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RESIDENCY PERMITS

Checklist: How to retire to France

For many this is a lifelong dream, but there are some practical issues to be addressed before you can begin your retirement in France.

Published: 18 October 2021 16:49 CEST
Updated: 1 March 2022 14:17 CET
Retiring to France isn't all sunbathing
Retiring to France isn't all sunbathing. Photo: Frank Perry/AFP

Long, lazy afternoons in the sun, picking fresh figs off the tree and then opening a bottle of rosé? Sure, retirement to France can involve all these things and much more, but first you need to think about boring but important things like residency permits, pensions and health insurance.

Immigration

Starting at the beginning, you need to ensure that you are living legally in France. For EU citizens this is fairly straightforward, but non-EU citizens (including Brits) will need a visa in order to start a new life in France.

If you’re retiring and therefore don’t intend to work in France, you probably want a visitor visa.

This requires proving you have sufficient financial means – either savings or an income such as a pension, rental income or investments – giving an undertaking that you won’t work in France and there’s also a fairly hefty stack of paperwork to assemble. Full details on the process HERE.

Once you get your visa and arrive in France that doesn’t mean that the admin is over, you will still have to register for residency once you get here.

Pensions

Once here, you will need to make sure you have enough money to pay for Cognac and baguettes, and for many that will be a pension. People who move abroad once their pension has already begun to pay out can generally have it transferred to their new address with few problems, although if your pension is not paid in euros, remember that currency fluctuations can have quite a drastic effect on your monthly income.

If, however, you take early retirement and move abroad before your pension begins to pay out, check carefully that this will not affect your payouts.

Countries need to have international social security arrangements in order for you to begin claiming a state pension from another country. For EU citizens this is covered by Bloc-wide pension arrangements, but other countries need bilateral treaties, and the lack of one between France and Australia has seen many Australians in France forced to move back in order to become eligible for their pension.

While Brits who were living in France before the end of the Brexit transition period kept their existing pension rights, those who move now no longer benefit from joined-up EU pensions, if they have worked in more than one country.

READ ALSO

Taxes

Once you are resident in France you will need to fill in the annual tax declaration – even if you are not earning in France. If all your income (eg a pension) comes from abroad and you come from a country that has a double taxation agreement with France (including the USA, UK, EU and Australia) then you won’t have to actually pay any income tax in France, but you still have to complete the annual declaration.

There are also property taxes and the TV licence to consider.

READ ALSO The hidden costs of owning property in France

Healthcare

Everyone will need healthcare sooner or later, but the rules here can be different for foreigners who worked in France before retiring than for those who have never ‘paid in’ to the French system.

In most cases if you move here on a visa, you will need to show proof of private health insurance for your first year.

Once you move, you can register within the French health system, but who pays your bills may depend on whether you are already in receipt of a state pension and whether your home country has an agreement with France.

While waiting for registration, EU citizens can use the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) while Brits can use the new UK-specific version, the GHIC, although this does not cover everything and should not be used as long-term health cover.

READ ALSO Health insurance: What are the rules for new arrivals in France

Transport

You’ll also have to keep in mind how you will get around, and if you live in a rural area that will almost certainly mean a car.

If you’re an EU or UK licence holder you can swap your licence for a French one, but if your licence is from the USA then the State in which you obtained it is crucial – not all US states have reciprocal agreements on swapping driving licences with France and if you’re unlucky enough to come from one of those, you face taking a French driving test before being allowed behind the wheel.

In better news, once you get your French driving licence there is no upper age limit or obligation to renew it once you hit a certain age, although the local Préfet can order a medical examination in cases where there is some doubt about the driver’s fitness to be behind the wheel. This usually follows an accident.

More good news if you’re going by train, as there are discount cards available to over 60s, while the Paris region also provides a free monthly travel pass for over 65s.

Old-age care

While you may be fit and active when you move to France, at some point you may become ill or infirm and need extra help.

France has a strong system of home-care to enable people to stay in their own homes for as long as possible, but there are also residential care homes for those who need them.

There are no limits to foreigners accessing care but who pays for it can vary depending on your home country and whether you have ever worked in France. Full details here.

Reader question: Can I move into a French care home as a foreigner

Language

It might sound obvious, but you will have more fun in France if you speak the language. While it is possible to interact only with English speakers in certain areas of France, official functions generally have to be done in French.

Plus, the whole experience of moving abroad will be a lot richer if you can chat to the locals and understand the culture, so if you have long-term plans to retire to France, start now with learning the language.

READ ALSO How easy is it to move to France if you don’t speak French?

Social 

Consider also the social aspect of your new life.

At The Local we’re obviously big fans of moving abroad, but we would never deny that it can at times be difficult and lonely, and if you’re not working it can be harder to make friends.

So think in advance of how you will meet people and just how isolated your new place is – and if you’re moving to rural France, always make sure you have visited the area in the winter as well as the summer.

READ ALSO How to make French friends in France

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TAXES

Explained: France’s exit tax

Planning on leaving France? You may, depending on your circumstances, be charged the 'exit tax'.

Published: 11 April 2024 11:28 CEST
Explained: France's exit tax

Like some other European countries, France does have an exit tax for those (French or foreign) who are leaving the country. It’s known by the English name l’Exit tax.

However, it won’t affect most people.

Only those who have been tax resident for a minimum six years of the 10 years immediately before they permanently move out of the country are liable to pay an exit tax – if, that is, they own property, titles or rights worth a minimum of €800,000, or that represent 50 percent of a company’s social profits.

If that affects you, the best advice is to seek expert individual financial advice before moving out of France for good. The relevant page on the French government’s impot.gouv.fr website says it is possible to defer payments, and some relief is available.

Because of the relatively high figures involved, this tax is irrelevant for most people. That said, however, you will still have to inform tax authorities that you are moving out of the country because you may still have income, property and capital gains taxes to pay.

Income tax

You must inform the tax office that you are moving and give them your new address so that your tax declarations can be transferred to your new address.

You are liable for tax on everything you earned in France prior to your departure as well as on any French earnings that are taxable in France under international tax treaties that you earned after your departure.

The year of your departure, you declare your previous year’s earnings as normal – declarations in spring 2024 are for earnings in 2023.

A year later, you will have to declare any earnings taxable in France from January 1st up to the date of your departure, and any French-sourced income taxable source until December 31st of the year of your departure.

If you continue to have any French-sourced income – such as from renting out a French property – you will have to declare that income annually, using the non-residents declaration form.

Property taxes

You will have property taxes to pay if you own a French property on January 1st of any given year – whether it is occupied or not. 

Property tax bills come out in the autumn, but they refer to the situation on January 1st of that year, so even if you sell your property you will usually have the pay a final property tax bill the following year.

Moreover, if you receive income from property in France or have rights related to that property (such as shared ownership or stock in property companies), as well as any additional revenue connected to the property, during the year you leave France, you will be required to pay taxes on these earnings.

If any property assets in France exceed €1.3 million on January 1st of a given year, you may also have to pay the wealth tax (IFI).

READ ALSO What is France’s wealth tax and who pays it?

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Capital gains tax 

If you sell your French property or share of a French property, you may be liable for capital gains tax at a rate of 19 percent. It will also be subject to social security contributions at the overall rate of 17.2 percent.

Capital gains tax varies depending on how long you have owned the property and whether it was a second home or your main residence.

READ ALSO How much capital gains tax will I have to pay if I sell my French property?

The good news is, if you move to another EU country, or any country that has a specific tax agreement with France, you may be exempt from capital gains tax for non-resident sellers on the sale of a property that was your principal residence in France.

If you move elsewhere, you may be able to claim exemption on capital gains tax up to €150,000. As always, you should seek expert financial advice.

Tell Social Security

Inform social security that you are leaving France permanently – and return your carte vitale if you have one. If you do not, you may be liable for any benefits you receive to which you are no longer entitled.

More mundane tasks involve informing utility and water companies, your internet provider, if you have one, the phone company, your insurance companies, banks – and La Poste, who will be able to forward your mail for up to 12 months, for a fee…

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