Apparently some tax offices have this year decided not to follow the generally agreed approach and have decided to impose social charges on people who ought to be exempt. You need to go back to them enclosing/attaching a copy of your SI and state that according to Article L136-1 from the Code de la sécurité sociale you are exempt. Although you are tax resident here you are not party to the French health system by virtue of your S1 so no liability arises.
This is the french text of that article in the Code:
Il est institué une contribution sociale sur les revenus d’activité et sur les revenus de remplacement à laquelle sont assujettis :
1° Les personnes physiques qui sont à la fois considérées comme domiciliées en France pour l’établissement de l’impôt sur le revenu et à la charge, à quelque titre que ce soit, d’un régime obligatoire français d’assurance maladie ;
2° Les agents de l’Etat, des collectivités locales et de leurs établissements publics à caractère administratif qui exercent leurs fonctions ou sont chargés de mission hors de France, dans la mesure où leur rémunération est imposable en France et où ils sont à la charge, à quelque titre que ce soit, d’un régime obligatoire français d’assurance maladie.
Cette contribution est due pour les périodes au titre desquelles les revenus mentionnés au premier alinéa sont attribués.
You must be right Shiba, I only asked as I was under the impression social charges didn’t apply, but I very likely didn’t fully understand. Curiosity satisfied now, thank you.
Thank you - I explained this to them earlier but not so comprehensively. They simply sent me a mandate to pay in instalments (which I’ve ignored until it’s resolved)>
Be careful they will continue to add majorations which can’t be cancelled if you do have to pay. Best to pay up now and then fight for a refund to stop that happening plus go and see them in person too.
just make sure you’re not thinking of the often pre-ticked box “20P” which is something else altogether.
'cos the health thingy is never automatically ticked on my declaration
Never hurts to check and double-check
I have composed a lengthy letter to the tax lady, which I won’t repeat here, playing heavily on my confused old man act, (which often works on the ladies, not so much the men ) pointing out that I have always paid taxes and other charges promptly when demanded since 1999 but demands for CRDS stopped coming after the last time, which was € 79 in November 2010.
It seems to me that she is asking me to sign a document which in essence means I owe €1 ,555 for the 2 years 2023 and 2024. Surely not.
I closed by saying I need more information and may have to seek independent advice.
Has anybody any idea what this is all about?
BTW I have made a copy of my letter but have not sent it yet.
Do you have a bill of any sort that indicates what this might be for? If you look at my post at the top of this thread you will see there is a fairly common problem this year in some areas (but I’ve not noted down which) where social charges are wrongly applied to UK pension income.
She has made no specific comment despite my asking but says I forgot to report to Sociale or something. I might send this email today, the one I composed yesterday, and see what happens.
It is the sum of 2 separate figures and includes small penalties of interest for late payment.
I am not clear what she means. She seems to be saying that it is not sufficient merely to fill in a tax form, including foreign pensions, and accept whatever is said as required payment by the authorities (always as long as we have lived here 0€), but that I ought to have made a separate declaration for sociale purposes, something that has never been said before this current series of letters.,
I rather think you need to ask someone French to help you understand what on earth this is all about. Ask at your Mairie for a contact with Assistante Sociale (or similar)… show them the paperwork/letters you have received and ask them what on earth is going on…
Or could you cut and past/ scan the letter with personal details removed so we can read the french? It may well be that there is a UK:French angle that a local France Services person may not fully understand. But if not, go to them as they are competent in tax matters.
Good idea - try the Mairie - they may as noted by Stella send you to your local France Services location who can be very helpful in sorting things out. I would also strongly suggest translating the letter you received into English using a secure online tool (NOT Google - something like Deepl which will securely translate a few pdf scans for about EUR8/month) and may help you understand what is going on. Also its good to check your translations back to French if needed. Courage!
I am a bit bemused by this. The marie has very little to do with personal fiscal matters and taxes. So, whilst they can try to be helpful, they shouldn’t be relied on as a more reliable source of information than any french person who does their own taxes. FRance Services on the other hand do have tax declarations as one of their competencies.
Our Mairie is often the first port of call by locals (French et al) if the person has received correspondence/phone calls/emails which they don’t understand or are worried about.
Covering every subject under the sun
Our Maire has made it plain (verbally at the Voeux and in the Bulletins) that our Mairie is there to serve its people and help them/advise them if they have any distress/confusion .
Whilst the Mairie might not have all the answers, they can calm and help the person initially understand and (of course) can then direct them to the appropriate “help”/Expert
EDIT: and, particularly pertinent to @David_Spardo
A few years ago, our Secretaire asked me to pass the message to all Brits in our commune: do NOT sign any document unless you completely understand it and agree with what it entails.. bring the document to the Mairie to ensure it is all above board. This was due to frauds in our dept at that time… but still holds good today. David does not understand why he is being asked to sign the document, nor why the money is being claimed. He shouldn’t sign anything in such a situation until/unless it is clarified and he agrees.
I have only had direct experience of 4 maries here in France, and none of them were like that! The two largest have an accueil desk that would book appointments for specific things, or direct you elsewhere if they were able. The mid-sized one was the best as you could have a conversation with the secretary, and my current small one is only open 2 half days each week and the secretary has very limited competence. The Maire himself was new at the start of this mandate and whilst willing to help for matters like this knows no more than the average French person.
On the other had, France Services has been specifically set up to help with a wide range of administrative matters, and are generally very helpful. This is a link that shows what France Services cover, which includes tax matters.
In the last few weeks we have spent 3 hours with them trying to sort a problem that involved URSSAF, CESU and France Travail. Couldn’t have been more helpful!
Across France the Mairies will differ, of course depending on the size of the town/city.
@David_Spardo lives in a rural village and his Mairie, like thousands of others, is there to support its people.
Identifying the “problem/query” and calming the (possibly fragile) person, then sending them to the correct official help… can make all the difference.
Mind you, although I’ve not needed calming I’ve had successful visits to the Mairie of more than one sizeable town/city. (latest one around 50k population). They were most helpful, as have been others which I needed to visit (for other Brits).
Thanks for all the good advice, I have been absent for a day or so and am catching up.
I thought the initial visit to the Mairie was merely to get told of the next Assistant Sociale visit, probably to the next bigger commune. I never thought they could directly help with the problem
I intended to go yesterday but a combination of my recent fall and resulting hand injury plus a whole day of repeated vomiting made it not a good idea.
At first the terrible word ‘tetanus’ came into mind but I now think the 2 incidents are not connected.
@PaulRobson thank you for the advice about translation, but friend Eddie pointed me at one attained by highlighting a para of text then right clicking to click on translating in the resulting panel and it is very good. I have tested it by writing what thought was French and then testing to see that it translated back to English what I had intended to say. No idea who it is but as I am fairly fluent I can always check like this.
) pointing out that I have always paid taxes and other charges promptly when demanded since 1999 but demands for CRDS stopped coming after the last time, which was € 79 in November 2010.