Comments on: Moving to… France – the basics

By: fiona

fiona — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:51:10 +0000

Do you have to pay water rates in France, and if so can you give me a rough idea how much?
Thanks

By: Mike K-H

Mike K-H — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 10:34:36 +0000

There is a fairly good Dual Taxation agreement between the UK and France. The bits that need checking professionally are ones where there’s no direct match between the two systems, and government employee pensions is one of them.

Your local French tax office will be friendly and helpful, but may not have the necessary experience to to advise you in this case.

By: Dave McMahon

Dave McMahon — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 04:51:40 +0000

Hi, welcome, and thanks for commenting. You might like to try asking on the Money Matters board on our France forum - someone may be able to help there, although recommendations of specific businesses are only allowed on our premium boards. British Expat Forum: France You shouldn't have to pay tax on the same income twice. On the face of it, though, if you're spending more than 90 days a year in the UK on average then you'll still be treated as resident in the UK for income tax and so will have to do a self-assessment. HMRC: Income tax when leaving the UK

By: Jerry Owens

Jerry Owens — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:42:01 +0000

This is a really helpful article. My wife and I have owned a house in the Chalosse for 4.5 years and are about to begin to live part time in France – maybe 4-5 months a year. I am retiring on a teachers pension and we expect to spend the rest of the time in the UK mainly – 4-5 months – and now that our daughter has moved to South Africa we will spend a month of two there each year. We sold out UK home last year and will be either renting a flat or living with my parents – so we will have a base in the UK.

We have been investigating the tax issues surrounding this proposal with HMRC and also with some professional private advice. There seems to be no clear and certain advice on this.

We do not want to pay tax in both UK and France. We want to be free to move around according to our needs without having to count the days each year. Is there anywhere we can go to get simple advice on what we can do and what we cannot?