Spending time in UK on a French Brexit card: what are the tax implications?
Tax residency and right to live in France are two separate issues
France and the UK has a double tax treaty in place
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Reader Question: I hold a 10-year Brexit residency card and understand I could be away from France for five years while maintaining it. If I returned to the UK for three years, for example, would I have to declare tax residency there during that period?
The right to live in France as a matter of droit de séjour (residency law) is a separate issue from domicile fiscal (tax residency).
Your 10-year ‘permanent residency’ Withdrawal Agreement card gives you a right to live in France that, according to the WA treaty, is only lost after five years ‘away’ from France.
This has not yet been put to the test, but some experts state it can be taken literally as referring to absence from French soil.
Tax residency is a different, with French rules being set out in the Code général des impôts and UK rules in legislation including the Finance Act 2013.
Where there is uncertainty as to where a person has their tax residency there are tiebreaker rules in the UK/France Double Tax Convention.
Generally, these rules are used to clarify complex living situations between countries.
If you clearly transfer your main home – the place where you habitually live, work and have your main ties – to the UK, the UK becomes your tax domicile from this point.
You should let your French tax office know via registered post letter or private online messaging.
You should also insert your new UK address in the declaration you will make to France in the year after the move, to declare income up to the point of departure.
If you continue to have French-assessable income (such as from renting out French property) you will be attached to the non-residents’ tax office moving forward.
You should also notify your new (UK) address to the HMRC tax service as soon as possible. You may start to pay tax at source, for example if you start work in the UK.
If you have UK-assessable incomes not subject to this, you will need to complete the UK’s self-assessment tax return with regard to the part of the UK tax year that you were fiscally resident.
You may also need to file the UK's form SA109 to confirm only being UK tax-resident for part of the year in which you moved.
