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‘A €70k tax bill arrived out of the blue’ – How accountant errors impact foreigners in France

The French tax system is a complicated one, especially if you're freelance or running your own business - but there is one extra element that can lead to foreigners in France getting a very unwelcome surprise, as one Australian in Paris discovered.

Published: 17 April 2024 11:14 CEST

'A €70k tax bill arrived out of the blue' - How accountant errors impact foreigners in France

Unexpected bills for taxes and social charges can come as a huge shock to foreigners in France. Photo by PHILIPPE HUGUEN / AFP

When Australian Marie set up as a freelancer in France she did the responsible thing and got an accountant who said they specialised in advising expats.

However repeated errors and neglect on the part of her accountant plus a lack of correct registration with URSSAF led to her receiving a bill out of the blue for an additional €70,000 in social charges – something that she is still making payments to clear more than two years later.

She joins a long list of foreigners who feel let down by accountants who either make mistakes, fail to fully explain the French system or register people in incorrect regimes.

Paris-based Marie told The Local: “The first firm I went to set me up as a SASU business (société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle). I was set up as a business with myself as president and paid myself a salary – which they had recommended – but that put me on a really high rate of tax.

“I moved to a different firm after that and they moved me onto a SARL business status, which was better suited to my business, but they forgot to notify URSSAF of the change so I was being incorrectly billed for months.

“It was only because I had alerted them several times to the final demands I was receiving, over the course of two years, that this was rectified.

“They also made a mistake with my invoices, and put through invoices for work done in India for 40,000 rupees (about €400) as €40,000 which put me into a higher tax bracket. It was only much later that another accountant told me that all invoices – no matter what country they come from – must be in euros.

“For example, one month they just forwarded me a €20,000 bill for URSSAF contributions that I wasn’t expecting and simply asked how I wanted to pay it – like I had that kind of money just lying around.

“I’ve spoken to so many people who work as freelancers or set up small businesses in France and I seem to hear the same stories over and over again of accountants who don’t explain the system, don’t register people correctly and just make endless mistakes. It also seems impossible to make a complaint to an ombudsman when your accountant has comprehensively messed up.

“I’m still paying extra contributions to pay off URSSAF charges which the accountants didn’t inform me about.

“I went to two firms that specifically advertised themselves as having expertise with expats who do work in multiple countries, but neither of them seemed to know what they were doing.”

Marie’s story is thankfully an extreme case, but it’s true that many foreigners in France end up with unexpected bills due to unhelpful, poorly explained or simply incorrect advice from their accountants.

We’ve put together a list of tips to help people when setting up a business and choosing an accountant;

Setting up as a freelancer/ contractor/ small business

Understand different status options – France has several different regimes for people who are running a small business or working as a freelancer and your status can make a big difference.

For many freelancers, the best option will be the micro-entrepreneur status (formerly known as auto-entrepreneur), as this is designed to be as simple as possible for people who are starting out their business. It has an upper earnings limit – €77,000 a year for services or working in a liberal profession such as journalism or €188,000 a year for commercial or property-related activity. However if you pass the threshold after a couple of years in business you can switch to another status without attracting a penalty.

Understand the difference between tax and social charges – For those in work, there are two kinds of income deductions – tax (impôts) and social charges (prélèvements sociaux). Many people just look at tax rates, but actually social charges are likely to make up the bulk of deductions from your earnings. For salaried employees, social charges are deducted at source in the same way as taxes but freelancers and the self-employed pay their charges through URSSAF.

Charges are billed either annually or quarterly but are usually based on the income you declared in previous years – so you can end up with an extra bill if you have had several months where you earned more than previously. This is particularly difficult for freelancers whose income tends to fluctuate and often end up getting extra bills from URSSAF.

Understand how URSSAF works – URSSAF is, notoriously, among the trickiest government agencies in France to deal with and things tend to take a long time. It helps to spend a bit of time swotting up so you understand the outlines of the system and therefore have an idea of what to expect and when a mistake might have been made.

Understand any other charges – if you are setting up as a business you need to fully understand both your personal and business tax liabilities, plus social charges so you can understand and budget for roughly how much you will be paying.

Ask the tax office – they can’t give you financial advice but if you have a question about how the tax system works or you are confused about a bill you have received, employees at the tax office can help you. You can either call the helpline or visit your local tax office in person – no appointment needed – and employees are often surprisingly friendly and helpful. They will even flag up if you are entitled to tax credits that you haven’t claimed.

7 tips for dealing with the French tax office

Finding an accountant

When finding an accountant, personal recommendations are often best – but this can be hard for new arrivals who don’t know many people.

Here are some tips on finding the right person;

Check their speciality – plenty of accountants advertise themselves as ‘expat specialists’ or simply as ‘English speaking’ but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have any expertise with the area that you need. If you’re working in more than one country, you need someone who understands the tax systems in both countries.

Hopefully this goes without saying, but also check that they are qualified and registered in France. Only a registered ‘expert-comptable‘ can help you file tax declarations for businesses – you can check that they are correctly registered HERE

Get multiple opinions – ‘shop around’ is generally good advice and this goes for accountants too. It’s definitely worth asking for several opinions about how to correctly register yourself and your businesses and what the best options are for you. As Marie’s experience shows, ending up with the wrong accountant can cost you money and cause you endless hassle, so it’s definitely worth taking some time to find the right person.

Be clear about your earnings – a lot of accountants, especially those who advertise as ‘expat services’ are used to dealing with high net worth individuals. If this isn’t the case for you, you need to be clear with them about what you expect to earn and ask them to tailor their advice accordingly. If they start recommending complicated arrangements to minimise your tax liability, ask them exactly how much you can expect to save and whether it’s worth the hassle – often it won’t be worth it if you’re a single individual earning a medium income.

Ask them to explain – the French tax and business registration system is complicated and as a foreigner it will be strange to you. It’s not unreasonable for you not to understand it and to need things spelled out to you. If an accountant is unable or unwilling to explain the tax or business registration system to a foreigner in simple terms then count that as a red flag.

Expat forums are unregulated – many foreigners in France turn to expat forums or Facebook pages to ask for help, but there is no system of regulation for these types of forums and just because a particular firm is recommended it doesn’t mean that it’s any good. It may just be run by a friend of the person who set up the site.

If possible, follow personal recommendations from people who you know.

And finally – check immigration rules. Accountants advise about money and tax law, but you do need to double check that anything they advise is compatible with your immigration status. For example, if you’re advised to set yourself up as a business to minimise tax but you’re in France on a visitor visa (which doesn’t allow you to work), this will create a conflict.

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6 pension questions British people should ask before retiring to France

Retiring to France is a dream for many, but before turning that dream into reality there are some serious financial questions that you need to ask yourself to ensure that your retirement is a financially comfortable one.

For most retirees, their main or only income will be a UK pension, so it’s important that you understand how your pension will work once you make the move.

There are some specific rules and restrictions on taking pensions out of the UK, while there is also the question of how UK pensions interact with the French tax system.

Financial adviser, Maeve Hoffman, from Spectrum IFA Group, emphasised that people should not take these decisions lightly, telling The Local: “Figuring out what to do with your pension should be part of your wider financial plans for your life.

“This may be your most important asset, besides your home, and the best answer for what to do with your pension is highly individual. There are no sweeping generalisations when it comes to advice on private pensions. Everyone’s situation is different,” she said.

This article is intended as an overview of how the system works for UK pensioners and is not intended as a substitute for individual financial advice. The article is aimed at people who have worked most or all of their career in the UK and then intend to retire in France – the situation is slightly different for people who work in France and then retire here.

You can find an overview on French tax rules for pensions HERE.

Long-term or short-term

The first thing you need to carefully consider is whether or not your move to France will be for the long-term or short-term.

When it comes to your UK pension, there are some options that may be advantageous for French residents looking to stay here permanently, but they could make your life very complicated if you end up returning to the UK in the future.

Do not be afraid to ask yourself the tough questions – is there any chance you will have grandchildren in the future that you will want to be geographically close to? Have you ever spent a significant time in France, aside from short holidays? Do you have roots in France, such as friends, family or a home? If your health deteriorates, will you want to be cared for in France or the UK?

If are unsure about the answers to these questions, then take some time to really think about them. There are alternatives to permanently moving to France if you are unsure – for example, you could spend a few months a year here on a short-term visitor’s visa.

Understanding the different tax rules

British retirees should be aware that the UK and France have very different tax systems.

Once you become a tax resident in France, you have to file a yearly declaration, including your global income. The country that gets to tax that income is determined based on the tax treaty between the UK and France, which seeks to eliminate double-taxation.

As for your UK-based pension, the treaty states that if you have a UK government or civil service pension (eg a state school teachers’ pension), then this will remain taxable only in the UK. Some old NHS pensions were considered ‘government pensions’, but modern ones might not be. You can check if your pension is classified as ‘government’ here.

You still have to declare this income to the French tax authorities, but you will not be subject to tax in France on it. That being said, it will count towards your total household income, and could end up pushing you into a higher tax bracket which is something you should carefully consider, particularly if you want to take a large sum at once.

The same is not true of private pensions: these are taxed in France, not the UK, as soon as you become a tax resident here. Confusingly, the UK state pension is also considered a private pension, even though it is paid by the government.

You can find a complete guide to how UK pensions are taxed in France HERE.

As a result, you will want to think about whether your previous plans for your private pension were only advantageous to you as a UK resident. Once you become a French tax resident, they could have unforeseen implications.

You can find more information about tax rates in our tax guide.

Get reliable, expert financial advice before doing anything

If you have decided you want to be in France permanently, then you will need some expert tax and pension advice – but you need to be careful who you take advice from, this is a highly specialist area and it’s unlikely that high street financial advisers will have the knowledge that you need.

Brexit has also made getting financial advice more complicated, with fewer experts available.

Maeve told us: “Because of Brexit, you cannot use a UK-based financial adviser anymore – you have to use an EU-registered one. This has made things more complicated. When picking an adviser, seek out someone who has expertise on the local taxation rules in France. They should also be regulated with the financial regulator where you live and where they work.”

It can be especially complicated to parse out who you can and cannot take advice from – for example, some UK-based advisers have continued to give advice to EU-based clients, even though this can be particularly risky if the investments they recommend do not follow EU regulations.

There are also expat-oriented financial advice services that are located outside of France, but seek to offer tax advice to people in France.

She added: “Be smart and sensible. If you choose an adviser in Dubai or Spain for example, you will now be adding another regulatory organisation into the mix, plus another language.

“There are free, government-based services in the UK that can help you understand your private pension – Pension Wise and Money Helper. Before doing anything, you should consult the free services. Any financial adviser worth their salt would recommend this too.

“These services have begun to have longer wait times, so be sure to book well in advance of when you plan to draw from your pension.”

Deciding whether to transfer your pension

Another question that is important for Brits to think about is whether or not to transfer their pension into either a UK-based SIPP for non-residents, or a QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes).

The SIPP will keep your pension in the UK, while the QROPS moves it out of the UK, to Malta specifically.

These options can be helpful for French residents, but you need to familiarise yourself with their benefits and drawbacks.

“The QROPS is not for someone who is unsure of their future in France, as if you return to the UK within five years of the pension transfer HMRC will seek their tax back as if it was a full encashment,” Maeve said.

In France, a QROPS is considered a trust, you may also have additional reporting requirements to fill out along with your annual declaration (more info here).

You should beware of scams on this subject, as the post-Brexit period saw many scammers seeking to persuade Brits that it was now mandatory to transfer their UK pension – always be wary of any cold-calling or unsolicited financial advice.

Determining how you will want to draw from your pension

The next question is how you want to receive your pension – either as regular income or as a lump sum. The option that you chose will have tax implications in France.

If you receive it as a regular income, when doing your yearly French tax declaration, you will add up your pension income for that year and you will be taxed at the normal marginal rates for income (the barème). These rates go up to 45 percent (for the highest earners only) plus social charges if they apply (more on this below).

Pension income can also benefit from a 10 percent tax deduction, as long as it does not exceed €4,123 or fall below €422 per household.

Lump-sums are more complicated. Technically, French tax authorities would allow a return of once off pension capital to be taxed at a flat rate of 7.5 percent.

But in reality, Hoffman explained that anyone seeking to do this would need the express, written confirmation from French tax authorities that this rate will be applied.

She also explained that the type of private pension matters when seeking to get the lump-sum flat rate.

“There are plenty of different types of private pensions in the UK, but the old ‘defined benefit schemes’ have been the gold-plated standard. These are the types of pensions that give you a portion of your salary for the rest of your life.

“In principle, you should be able to take out lump-sum of 25 percent of your ‘defined benefit scheme’ pension and be taxed at the 7.5 percent flat-rate. That being said, some people get refused, so you cannot make any assumptions and you need clarification from the French tax office.

“As for all of the other types of private pensions in the UK, like the money purchase or personal pension schemes, these are considered to be ‘funds’. If you want to benefit from the lump-sum then you would have to take out the entire pension. You would not be able to just take out 25 percent and get the lump-sum rate.

“For anyone considering taking their whole pension and seeking to use the 7.5 percent rate there are conditions to be met, so I advise people to write to their French tax office and explain their own situation in detail. Be sure to clarify the tax rate you are seeking to have applied and ask what documents they would need from your UK pension company to confirm that the contributions to this pension have been tax deductible.”

Healthcare and social charges

Deductions in France come in two types – impôts (income taxes) and prélèvements sociaux (social charges).

People who retire to France (and have never worked in France) and have already reached the state pension age can apply for the S1 – this means that the UK continues to pay for their healthcare costs and they would not be charged prélèvements sociaux. Non-working spouses of an S1 holder can also benefit from this.

People who take early retirement and make the move before they reach state pension age may have to pay social charges in addition to taxes until they reach the state pension age and can apply for their S1. However, there are several exemptions to social charges, so even if you expect a bill, you may not end up being charged. More information in our guide.

Social charges help pay for a lot of services from the French government, including access to healthcare. In France, you can access the state healthcare system (and get a carte vitale) after three months of residency.

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

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