Does it matter? The whole process was based on good faith and extremely easy, so no need for anything devious. And hardly anyone read the T&C that set severe penalties for lying. (Although OP says difficult to get his, which is odd)
He has one and it is valid until its expiry date. And will have a right to residence until he has been out of the country for 5 years (the max for a 10yr WARP card).
Much more important is to be clear about status now. And if OP plans to be resident this year then should make sure he fulfils conditions of legal residence to the letter.
Having read the OP’s profile, (CJWJ. Hi, I live in the Manche and also in Hertfordshire. I have worked in St-Lô as an English teacher (adults and teens). I am renovating a humble end of terrace cottage (slow progress). I love Normandie, miss it when I’m away. The country lanes here are a cyclist’s paradise. I speak quite good (ish) French.), I would assume the card was applied for correctly, but it would be nice to know if the profile is up to date.
Presumably in the years leading up to you getting your WARP card you completed a yearly tax return in France. When did you stop doing so? Have you checked online to see if you have any messages?
Well, time will tell, many who applied and got cards under false pretences as one of the brits back in my old commune did and proudly flashed it about, will find they can check up on him when he goes to renew it - he only came for a few weeks every few months, was not a tax resident either! The prefectures have all our details online if they so wish to check from CPAM to Impots.
I was advised not to at the Prefecture! I pressed the préposé but he said don’t bother doing a declaration. (I was part-time and below the taxable threshold.)
What do you mean by part time? If you were a French resident you had to do a tax return, if you were not a French resident you should not have applied for a 10 year WA CdS as one of the first questions asked for the date you became resident. Surely tax matters were a question that needed answering by the Impots not the préfecture. Your tax return would have been for your worldwide income not just your work in France.
But why on earth would anyone ask the prefecture a question about tax, and more to the point why on earth did the prefecture answer a question about tax? Normally foctionnaires are very careful not give any opinion or advice on issues they have no training on, and I do not think préfecture staff have knowledge of the fiscal code.
It is not complicated. If France was your primary residence you were by definition also fiscally resident and it was your responsibility to declare your income. If France was not your primary residence you should not have claimed a WARP card. Telling different stories to different departments is unlikely to end well. Sorry to be blunt but that is how it seems to me.
Remember, pre-Brexit British people were european with freedom of movement. And it was quite common that officials advised incorrectly on tax and residency for those with second homes. Everything has tightened up a lot in last few years.
When I arrived pre Brexit there were well known hoops that I had to jump through, the biggest two being sorting out healthcare through Puma and completing a tax return. but I also had to get my vehicles imported, registered and insured. My U.K. driving licence was new so I didn’t have to worry about that. Those things were well known and of course worked in my favour when applying for my WA CdS. I made my application very late in the window because I wanted to pass the five year anniversary of becoming resident in France. That date was easy to find because it was written on my very first tax return. Things were easier pre Brexit but there were still important steps to take.
When we came beg of 90’s, OH arrived several months later and for the last two months of that year we HAD TO FILE a tax paper to the local Impôts even though the business had not really got off the ground but they still insisted and of course, nothing to pay but the regularisation of our status was very important via this document. I doubt anything has changed and its always being asked for if you need to renew or apply for anything here.
As others have pointed out PUMA started in 2016. I first applied using a temporary S1 in January 2014 and received my CV very quickly. I had presumed that the S1 was for one year but it must have been for two years because when it expired PUMA had just been introduced and the changeover was seamless. The dates are irrelevant, pre-Brexit a U.K. resident in France had to have access to the French healthcare system either through a CV or private medical insurance. My adhesion to healthcare like proof of my tax returns were vital evidence when applying for my first CdS ((EU) in about 2019 which then made my application for a CdS WA very straightforward.
There are other less obvious obligations for residents. Where is your principal residence? Is your French home free of tax d’habitation because it is your primary residence? Where are your vehicles registered? Have you exchanged your driving licence since obtaining your CdS and if so in which country did you exchange it? Do your banks in both countries know which country you are resident in? If you are spending half of your year in each country and have a CV how are you accessing healthcare while in the U.K.? Have you asked the NHS for proof that you are no longer eligible for healthcare through them or applied for an S1. Residence or not is not a casual thing and the CDS WA was never issued as a way for non residents to come and go as they want and ignore the 90/180 days rule. The problem in France is that even now applying for residence is not as formal as it is in many other EU countries. In Germany you cannot do much until you have the correct certificate of residence quite separate from your WA residency card, you can’t rent a flat or even hire a car as a resident without it. In Spain residents have to sign onto the local ‘padron’ and if a U.K. national with a permanent right to residency wants to return to the U.K. for a long period of time they have to officially sign out, remove their name from the padron, remove themselves from the healthcare system and formally leave. If they then return under the terms of the WA they have to formally sign themselves back in. In France residence is not as tightly regulated but individuals need to comply with the basics rules and expectations. The OP should have a paper trail proving his residence and completing an annual tax return is high on that list.
Holding a French resident CdS while not actually living in France and carrying out the many fiscal duties required of bonafide residents, nor intending to return to live there in the near future, is a misrepresentation.
What makes the issue contentious is a concern by rule-abiding residents that at some point France authorities may decide we are all tarred by the same brush as those who interpret the rules to suit their own wishes. People who cheat the system tend to defend themselves by saying it doesn’t hurt anyone. It can.
Nothing we say here will persuade non-resident visitors and maison secondaire holders to relinquish their pre-Brexit CdS despite not residing in France. Righteous indignation is stronger than moral compass in many a person.
I don’t entirely agree. Those of us with WARP cards are legally able to be outside France for 5 years without loosing residency rights (with other cards it is only 3). 5 years is not really near future.
So the OP is within his rights at present as he has an unexpired card.
Incidentally, I know of a Brit who was “called in for questioning” by the French Tax Officials. OK it was a few years ago, but it’s just to show how a normal, honest, clearheaded person can make a wrong decision when it comes to Declaring…
turned out she’d not been declaring a UK govt pension as it was taxed in UK… acted in good faith, albeit a wrong Declaration.
However, the Tax Officers allowed that it was an honest mistake (or however they worded it) and she breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Everyone is allowed to make one “honest/innocent” mistake. so if anyone’s got something to “tell the Taxman” go ahead and get it off your chest…
