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LIVING IN FRANCE

Reader Brexit question: Do I need a residency card if I am married to a French person?

As British residents continue to grapple with post-Brexit residency requirements, we're often asked about the situation for those married to a French national.

Published: 29 January 2021 11:13 CET
Reader Brexit question: Do I need a residency card if I am married to a French person?
Marriage to a French person has all sorts of benefits but exemption from residency cards is not one of them. Photo: AFP

Question: I’m a Brit who has been in France for more than 30 years and I’m married to a Frenchman, do I still need to get a residency card now that Brexit has happened?

Now that British nationals are no longer EU citizens and don’t benefit from European freedom of movement, living in France requires more paperwork than it used to.

People who were already living here before December 31st 2020 need to apply for a carte de séjour residency card. And that’s all UK nationals living here – contrary to popular belief there is no exemption for people married to a French person and it doesn’t matter how long you have been here or whether you already had a residency card.

There is only one exception – people who also have a European passport. So if at some stage you have taken French citizenship or if you have the passport of another EU country such as Ireland there is no need to apply for residency. Everyone else must do so.

In good news, France has put together an online portal for applications from Brits and considerably streamlined the usual residency process.

You can ready the full details of how to apply HERE.

People who applied on the no-deal portal that was briefly live in autumn 2019 will be transferred automatically to the new system but everyone else must make a new application, even people who already had already received a carte de séjour from their local préfecture before 2020.

If you already have a carte de séjour permenant then the process is fairly simple and you just swap your old card for a new one.

If you had either a 5-year card or no card at all then you apply for a new one.

In both cases you use the online portal HERE, applications cannot be done directly at your local préfecture.

The deadline to have made the application is June 30th 2021 and from October 1st 2021 it will be compulsory for UK nationals living in France to have a carte de séjour.

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LIVING IN FRANCE

Are Canadian pensions taxed in France?

If you are considering retiring to France, you might be wondering whether you will still be able to access your Canadian pension and if it will be subject to French taxes. Here is what you need to know.

Published: 26 April 2024 16:20 CEST
Are Canadian pensions taxed in France?

Before going any further, it is worth noting that this article is meant to give an overview of the pensions situation for people with Canadian pensions. It does not replace professional financial advice, and Canadians looking to retire in France should still seek out expert financial assistance as needed.

The first step is to determine whether or not you are a tax resident in France (you can look through our guide). All tax residents must fill out a yearly tax declaration, and they must report all global income, even if it is not subject to tax in France. 

You should also consider if you have a pension from another country besides Canada, as different rules may apply based on that country’s bilateral tax treaty with France. Here is the situation for British, American, and Australian pensions, and here is an overview of the system.

Where is my pension taxed?

In Canada, the pensions system includes multiple tiers of public and private schemes, but luckily the double tax treaty between Canada and France is explicit about where pensions are taxed.

The Local spoke with Isaac Barchichat, a registered CPA in France, Canada and the USA to understand the situation for Canadians in France. He is a managing partner at Monceau CPA, an international accounting firm based in Paris with offices in the US and Canada.

He told The Local: “Tax treaties usually follow the OECD model, which means that Article 18 is usually focused on pensions.

“Article 18 for the Canada-France treaty is very similar to the USA-France treaty. This means that pensions are taxed in the country that they are issued in,” he said.

As a result, any Canada-based pension – whether that is the Old Age Security plan, the CPP (Canada Pension Plan) or QPP (Quebec Pension Plan), or a private personal or employer plan (such as Registered Retirement Savings Plans, or RRSPs) – would be taxed in Canada, not France.  

Barchichat explained that Canadians in France should still declare their pension income in France. Like Americans, they will receive a tax credit from France attesting that they have already paid tax in Canada on their pension.

“People should still maintain proof that the pension was already subject to tax, in case of an audit,” he added.

Barchichat also recommended that Canadians resident in France can make use of the ‘mention expresse’ section in their French tax declaration.

“Sometimes French local tax authorities fail to assess foreign income properly. Using the ‘mention expresse’ allows you to specify to French tax authorities Article 18 from the tax treaty to ensure that they process your documents properly,” he advised.

All of this being said, Canadians should beware that their pension income could still count towards your total household income in France, even though it is not taxed here. As a result, it could end up pushing you into a higher tax bracket.

What about social charges?

In addition to taxes (impôts), France also requires people to pay social charges (prélèvements sociaux) on income. However, only specific types of income can be considered for social charges, such as the CSM charge (PUMa) for healthcare. 

The general rule is that pensioners and their spouses do not have to pay the CSM charge, but France specifically exempts people who have a pension from France, the EU, the EEA and the UK (people with S1 forms), as well as their non-working spouses.

There is some debate over whether American and Canadian private pensions ought to be treated as a pension (and therefore exempt from CSM) or as investment income (which can attract CSM charges). 

When it comes to Americans, tax expert Jonathan Hadida from HadTax told The Local: “Under the principle of equality amongst taxpayers, URSAAF has treated most US pensions/IRA distributions/401(k) distributions akin to a French/Swiss/European pension and have therefore exempted Americans with pension income.”

“I have called URSSAF, and I was told by the representative that they should be paying for PUMa. But in practice, I have not seen many American pensioners charged for it.”

It is likely that similar standards are applied to Canadians. 

Barchichat, who is licenced in both the US and Canada, said that in his opinion neither American nor Canadian pensioners should be charged for prélèvements sociaux. 

“If this happens, it is a mistake by tax authorities”, he added. You can learn more about contesting a CSM charge here.

READ MORE: Cotisations: Why you might get an unexpected French health bill

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