Hi,
I am thinking this might be the best place to ask

I am planning in moving to France while keeping my contract as an employee for an IT company in the UK for 6-12 month. After reading around, this will allow me to pay the UK income and NI tax on that salary and not France.

To make this possible, I will need to keep a bank account in the UK (I have one at Lloyds now) can I do that while being resident in France?

Then, every month I will need to transfer my UK salary in Pounds to Euro in France. I heard there are specialized company that offer better rate than banks' one. Do you have any to recommend?

Thanks!

Hi
Not just a simple answer.
I suggest that you read the other post about tax posted by cjm.
If you are resident in France (I.e.more than 6 months) then you need to fill in a French tax return. If you are liable for any further tax e.g wealth tax then you would have to pay that in France.
You also have to consider the healthcare implications - see other threads.
In answer to your question, there have been threads on that topic also - there are plenty on exchange brokers who will set up a monthly transfer or you can buy currency at fixed future exchange rates.
There are magazines in the uk about LIVING in FRANCE that are full of such adverts.
Good luck

Thank you Cyrian, I dug for exhange brokers thread and I found few to look into for a quotation (Hargreaves Lansdown, rationalfx and HiFX). I'll see what kind of service they can offer.

As for what your mentioned, I am aware of the need to fill the French tax return, that I will need to declare my UK salary as "worldwide income" but that it will not get re-taxed in France (most likely). Also, I do not qualify for the wealth tax in France.
The thread from CJM is everything but confusing and make clear that no one really knows where we stand.
I have reached out to a "professional" on this matter and awaiting their input as well.
For the heath care I thought the E106/S1 for was a simple answer on getting French coverage while keeping to pay UK NI, but maybe that's in a gray area as well?

Hi hisokajp, yes I started the thread on tax and the range of comments indicates that not all is clear. Advice would be sensible from, perhaps your employer or a legal rep via their HR people.

There was a route to accessing € via holes in wall using a Nationwide account, but they have recently shut the door on that. You got € with UK debit card at near interbank exchange rate. Banks are a law to themselves and appear to be a poor choice for FX.

Interbank rate seems to be the marker. FX companies, whoever the are, will shave the rate and may charge a fee if you exchange less than a stated amount. This could be £10K. There is a new peer-to-peer website now set up, that takes a very small commission and you exchange a sum you lodge on line. Worth a search. I have yet to use it, but will to see how it goes. But rate is very close to interbank rate.

With regard to health care, again check with your employer and with UK authorities. If your move becomes permanent for any reason and the time factor touched on by Cyrian kicks in, then you can apply for a Carte Vitale. In theory this gives you cover for up to 2 years on an agreement between governments. However, I've yet to find a two year card; factors like when you move to France kick in and affect the time. I got 18 months.

You are at the start of your research. Always double check. Posts here are from people who want to be helpful and much of the info is spot on - many have been in France for years unlike me - it may be you'll have to find out by your own mistakes. But good luck.

thank you cjm I signed up to Interbank to have a look at their system. I have to say I am quite novice in FX. I just saw that their bank transfer withdraw option has a $25 fee, not sure if that's very good? Or I might be missing something?
What is the name of the peer-to-peer website you were mentioning as well?

Thanks!

I think I have unwittingly mislead you. The interbank rate is the market rate quoted at any one time, it varies during the day, hopefully not by more than a centime, or fraction of one (€) variation. I was not aware of a company of the same name. One learns so much. You can launch a market rate gadget on your PC/laptop which I find only fractionally inaccurate.

Rules here may discourage direct promotion of a site, but search for words/phrase I posted before. Research is they key.

Hi hisokajp.
I am new to the French forum, so please pay more attention to those more in the know than I. I have been in Spain for some time so know a fair bit about money transfers
FX - the brokers usually shave you 50 cents or so off the spot rate for amounts in excess of £5,000. Less than that amount they will take more. They may also quote against a slightly old rate so taking another 20 or 30. It is best therefore to have accounts with more than one, and play one off against the other. But be courteous - they are in the driving seat. Hisgh Steet bans I am sure you are aware will take you to the cleaners. Even the offshore branches of high street banks regard us as easy pickings (IMO). I am happy to give you my experience in more detail if you PM me, but bear in mind that having been a forex trader myself, I am not a typical customer for them
Health - I return to the UK once a month or so, and pay tax and NI on my earnings. HMRC tell me that this will give me a Carte Vitale as long as I pay NI in the UK.
Thereafter I would be covered for as many months as my National Insurance contributions in the ultimate year would entitle me - a maximum of 24 but as posted earlier more likely around 18. Sounds good to me - probably too good. I wait to be corrected by those more knowledgeable!

To be honest, despite the new charges coming in with Nationwide in November, if you are going to be pulling money over piecemeal on a monthly basis then there will likely be little difference in cost between paying NW's £1 +2% and the slightly poorer rate FX brokers will give you for what to them are trivial transfers.

Whilst you are still UK resident (and remember that if you come to France intending to live here you become French resident the moment your feet touch the soil and not after six months) there are other options for fee free cards open to you, the Co-op being one I believe and the also the Post office. You might also want to look at one of the prepaid Mastercards which you can load up online and then use for drawing cash from ATM's or as a normal debit card.

There is no problem in retaining your Lloyds A/C after leaving UK, I have one myself and whilst I do most of my banking online and do not receive paper statements they are perfectly happy to post letters and new cards etc. to me.

Regarding your health care if you have paid sufficient UK NI over the past 2 full UK tax years and plan to continue paying for a while at least then initially you should qualify for a workers E106 which is issued by HMRC not DWP. This is renewable annually on it's anniversary so long as you continue to work but even when you stop you should still be entitled to a residual E106 from DWP which can be valid for up to 2.5 years if applied for at the correct time.

I have used these people for money transfers. They are part of the HiFX Group who have aa advertising banner on this site. They are very efficient.

http://www.currencyonline.com/

Or you can go with HSBC International and transfer the money online yourself but the rate will not be as good.

Interesting, the devil being in the detail. They do charge a fee below certain thresholds. Can't quite make out their policy on the rate offered and comparison with market rate at that time. How much is shaved? What's your experience?

Yes, currencyonline do charge a fee below certain amounts but you are still better off than using the banks but I would do a calculation based on the amount you are transferring. You can check the live market rate without having to log onto their site. I moved the proceeds from the sale of my home so even a small saving on the exchange rate was beneficial. Otherwise, they are part of the Bank of New Zealand, very efficient, and they have a freephone number so you can phone them at any time with any questions or concerns.

Basically, with currencyonline, as the exchange rates are 'live', you log onto their site and watch the rate move. Then you lock in with the rate you are happy with, or the best you can get. I have always found the rate offered to be better than the banks, but, this should always be verified.

I've registered with tem and waiting clearance of ID, so will check out again tomorrow. Rate today still above 1.22, so better than a few weeks back. Thanks for the input.

Currencyonline website does not mention Euros as a tradeable currency, just Euro dollar.
I presume this is an oversight.
Or do they know something the rest of us don't?

Euro is the fourth one down in the 'You Buy' menu box. Are not Euro and Euro Dollar the same thing?

No, Eurodollars are a very specific and very widely traded money market instrument, - basically American dollars left in Europe (initially as a result of the Marshall plan) - and are absolutely not the same as Euros.
You absolutely do not want to buy Eurodollars unles you are a very big boy indeed!

It is probably a misprint - I see the website is (initially at least) intended for North America. So maybe they mean "swap Euros for dollars".
But this is a VERY basic error to make for a company operating in the money markets.

Currencyonline seem to be the online version of HIFX, but unregulated and only really for private customers.
Can you see whether they are regulated by anybody, such as the SEC or FSA? I have found no references but my internet connection is very poor.

It is unfortunate but I think there is sometimes a choice to be made in these transactions. For complete safety of your funds - a High Street Bank - who will however rip you to shreds on the rate. For a degree of risk the foreign exchange brokers. For small quantities, I am happy to take a greater risk. For large sums, i.e. housebuying or the like, I would contact one of the banks with an Offshore presence and get a quote. But I am very risk averse.