Maggied8867

I am planning on moving to France shortly with my partner & we will work remotely for our company in the UK & pay ourselves a UK Salary and dividends the same as we do now. We are a service based company & our clients are based in the UK too.

We are aware that we become tax resident in France & can see what we will pay in taxes on our salary but not the dividends nor the social charges. Could anyone help. We also would need heath insurance working for a UK company would we be entitled.

Would our Limited UK company be subject to French Corporation tax too?

Any advice would be great

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the forum!
Some one in the know will come along with the various business/employment options in your circumstances, but it may be advisable for you to get legally bound before arriving. France isn't "partner-friendly" in many respects. Take a look at the "Partner Status" and "Inheritance Tax" threads in the Read-Me: Moving to France FAQs above, if you're buying property (and, in addition, have children from earlier relationships). If you settle in a rural area, make sure that the internet coverage is good - it can be very slow....
HTH

Maggied8867

Thank you, Sorry when I say partner I meant my husband, we are both directors of our business. We do not have children or any other family so are not concerned regarding inheritance. At the moment our will is all to Charities.

Tweedpipe

Welcome to the forum.
With your own UK business, you would be particularly prudent to get professional advise. Social security cotisations will vary significantly depending how your business is set up. Choosing the best structure to suit your circumstances is crucial.
ET is one of our experts here for basic advise in setting up a business, who should be along shortly to comment further.

PS: Just found THIS link wich may help answer some queries.

Maggied8867

thank you Tweedpipe.

cyrian

+1
Although the rights of citizens would be protected post Brexit, I doubt if companies would have the same ongoing rights.
I would get advice from an accountant who understands both UK and French systems
I suspect that you would need to set up a french company which would then cover your healthcare costs.
If done correctly, you could operate both companies to your advantage.

Maggied8867

Thank you Cyrian - I have contacted 2 companies (who state they International Tax Advisors) in London to pay for advice and neither could give me an answer of certain levels of income/dividends of what tax/social charges I would pay. I am a tax advisor in the UK & know exactly the current liability if the position was reverse ie French citizen tax resident in UK.. So maybe I should has asked the question "is there a tax advisor out there who understands UK & French Tax?"

Tweedpipe

Not wishing to provide free promotion for an international tax advisor, but one very knowledgeable UK based company that I have used when I was working, begins with an F and ends with a P.
I can provide more precise info by pm if required.

cyrian

Hi Maggie,
I suspected that dividend income was just taxed as household income.
I found this article which is a bit out of date:
https://www.french-property.com/news...terest_income/
If you work in France then you need to set up a business structure (with a few exceptions for employees posted overseas).
If you work in France and do not have a business structure then you are considered to be working "on the black" and can be fined.
The french tax authorities are a lot more on top of this than HMRC.
In addition, you may need to increase your fees to compensate for the higher social security charges.
Who knows what will be allowed business-wise post-Brexit?
HTH

EuroTrash

Social charges: URSSAF has produced a guide in English that will probably tell you all you need to know, assuming your company's business remains UK based which your post suggests.
https://www.urssaf.fr/portail/files/...FE-UK-2017.pdf
Basically you need to register a company structure with URSSAF. Then the company registers the two of you as employees resident in France and signs French employment contracts with you. Your company will then generate French payslips (I think there's a portal where you can do this online) so that URSSAF collects employer and employee social charges on your salaries; be warned, French social charges are considerably higher than social charges in the UK.
Obviously, your contributions will then qualify you for state healthcare and other welfare benefits in France.
Otherwise if the company itself is going to trade in France, ie advertise its services here and sign contracts in France (as opposed to you working remotely for a company that trades from the UK) you will need to register a French business structure, which you would need advice on.

Dividends - haven't a clue, I have a feeling the rules changed a while back and they're now treated less favourably than they used to be, but you'd need to find this out. I imagine CSG is payable, as it will be on any other unearned income you have worldwide.

Corporation tax - if you get your siret as a company with no establishment in France, no company tax would be due in France. Your UK company would continue to pay UK corporation tax. You and hubbie would pay personal tax in France.

Re the level of social charges, this should give you a rough idea - it quotes 22% of gross salary for employee contributions and between 25% and 42% for employer contributions, unfortunately as a UK company with no estalishment etc. I don't think you would qualify for any French tax incentives so allow for nearer 42%.
https://www.journaldunet.fr/manageme...t-cotisations/

Hope this helps. Unless your French is excellent and you like dealing with this sort of thing, I would find a yourselves a good accountant/consultant. Good luck with it all.

Maggied8867

Thank you so much

dmu

Can you include all these links in the FAQs? It's fast becoming a FAQ and the Sticky would save making a forum search....