How on earth have they illegally acquired CdS?
We had to provide 46 page documents each to get ours.
It seems implausible.
In particular I don’t see how you can do it any not wind up paying income tax twice.
To be expected, I suppose, when things change overnight in the middle of tightened restrictions due to Covid. I hope that everyone who needs to be in their primary residence in the EU eventually managed to get home.
I guess the concern is whether they can stay there. Can a stamp be annulled? Will someone who has been given a stamp despite having their primary residence in France have to leave within 90 days? This sounds like exactly the nightmare we’ve all been worrying about; that despite having been told that we have 6 months to apply for a CDS and 12 months (9? I forget) to have one in our hands, and until that point if we can show we live in France we won’t be given a stamp, starting the 90 day countdown, some are taking the line that if you don’t have a physical CDS in your hands when you go through customs you WILL be considered a tourist and get a stamp.
None of which I expect you @anon88169868 to answer, or perhaps anyone as of today, but it definitely seems worrying.
I have certainly heard of people being denied re-entry to the US because of a missing exit stamp so it is definitely something to be taken seriously.
If I were in that situation I’d wait for the initial dust to settle (but not too long) and then start haranguing the UK embassy and the French authorities to get it cancelled - except, possibly, if I lived near Calais I might just book a return trip to Dover, leave and get an exit stamp (within 90 days), then come back in on my CdS.
There is an outline of the guidance higher in this thread (issued to the douane) that states 'if you hold a certificate of application for the new residence status, issued under Article 18(1)(b) of the Withdrawal Agreement (the Attestation d’enregistrement that you received when submitting your application on the online system), your passport should not be stamped, therefore your scenario should not happen. I
For my CdS I had to provide a copy of my passport, a document showing that I was here over 5 years ago (house insurance I think I used) and a document showing I was here last year. 3 pieces of paper. All of those would be possible for a second home owner to provide.
It could well lead to some unpleasantness if people get upset that their neighbours are clearly ‘breaking the rules’ and staying for as long as they wish (having used their CdS at customs to avoid a stamp on their passport). They would, of course, be travelling round on UK car insurance but, without a stamp, nobody would know how long they had been in France. Could prove tricky to identify even if stopped by the Gendarmes.
Don’t you have to be tax resident as well?
But I thought the trade deal was meant to make sure that tariffs were not introduced
Its a condition of membership of the ERG that you believe in the tooth fairy as well @strudball 
However customs declarations still need to be made and tariffs apply if the rules of origin imply that goods are not sufficiently “British”. Also - long term - if we do diverge our standards the agreement allows tariffs to be introduced.
One thing Brexiteers never seemed to understand is that it is not just about tariffs - tariffs and quotas or not there is still going to be more friction (and cost) associated with UK-EU trade than there used to be.
Also (AIUI) VAT changes - previously an EU would just apply the local VAT rate to a sale and ship it. Now it has to be shipped VAT free as an export, and VAT is applied in the UK, someone has to process that & there will be a cost attached.
Yes, but you don’t necessarily have to provide a copy of the tax return when making the application.
But at some point?
That’s the thing, I’m assuming there will be future cross-referencing between government departments perhaps on a random basis and this will be the point when those who applied fraudulently will be caught out.
My neighbour(Moped rozzer) said the local chapter of the Gendarmerie were out on a road frequented by residents with UK plated cars this morning. See what he says and how many they caught out.
Part of the responsibility of becoming a French resident is submitting tax returns (even if they are ‘€0’ due to having paid tax in the UK on pension for example - double taxation treaty). Those that have been here ‘lightly’ shall I say (not really in the system) are always advised that they need to regularise their tax situation from now and for the years they are claiming residence through an accountant or speaking to the tax office. Hopefully the 2nd home owners (who may well have been spending more than 6 months / year here) will comply with this and get themselves sorted. I presume that there will be some sort of check at some point if they continue to have thier cake and eat it.
Does that look like a mugshot?
That is fine, but again is not what people have been told, which was CDS, Certificates of application for CDS, or other sufficient evidence