Can anyone help? Me and my husband own a company in the UK. All the work is done in the UK. Can we still own a UK company and become a resident in France? We moved to France in January 2020. Will we have to pay double tax?
You called your post âcross border workersâ, so does that mean that you travel backwards and forwards weekly? (Well not at the moment obviously!) Cross-border workers are a special european category with special tax and social security arrangements . Post Brexit Iâm not sure that the united Kingdom will qualify.
Or do you mean you live here full time and your company is run in the UK by UK based management and staff? That would not - as far as Iâm aware - be that complicated as tax will be due in the UK. Although you will have to declare your income here, depending on how you take your income from the company the double tax treaty will make sure you donât pay the same tax twice.
Do be aware that if you do any work for the company from France that is considered to be working in France and you will need to set up a proper business structure here and declare that. Labour laws are strict here.
I would suggest you take professional advice, this is quite a complex area.
Since the OP said
would they not be covered by the WA? Or is that a typo for 2021?
Duh!!! Ignore my comment - totally misread date! I will edit.
Yes is the really simple answer. Brexit has nothing to do with it.
Obviously Companies House / HMRC need contact address - you also need a UK address for the company as its registered address.
Company House/Corporation Tax as always in the UK.
You need to do standard UK self assessment - and pay tax etc on that in the UK.
You then basically put UK income on the French tax form (split wages and dividends) - its a seperate âformâ for overseas earning. The dividends are treated as âunearnedâ income and do attract social charges - your UK earnings count towards you income / income tax bands.
I would say - think beyond just tax - age and long term plans are factors. There are advantages to being French employees of your own company - tax isnât one of them admittedly - but does give you a lot of flexibility over where you work and brings you fully into the French system with regards pensions/unemployment rights etc.
Thank you Chris. That has helped me a lot. We have bought a lake here in France and do eventually want to run it as a business. My husband is looking to retire over the next 5ish years from the UK company in order the run the lake.
Do you know if I can still get a sĂ©curitĂ© sociale number if my income is from the UK? Sorry to ask but you sound very clued up. Everything is like stereo instructions in another language to me at the moment. Iâm trying to understand but itâs not easy.
You will get a social security number automatically when you join the health service. And you will get your tax reference number when you submit your tax return in May/June. It doesnât matter where your income is from at all, just that you have it! And you wonât pay double tax, although as Chrisell says you most probably will have to pay some social charges.
It sounds as if you are fairly new arrivals? So perhaps need to check that you have taken all the steps you need to to be resident here? You did get health insurance pre-31st December didnât you?
I did⊠Just!!!
We moved here January 2020. I went in to a mental shutdown trying the make head and tail of it all. Our company has gone crazy with work. I feel like Iâm on in 24/7 and havenât got a clue where to start. The Facebook groups have confused me even more.
Well done!
It all sounds confusing but if you work through it step by step it all falls into place.
If you moved in Jan 2020, then did you apply to join the health service in May2020 as soon as you were eligible? (Iâm presuming you are classed as inactive here as no salaried employment and have not set up a business). So not sure why you have not got your health card (carte citale) and a social security number.
Youâll get a Social Security number either when you apply to CPAM or when you get your first tax demand - mine was after my tax return.
this is not a necessary requirement, it just needs to all be sorted by the time of application. The important thing was that people physically took up residency before the 31/12 and then they have until June to get their ducks in place before applying.
French employment law is a complicated subject and itâs probably not a bad idea professional advice regarding your situation (account used to dealing with it). The general premise is that if you are living and working IN France then you need to be in the French system and paying your social contributions and taxes here. Here are some links to help you understand your options:
Here is a link to a quite comprehensive article regarding setting up a business in France, if you decide to move it over, which has links to the various web-sites youâll need to look at:
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Hi, Iâm here in France working as a cross border worker (employed). If you are are a x-border worker then UK will be responsible for your health âcoverâ in France. Iâm having issues getting HMRC to send the form and did a bit of extra research around it which I posted - hope itâs of help on the health side. It is quite tricky filling in the application form - they read mine wrong the first time and thought my pattern of commute was working in UK Mon-Fri and [working] in France weekends. Cross border health cover arrangements are continuing post transition period as part of the Trade agreement so you are eligible. I suspect you will have to set out carefully which country(ies) you are working in. If you are thought to do work in both, HMRC will write to ask France to decide which country is responsible for your health cover. The requirement to commute is currently suspended up to June at the moment . Anyway I hope thatâs of help - or sorry if itâs adding to confusion. Obviously, being company directors you arenât exactly in my situation as an âordinaryâ employee. I am aware thought at you can register a France âofficeâ and yourselves as employees easily enough if you have under 20 (?) staff.
Regards. PS this is my first attempt at pasting a link from one post to another so following instinct hereâŠ
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Not sure OP is a cross-border worker, but an owner of a company hors France.