreciated. I don’t want to accidentally break the law and if I need to pay tax in France then I’m happy to do so.
Being employed ie a salarié who works for an employer, and being self employed ie running your own business with all the decision making and overheads that are involved, are two different things. Employees have job security and better social security because their employers contribute. Self employed people contribute less. Posing as self employed when in fact you are employed, so that the employer avoids paying his share, is called salariat déguisé or concealed employment and is regarded as social security fraud.
Urssaf publishes a guide in English that sets out the obligations of an employer who employs a worker in France and explains exactly what they have to do. I posted the link on a recent thread but if you google ‘urssaf employer with no place of business in france’ you should find it.
Hope that helps
The answer is Yes, it will be perfectly legal. You are allowed to live in France and be employed by a Spanish company. Also, you will be building-up your work-history with your Employer.
As Stella says it is perfectly legal to work in France for a foreign employer. Otherwise urssaf wouldn’t have written a guide explaining how to set everything up But you don’t work for them as if you live in Spain. If you live and work in France, your employer pays into the French social security system and in return France gives you healthcare, sick pay if needed, unemployment pay if needed, etc etc
Obviously if you aren’t an EU citizen you would need to obtain a work permit first.
My personal take on this would be to not accept from your Spanish employer a change to self-employed. Other than it potentially being considered a dereliction of its duty as employer towards you, the employee, it would mean you having to pay into the independents national insurance and pension organisations, which can represent a significant chunk of your revenu stream. Additionally, if you were to be made redundant as an independent self-employed worker, you would probably be not entitled to unemployment benefit, or at best very little. Same goes for stoppage due to serious illness, and no paid leave. All things to weigh up very carefully.
Fgs - how can an “independent self employed worker” be made redundant? Think about it. If losing one client means that your business fails, then by definition you were never an independent self employed worker were you? You were a disguised employee. And that is exactly what the rules are designed to prevent.
But you don’t work for them as if you live in Spain. If you live and work in France, your employer pays into the French social security system and in return France gives you healthcare, sick pay if needed, unemployment pay if needed, etc etc